Need guide to running injuries
pooleekylie
Posts: 103
Prior to mid-july I've probably ran less than 5 miles my entire life. But now, it's kind of a sink or swim situation. I've had to run close to 25 miles this past week alone--and it seems like something in my legs/feet are constantly aching or are uncomfortable to run on.
I need to know what types of aches and pains are safe to run on, and which ones have to be rested to avoid serious injury. Also, will most of these aches eventually go away as my body gets accustomed to the mileage? So far, I've had mild runner's knee and some pain on the top of one foot. The most problematic injury is a slightly swollen ankle that's stayed that way for over a week now. It affects my gait a bit, but as long as I take a pain reliever before a run it doesn't bother me.
Any advice from serious runners would be appreciated. And no, I'm not going to go to a doctor over a swollen ankle. Also, I have great shoes and don't have any over-pronation issues so these injuries are most likely just from increasing mileage too quickly--but that's something I can't help and I also can't afford to take time off from running unless it's absolutely necessary.
Thanks in advance.
I need to know what types of aches and pains are safe to run on, and which ones have to be rested to avoid serious injury. Also, will most of these aches eventually go away as my body gets accustomed to the mileage? So far, I've had mild runner's knee and some pain on the top of one foot. The most problematic injury is a slightly swollen ankle that's stayed that way for over a week now. It affects my gait a bit, but as long as I take a pain reliever before a run it doesn't bother me.
Any advice from serious runners would be appreciated. And no, I'm not going to go to a doctor over a swollen ankle. Also, I have great shoes and don't have any over-pronation issues so these injuries are most likely just from increasing mileage too quickly--but that's something I can't help and I also can't afford to take time off from running unless it's absolutely necessary.
Thanks in advance.
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Replies
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Even though you seem to have a pretty good handle on this already, I'm going to chime in anyway.
If you have gone from running 0 to 25 miles in a week, you are asking for injuries. I don't know your particular situation, or if this is actually what you have done, but this type of quick escalation is dangerous, as you are starting to realize.
You may have wonderful shoes, but were you actually fitted for that particular shoe at a specialty running store where they analyzed your gait and determined the right kind of shoe for the way you run? If you are in the wrong shoe, it can and will cause injuries.
If your ankle is swollen, then you need to stop running on it and RICE treat it. Do the ice 3 to 4 times a day. Take Ibuprofen 3x a day.
Runner's knee can be run through with the proper aggressive treatments. Strengthen the quads. RICE. Do the ice 3 to 4 times a day. Take Ibuprofen 3x a day.
Pain on the top of the foot is probably some tendinitis. You can run through this as long as you treat it. Look for alternative methods of lacing your shoes to take pressure off the top of your foot. RICE. Do the ice 3 to 4 times a day. Take Ibuprofen 3x a day.
Pain that gets worse as you run is more than likely an injury and will need some kind of treatment to go away. Pain that starts to go away as you run is more than likely soreness from previous runs.
ETA: I just looked at your profile and see that you are trying to go from a 9:00 mile to sub 7:00 mile in a couple months time. This is a recipe for disaster. It's nearly impossible to gain that much fitness in that short a period of time. It take time and mile and miles over time, cumulative miles, to gain the fitness to go from 9 to 7. It can happen faster for the young and the gifted, but I find it highly unlikely that it can be done by anyone in less than half a year.0 -
This begs the question WHY can't you take time off? WHY do you have to up your milage so quickly? I'm guessing you are training for a 1/2 or full marathon or something? If so, would you mind sharing your race date and what program you are following. I admittedly slacked before my 1/2 marathon, but I was able to finsih with a time I was proud of even with a reduced training schedule.
That said-
Ice the feet and ankles. If you are not already and pain is fairly constant, take an anti inflammatory like advil. I'm only saying this since you won't go to a Dr. If there is pain in the ankle and it isn't just swollen, that is telling you there is inflammation and quite possibly DAMAGE that would need REST to heal properly.
Pain that is safe to run on-honestly, only your body will know that. You know your pain tolerance and you should be able to tell if a muscle was severely pulled or if it is just a bit tight.
As your body adjusts, a LOT of the different pains will diminish or disappear. But you also need to be aware that new ones creep up out of the blue. I was concerned about hip pain which i've had for several years. My hips were FINE my whole 1/2, but my right foot was KILLING me after. I had never had ANY pain in that foot prior.0 -
Now its time to recover. You have to build a base. If your motivation gets ahead of your conditioning you get injured every time. We all have gone through this and will probably go through it again no matter how much we know. Make sure you heal and recover so that you don't cause permanent damage.
How to build a base? Only increase your mileage 10% a week or so. If you start to develop tenderness or injury then take a look an see if it can be fixed without rest and recovery (ex; someone running clockwise on a track or trail will eventually wear out one side of their feet. The fix is to alternate counterclockwise or better yet dont' run in circles, did I stretch enough, hydrate enough, etc.)
