Need advice to avoid injuries
DantheMan2517
Posts: 134 Member
I need advice from beginners and experienced runners on how to increase mileage without always injuring or pulling something. It's getting so frustrating! I'm not in bad shape. I cycle at an A to A+ pace 2 to 3 times a week, and I run to train for an upcoming 1/2 marathon (my first). I began running again at the beginning of this year after an accident. Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say, I just started running again. I'm a beginner. I've always been fairly athletic, but since I have been running again, I keep injuring something. Today was a beautiful day, good temperatures, sunny and breezy, but 3 miles into my run, I began feeling a pain in my right hamstring...then my left iliopsoas! WTF!? Yeah, I stretch, and I hydrate. I really pushed it this past weekend with cycling long and hard. Maybe I didn't rest enough? But it's Wednesday!! I don't understand. What's wrong with me?
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Replies
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Have you had anyone look at your form? In general running injuries amongst amateurs are form related in my experience.0
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get your form and footing checked out and also consider strength training0
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Have you had anyone look at your form? In general running injuries amongst amateurs are form related in my experience.
I am in the same position who/where would I go to have my form looked at?0 -
I'm obviously not a professional so I can only advise what has worked for me. I use pilates to improve overall strength, particularly my core, as I have suffered from lower back issues in the past. Stretching is good, but pilates with really strengthen your muscles too. I haven't really had a any major injuries to date; just a few niggles. I would also recommend not upping your mileage by more than 20% per week; too much to soon can cause injury when you first get the running bug!0
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Couple things come to mind.
1. Make sure you are in the proper RUNNING shoe. Go to a specialty store and get fitted. They will also look at your gait.
2. Being that you are pretty fit, I'm going to guess that you are running too fast. Aerobically you may be able to handle it, but you lack the running specificity training that those muscles require. Slow down. A LOT.
3. You may be trying to do too much too soon. Same as with comment above. Specificity. Start with two miles nice and easy. If you finish it up with no pains, GREAT! Take a shower and go on with your day. Repeat again after a rest day. Continue for a few weeks, then up the mileage to 2.5. Repeat as necessary. Slow, steady progress is the key.0 -
Couple things come to mind.
1. Make sure you are in the proper RUNNING shoe. Go to a specialty store and get fitted. They will also look at your gait.
2. Being that you are pretty fit, I'm going to guess that you are running too fast. Aerobically you may be able to handle it, but you lack the running specificity training that those muscles require. Slow down. A LOT.
3. You may be trying to do too much too soon. Same as with comment above. Specificity. Start with two miles nice and easy. If you finish it up with no pains, GREAT! Take a shower and go on with your day. Repeat again after a rest day. Continue for a few weeks, then up the mileage to 2.5. Repeat as necessary. Slow, steady progress is the key.
+1 on that
I recall reading an article recently about how much really slow running many top runners do, it was an eye opener.
Check out this site for some ideas regarding pacing for different runs......
http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/site/calculator0 -
Have you had anyone look at your form? In general running injuries amongst amateurs are form related in my experience.
I am in the same position who/where would I go to have my form looked at?
Look for a running specialty store in your area. Also running clubs in the area are usually a good resource as well. I know there is a triathlon store down the road from me that offers gait analysis where they put you on a treadmill and do motion capture to analyze what is going on.0 -
Couple things come to mind.
1. Make sure you are in the proper RUNNING shoe. Go to a specialty store and get fitted. They will also look at your gait.
2. Being that you are pretty fit, I'm going to guess that you are running too fast. Aerobically you may be able to handle it, but you lack the running specificity training that those muscles require. Slow down. A LOT.
3. You may be trying to do too much too soon. Same as with comment above. Specificity. Start with two miles nice and easy. If you finish it up with no pains, GREAT! Take a shower and go on with your day. Repeat again after a rest day. Continue for a few weeks, then up the mileage to 2.5. Repeat as necessary. Slow, steady progress is the key.
+1 on that
I recall reading an article recently about how much really slow running many top runners do, it was an eye opener.
Check out this site for some ideas regarding pacing for different runs......
http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/site/calculator
+2 to this! And amen to that! Yes, you'll want to have your gait analyzed, perhaps get a shoe properly fitted. But I can't say it enough, not just speaking from my own experience, but also from speaking with others who have been plagued with pesky injuries. Most running coaches and training programs advocate the same thing: SLOW DOWN, and be careful not to do too much too soon. Don't increase your mileage or speed by too much weekly. This happened to me. I thought I should just run all runs as fast as I could, and increased my mileage waaaay too quickly (going from 15 to 35 miles per week in just a few weeks) and I got a nasty case of ITBS that season. It was so bad that I had to DNF from a marathon, and stay off of running for 3 whole months.
The MacMillan calculator is a GREAT tool... one of the better ones out there... when I wanted to estimate what my next race pace would be using on one of my most recent races, it was pretty spot on. You'll see that it'll lay out what "training" paces you should use. Hal Higdon, Smart Coach, Cool Running, etc. all recommend that you run your easy or long run workouts at a pace that is 30-90 seconds slower than your race pace. Save your legs for the harder speed or hill workouts. Better yet, save your legs for the actual race. Of course, there are people who can easily run everything at race pace all of the time, but if you're like the rest of us, you might injure yourself doing so.0
