Injuries For newbies (Read 1068 times)

Make sure you aren't running in broken down shoes is an important start. If your shoes are old, go get properly fitted at a running store.

It does take some time for your body to adjust to the impact of running. What kind of running are you doing -  treadmill, outside, hills, grass, etc? Many new runners need to slow down at first. That's a common suggestion as well you'll likely hear. 

I bought some trainers that were to suit a neutral foot and slight under pronation. I chose these due to a wet foot print test and the wear on old trainers. So hopefully the trainers are ok for my feet.

  I have been running out doors on grass/trail and pavement mostly.

My fitness is ok but I never have concentrated on my running before. (Just measured my pulse before I got out of bed and it went down to 47, and Last year I got my HR up to a max 202).

  I hurt  my shoulder last summer and it still isnt fixed properly so I gave up weight training which I was doing 3 times a week and I also gave up mixed martial arts November again hoping to sort my shoulder out.

  So I thought it was about time I did something active and running seems to be a good idea to improve my fitness and for something to do that I will hopefully enjoy more as and when I get a bit better.

pjr:  mid-foot is generally considered best.  2 miles/day every day is better than 3 miles/day on alternating days to start with.  Actually, it is usually better to measure time than distance, i.e. 20 minutes daily rather than 2 miles.  Once you are comfortable with 20 minutes daily, alternate 20 minutes and 30 minutes for a few weeks, then push to 30 minutes daily.

dcm:  do you stretch at all?  I have a seriously messed up right calf, part of the medial gastroc separated from the Achilles due to a skiing accident several years ago, and then a year later I had a soleus strain because it was working too hard for the bad gastroc.  Stretching before a run is very controversial, but it is part of what works for me.  I stretch calves (wall push), hamstrings (leg on a stool), and quads (pull heel to butt) before I run.  If you are inexperienced at stretching, be extremely gentle to start with.  

Both of ya:  it takes a while to develop aerobic base and running economy.  You can do this with daily runs at an easy pace to start with.  An easy pace is literally one where you feel like you can run all day, while holding a conversation.  If you can be patient enough, work up to runs of 30 minutes daily and hold steady there for a month, then think about adding some speed on one day, and some extra distance on another, like running for an hour.  Here a "speed" day is what would be called a tempo run, where you run easy for 10 minutes, run hard for 10-20 minutes, then run easy for 10 minutes.  Finally, by running daily you can get into the habit of doing a recovery run after a hard run, something which many people don't do because they believe themselves to be too sore, when in reality it teaches the body to recover faster from hard efforts.  The greatest part of just starting out is that you can expect to post improved race times for years to come, as your running economy improves, your aerobic fitness improves, your racing experience broadens, and as the amount of time spent running increases.   

My tuppence worth:

I'd go the other way and say that you should run slightly longer but with a lower frequency but each to their own. I'm an engineering graduate student, not a sports 'scientist' (yes, that is a dig). To be honest though, it depends entirely what your goal is. Are you planning on running to lose weight, to win the Olympics or for the most beautiful reason: just for the sake of running?

With regards to shoes and foot-strikes. I'm in the barefoot camp so would strongly recommend against going to your local running shop. They're not trained in anything except how to sell expensive shoes. I'm somewhat cynical since I know fine-well that none of these shop workers have any professional training (why would you be working in a shoe shop on minimum wage if you were an expert in biomechanics?!). I have multiple friends that work, or have worked, in local shops and it just so happens that often the most 'supportive' shoes are also the ones that the shop makes the biggest profit on.

The way I look at it, is that you want your legs to become conditioned and more resilient in order to allow you to run more miles. Shoes that are designed to reduce pronation (which is a natural shock-absorbing mechanism) allow you to run longer because they minimise the work done by the supporting muscles, that's the 'science' behind the hard foam used on the medial part of the sole. However, they also allow those muscles to atrophy rather than become stronger and more conditioned. The classic analogy is the wearing of a cast on your wrist: after you take it off, the wrist tends to be weaker and people are often prescribed strengthening exercises. It's a bit much to say shoes act exactly like this, but it is a very similar situation. Except that you wear the shoes through choice.

For me, the outcome of running in ultra-thin shoes has been that my running style has altered somewhat. My stride is a little shorter but I now land on my mid or forefoot, rather than my heel. I personally feel the thin shoes have allowed me to run much further without getting sore muscles but as a student of the physical sciences, I know I can't make such a broad claim because there are far too many other effects to take into account (I'm lucky enough to have never been injured except for a bad case of shin-splints caused by too-much-too-soon-itis).

One final point about shoes: regardless of the science, or lack thereof,  in the design of FiveFingers or their antitheses that are proffered upon you in your local running shop, you should wear whatever you feel best in and whatever works for you. Running is completely personal. I wear FiveFingers because they make every run feel like I'm a kid again and I'm going out to play. Everyone has their own reasons, you'll have to find yours for yourself.

Please forgive me for the essay and somewhat off-topic content. Please message me if you want any advice. Running changed my life and I love nothing more than seeing someone else discover the joy of miles.