Are Running Injuries Really Inevitable? (Read 217 times)

I guess I’m just looking for some experiences of where you (or someone you know) went a very long time without an injury.  I’ve read of statistics that 70% of runners get injured in a calendar year.  Reading stories here on RA, I’ve noticed that injuries are mentioned quite often.

Coming from a road cycling background, this is something new for me.  Excluding crashes, cyclists don’t get injured very often.  Injury prevention rarely entered my consciousness.  I did no stretching, no warm-up or cool-down, and almost never had problems.  I would pummel my body on rides and just look forward to the attendant fitness gains without fearing injury.

Part of the reason I signed on to the ‘Run Less, Run Faster’ program is that it promised a reduction in injuries to runners that had suffered them when running more days and miles per week.  The program does call for much harder runs for the three that are done per week.  So far, so good for me.  I only just this week put my long run up to 8 miles.  I try to do a tempo run every week but if I’m feeling a bit off, I temper it somewhat.  I foam roll before and after every run.  I walk a half mile before and after every run.  I start even my tempo runs at a much slower pace for at least the first mile.

I looked into the Galloway approach also but was completely turned off by his insistence on walking breaks.  That’s just something I won’t do.  I don’t doubt it has some merit at preventing injuries but it would ruin the experience for me.

I think given that I’m only running three times per week, I may not need the reduction in mileage that some put into their schedules for every fourth week regardless of how they feel.  I can see this as being very beneficial if you’re running high mileage and running most days of the week, however.

So, no matter what program you’ve been on, have you been able to stay injury free?  I don’t count the minor aches and pains that can be safely run through.  I’m talking about injuries where you truly will cause more damage if you continue and that force you to actually stop running for a period of time.  I realize that some might not want to “jinx” themselves by announcing that they’ve been able to do this.  I’m not superstitious at all but I understand that some are.

It’s my hope that by continuing to follow my program, I can stay injury-free and that they’re not inevitable.  Maybe I’m not being realistic, however…

Thanks.

Part of it depends on your definition of an injury, and part of it depends on a whole combination of things including: luck, genetics, care and maintenance, career, age, lifestyle, how close to the red line you train, etc.

 

I went almost 9 years at one point without a significant running injury from about 2004 to 2013. Those years included the highest mileage period of my life--I averaged around 3000 miles per year from 2007 through 2013. When the injury bug did start to bite I honestly think it had more do to real life more than the mileage--mostly sitting too much, at a desk, in cars, trains and airplanes, not sleeping enough, traveling too much for work, etc.

 

I highly recommend the book Anatomy for Runners by Jay Dicharry.

Interesting.  I agree that non-running activities can make a big difference.  As I mentioned in my introductory thread, I have dealt with running injuries before when I tried it many years ago.  I think part of what has helped this time is that my body is in better shape and condition overall.  I have strong quads from years of cycling and that no doubt has helped my knees track better.  I’m keeping up one hard ride per week partly to maintain this.  I also have a much stronger core this time and I think that helps.

I do sit all day at an office job but hopefully the other things will work to offset this.

That was a long period of time you had with no significant injuries.  That shows that it can be done.

Thanks for the tip about the book.

Yeah for me more miles and specifically more EASY miles has been key. Some of it is just that lifetime volume making me a bit more durable, some of it is experience giving me the ability to recognize early warning signs and prehab them away before they can prevent me from running, and the easy miles in between hard days really force you to know your limits and stay within them. You're less likely to race your workouts when you know you still have to jog an hour the next day.

 

Some of RLRF's claims are a bit specious to me. It's just a way to train that works if you're a multisport athlete who wants to race well but doesn't want to give up your other sport/cross-training.

I had read some of your blog last week and that was actually part of what prompted me to make this post.  I read about your long comeback from injury and how tough it was.  So many runners face this.  I haven’t read the more recent entries but it sounds like you’ve worked out a good program to keep you injury free.

I don’t really want to make this a debate about ‘Run Less, Run Faster’ but I’m just interested to hear of others’ experiences with whatever programs they’ve been using.  I think what is key is to be very aware of one’s body regardless of the training plan and be ready to ease up when necessary.  I’m hoping my ‘prehab’ routine will also help me as it has helped you.

Thanks.

Jason-  unfortunately all the running we do doesn't exactly counteract the sitting.  Sitting all day , which many of us do, is really really bad.  I make it a point (with the help of my Apple watch) to get up at least every hour and walk around the halls or up and down the steps.  Sitting is bad on a lot of levels, and most of us don't sit with good posture, either.  There have been a lot of articles and studies lately on the pitfalls of all our sitting.  It's regarded as the "new smoking."

I've been running for over 40 years and have had my share of injuries, and when they hit they can last for awhile.  I tend to get hip/upper hamstring things and they are hard to fix.  I'm an older runner, and find that running very easy helps me avoid injury.

I guess I’m just looking for some experiences of where you (or someone you know) went a very long time without an injury.  I’ve read of statistics that 70% of runners get injured in a calendar year.  Reading stories here on RA, I’ve noticed that injuries are mentioned quite often.

 

 

Part of the reason I signed on to the ‘Run Less, Run Faster’ program is that it promised a reduction in injuries to runners that had suffered them when running more days and miles per week. 

This is a great question.  A large number competitive runners deal with occasional nagging pains, minor injuries that just go away with rest or the less frequent major injury.  Not an expert here but in my experience, it's a function of overtraining.  I've personally committed this sin in a number of different ways.  Sudden surges to high volumes at low intensity have gotten me.  Introducing too much additional speedwork at one time has also bit me.  I use a Stryd foot pod which tracks a metric called Running Stress Score.  It's essentially a function of Duration x Effort (calculated by grade adjusted pace over hills).  In other words, the theory is that your total "Running Stress" is contributed to both by speed and time and you are still accumulating stress even by going slow and easy.  I'm not saying that you need a Stryd foot pod but if there is a sudden spike in your Running Stress (you can estimate it on your own), then there may be an injury risk.  Each time I've had to take injury timeouts were after a very steep increase in this "running stress".  The problem is that competitive runners tend to toe the line of "overtraining" vs. "productive training" which probably contributes to that high percentage of reported injuries.

As far as "Run Less, Run Faster" goes, I tried this to train for my first few marathons.  "Run Less, Run Faster" absolutely made me faster.  I could really crank out some pretty impressive training runs (for me) in a few short months of this.  The problem is, that it left me with an extremely poor aerobic base and I was crashing hard at 18-20 miles despite strong, comfortable starts.  The single biggest breakthrough that I made was ditching RLRF in favor more frequent, consistent easy mileage (without overtraining).

Hope this helps!

Milktruck has a great post as usual. I think some runners are gifted with speed. Some runners are gifted with the ability to stay healthy. I run everyday. I'm not fast, but I am able to run at least a mile a day everyday without getting hurt. I know some runners who can't streak because they need the rest day without a run. We are all an experiment of one.

I'll admit that i haven't read anything but the title, but in short, to answer your question: Yes.

I want to say, it is hard to avoid running a small hurt, running when we listen to the body to more to own signal, reasonable arrangement of running program in one week, I was run 3-4 times a week, aerobic jogging is given priority to, close to the game will do some running and intermittent running, recently conducted a cross-country race in their muscle strength or not much now