Other than this:
stretching, and then more stretching
diet
hydration
properly fitted shoes, (getting new ones after 300-500 miles)
have your form checked (ex; are you a pronator, heel striker?)
good run days/rest days routine0 -
I saw that you have a goal with a firm end date (basic training) and are reluctant to slow your mileage increase, but if you don't slow it to 10% a week or so, you're going to end up at 0 (I'm saying this from experience). The more you push yourself to overtrain right now, the more likely you are to develop multiple injuries and as minor as they may seem, compounded will set you far back.
You said that the swollen ankle is affecting your gait....you will start to compensate for that and will find that another ache shows up maybe in your opposite hip. Add up all the little aches and you'll do more harm to your body and your running than taking a little recovery time would ever do.
Good luck to you, especially as you join the Marines. And don't feel like a 9 minute mile isn't good enough! I can't break 10 and I've been doing this for quite a while!0 -
Wait a minute--you want to be able to run a 5K in 21 minutes???? How long do you have to reach this goal? I just looked at the race results for a local race and of the top 10 women, 5 of them were under the age of 14. The rest of them were 30+. The top finisher in your age group was 27 minutes. I've been running for years and I cannot run a 7 minute mile to save my life, let alone hold that pace for 3 miles!0
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Even though you seem to have a pretty good handle on this already, I'm going to chime in anyway.
If you have gone from running 0 to 25 miles in a week, you are asking for injuries. I don't know your particular situation, or if this is actually what you have done, but this type of quick escalation is dangerous, as you are starting to realize.
You may have wonderful shoes, but were you actually fitted for that particular shoe at a specialty running store where they analyzed your gait and determined the right kind of shoe for the way you run? If you are in the wrong shoe, it can and will cause injuries.
If your ankle is swollen, then you need to stop running on it and RICE treat it. Do the ice 3 to 4 times a day. Take Ibuprofen 3x a day.
Runner's knee can be run through with the proper aggressive treatments. Strengthen the quads. RICE. Do the ice 3 to 4 times a day. Take Ibuprofen 3x a day.
Pain on the top of the foot is probably some tendinitis. You can run through this as long as you treat it. Look for alternative methods of lacing your shoes to take pressure off the top of your foot. RICE. Do the ice 3 to 4 times a day. Take Ibuprofen 3x a day.
Pain that gets worse as you run is more than likely an injury and will need some kind of treatment to go away. Pain that starts to go away as you run is more than likely soreness from previous runs.
ETA: I just looked at your profile and see that you are trying to go from a 9:00 mile to sub 7:00 mile in a couple months time. This is a recipe for disaster. It's nearly impossible to gain that much fitness in that short a period of time. It take time and mile and miles over time, cumulative miles, to gain the fitness to go from 9 to 7. It can happen faster for the young and the gifted, but I find it highly unlikely that it can be done by anyone in less than half a year.
Everything he said. You can't possible go from nothing to 25 miles a week and expect to stay injury free. As far as trying to move your time down that fast as well, bad idea. I've been running a little over a year. I started a half marathon training program July of 2011. Now I run about 25 miles a week average. My 5k time in July was 9:30, my half marathon was 10:13. Right now my 5k time is 7:52 and my half marathon in my last training run was 9:12. And this is all with consitant weekly mileage & speed training. I also wasn't trying to get faster, I just put in the consistant work of mileage.0 -
Wait a minute--you want to be able to run a 5K in 21 minutes???? How long do you have to reach this goal? I just looked at the race results for a local race and of the top 10 women, 5 of them were under the age of 14. The rest of them were 30+. The top finisher in your age group was 27 minutes. I've been running for years and I cannot run a 7 minute mile to save my life, let alone hold that pace for 3 miles!
Yeah, I just came in 2nd in my age group (35-39) with a time of 24:42. (it was a PR...I was so excited!!!) Which also beat the #1 in the 25-29 group. My husband who is super speedy is in the high 21 for a 5k and he has been running for 6 years.
I can't even imagine trying to go from 9 to sub 7 in 3 months. Not possible0 -
I'd still love to know how much time you have to know if this is even possible for you to acheive. I think your best bet may be to find a local high school/college coach who will take you under their wing and train you properly. 25 miles in 1 week to train for 3 miles is excessive unless the majority of that was sprints, intervals, etc.
For that kind of speed, you are also going to have to STRENGTHEN your legs a lot, so you need to hit the weights at the gym as well.0 -
I'd still love to know how much time you have to know if this is even possible for you to acheive. I think your best bet may be to find a local high school/college coach who will take you under their wing and train you properly. 25 miles in 1 week to train for 3 miles is excessive unless the majority of that was sprints, intervals, etc.
For that kind of speed, you are also going to have to STRENGTHEN your legs a lot, so you need to hit the weights at the gym as well.
Actually, this isn't true. The 5K race is about 90% aerobic, so the way to develop the aerobic system is lots of slow, aerobic running. Doing all that anaerobic workouts without the aerobic base to support it won't get you there. 25 miles is far from excessive. it's actually far too little. Competitive 5K runners log between 60 and 120 miles per week.
Edit : anaerobic workouts...0 -
Perhaps you all are right. To me it doesn't seem so far fetched though, considering the improvements I've made in just a month and a half. Of course, I don't know much about running or race times. All I know is that I do it now on my own or I'm going to have my *kitten* handed to me at PI.
As for the injuries--none of the pain is beyond the point of just being bothersome, which is why I asked. I assumed that most of this was normal and people run through it all the time. I just wanted to know what to look out for. For instance, if the ankle swelling doesn't go down in the next few days--then what? I've read about ice-baths and things of that nature as well for curing aches. Or is simply taking advil good enough?
*Also I have 13 weeks left and have been lifting weights for several years so strengthening shouldn't be an issue. I plan on continuing weight-lifting up until I leave--but only do it on my off-days from running. Weight-lifting has and probably always will my top fitness priority--but for now I need to increase aerobic capacity and do it quickly.0 -
Rest until the pain is gone. I'm a novice runner and went from zero to 50+ mile/week in a month. I ran through the pain without painkillers. It was a mild pain so I thought it's just muscle soreness. The mild pain turned into a sharp stab in one run and I was barely able to walk. I still have pain when I walk, three weeks later.0
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Perhaps you all are right. To me it doesn't seem so far fetched though, considering the improvements I've made in just a month and a half. Of course, I don't know much about running or race times. All I know is that I do it now on my own or I'm going to have my *kitten* handed to me at PI.
As for the injuries--none of the pain is beyond the point of just being bothersome, which is why I asked. I assumed that most of this was normal and people run through it all the time. I just wanted to know what to look out for. For instance, if the ankle swelling doesn't go down in the next few days--then what? I've read about ice-baths and things of that nature as well for curing aches. Or is simply taking advil good enough?
Minor injuries have a way of going from "nagging" to full blown debilitating very quickly. I learned that the hard way (my IT band was tight but not killing me, I ended up walking the last 7km of a half marathon because DNF was not an option and then missed 6 weeks of running)
RICE, the R stands for Rest.0 -
I stand corrected. Not sure where the length of run changes from sprint/power to distance/endurance. After running a half, a 5K seems like a sprint to me!LOLI'd still love to know how much time you have to know if this is even possible for you to acheive. I think your best bet may be to find a local high school/college coach who will take you under their wing and train you properly. 25 miles in 1 week to train for 3 miles is excessive unless the majority of that was sprints, intervals, etc.
For that kind of speed, you are also going to have to STRENGTHEN your legs a lot, so you need to hit the weights at the gym as well.
Actually, this isn't true. The 5K race is about 90% aerobic, so the way to develop the aerobic system is lots of slow, aerobic running. Doing all that anaerobic workouts without the aerobic base to support it won't get you there. 25 miles is far from excessive. it's actually far too little. Competitive 5K runners log between 60 and 120 miles per week.
Edit : anaerobic workouts...0 -
I stand corrected. Not sure where the length of run changes from sprint/power to distance/endurance. After running a half, a 5K seems like a sprint to me!LOLI'd still love to know how much time you have to know if this is even possible for you to acheive. I think your best bet may be to find a local high school/college coach who will take you under their wing and train you properly. 25 miles in 1 week to train for 3 miles is excessive unless the majority of that was sprints, intervals, etc.
For that kind of speed, you are also going to have to STRENGTHEN your legs a lot, so you need to hit the weights at the gym as well.
Actually, this isn't true. The 5K race is about 90% aerobic, so the way to develop the aerobic system is lots of slow, aerobic running. Doing all that anaerobic workouts without the aerobic base to support it won't get you there. 25 miles is far from excessive. it's actually far too little. Competitive 5K runners log between 60 and 120 miles per week.
Edit : anaerobic workouts...
It's not the distance that changes it from one to the other, but the level of exertion.
I've run races from 400m to the marathon. I have to say, of them all, a properly raced 5K is the most painful distance. Period.
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I had this dull nagging pain in myfoot. I could run on it. I had a full marathon I was training for and was bumping up my mileage like crazy. I ignore the twinges. My Achilles pain wasnt "bothersome" until it ripped. 3 months in a boot, 3 months of mild activity, and starting over from scratch= SUCKS!
#1 reason for all your pains: too much too soon too fast. Don't argue about how blah blah blah. You are not a science experiment of 1. What you are doing is in general not the wisest course of action. Scale back and take the time to do it right. You might survive doing it wrong, but somewhere along the line you are going to pay for that.0
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