Injuries are a runners worst nightmare. Over the years I have had many scares but thankfully have avoided serious injury. Along the way I have learnt a lot of lessons, many the hard way. These days I have a good track record of avoiding injury and it’s been years since I have logged a zero week. In this post I am going to share some of the things I do to stay injury free and keep myself consistently running.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional, this is just an account of some of the methods I employ to stay injury free. Some evidence based some anecdotal.

🧘Curb Your Enthusiasm

Running is addictive. Once you get hooked on endorphins it’s easy to get caught up wanting to rack up the miles. Sadly your body has other ideas and cannot match your enthusiasm. Physiological adaptions take weeks to take effect. Bones take 4 weeks to rebuild and get weaker before they get stronger. This is why stress fractures often occur 4 weeks after ramping up running load. Holding back takes self control but is necessary if you want to make running a sustainable hobby.

I recommend the Couch to 5k Training Plan for those starting from minimal fitness. If you have a reasonable base level of fitness or are returning from injury then I recommend 3 x 30 minute runs per week for 4 weeks before building up volume from there.

Related: Get up and Running with the Couch to 5k Training Plan

❌ Avoid Training Errors

In my early running days I went to the Podiatrist with a sore foot worried about a stress fracture. He assured me it was nothing serious but said that I had made a ‘training error’.

Training errors are the most common cause of overuse injuries. A training error is caused by a too rapid acceleration of intensity or duration of running. My Podiatrist told me to track my Acute / Chronic Workload Ratio. I started using this simple metric to ensure I no longer made ‘training errors’. I elaborate more on this metric in my post about trail running training tools.

As a good rule of thumb, if your Strava graph looks like a ski jump a cliff face is imminent.

Related: My Trail Running Training Tools

📈Consistency is Key

The key to avoiding training errors is to stay consistent and only increase training load gradually. Once you have a few years of consistency behind you your body will become more robust. You will learn to understand your limits better and intuitively know how much running you can handle.

This quote from a Feel the Byrn substack article sums it up well.

🐌Easy Runs Easy

In the past I made the mistake of wanting to go hard and fast on every run. I had the classic Aussie male mentality of ‘go hard or go home’. I have since learned the error of my ways. Aerobic base training forms the foundation of my fitness and recovery runs work miracles.

The key rules I follow are:

• Keep your easy runs easy. Remember the purpose for each run.
• Recovery runs should be so slow and you feel better at the end than when you started
• Maximum of 2-3 hard sessions per week. Everything else should be easy / recovery runs

💪 A Little Strength Goes a Long Way

This year I started incorporating more strength work into my weekly routine. It makes me feel much stronger and more confident in my body. Any strength work is better than none. Even the smallest of exercises can be beneficial for injury prevention.

After each injury scare I walk away from the Physio with a few exercises to work on. Now I have a repertoire of exercises to help prevent certain injuries that I cycle through. I aim to do at least 1 hour of strength work per week. I am learning to enjoy lifting weights and the extra strength gives me confidence in my body.

Related: Blackmailed into Strength: How Beeminder Makes Me Lift Weights

🛌 Rest and Recovery

Adequate rest and recovery is imperative for locking in fitness gains and avoiding injury. Listen to your body. Don’t stubbornly follow a plan if your body is falling apart. Rest days are important and can save you from future turmoil. Recovery weeks are also important. I generally plan to have a recovery week every few weeks depending on my load and focus. These are weeks where the volume and intensity is reduced compared to the average.

Every morning I monitor my heart rate variability (HRV) and fill in a subjective questionnaire. I use the HRV4Training app which provides me with guidance on whether to proceed with training or take it easy. I find this is a helpful tool that makes me reflect on how I am feeling each day and adjust my training accordingly.

Related: My Trail Running Training Tools

⛽Fuel for Success

If you are running a lot you need to eat a lot while running and afterwards. Fuelling your body is important for performance and recovery from training stimuli.

After a long run or intense effort I aim to eat something high in protein and carbs within a 30 minute window of completion. Getting in heaps of calories during long runs is good training for events and also helps speed up recovery. I use a nutrition scorecard to rate myself on each long run nutrition, this helps train myself to get better with my nutrition strategies.

Related: Nutrition Spreadsheet – Dial Your Ultramarathon Race Nutrition

🧐Monitor your Niggles

Keep track of your niggles. I use a training journal and note niggles and pains when they arise. This gives me a history of the pain. This information proves helpful if I end up going to see a physio.

Don’t push through increasing pain! My personal rule is that if the pain is below 3/10 and not increasing then I will continue and monitor. If the pain is greater than 3/10 and increasing then I stop and adapt my training plan.

When a niggle becomes an injury concern I implement ‘the 3 day rule’, this involves 3 days off running completely. If the pain has not improved after 3 days then I look into seeing a specialist. Usually most things resolve after 3 days and I can return to my usual programming.

One of the reasons I stay injury free is because I am a mild hypochondriac. I worry about aches and pains. I feel that I am probably not always reaching my full potential due to conservative reactions to niggles. But it’s far better to make it to a start line slightly undercooked than overdone.

👩‍⚕️See a Specialist

My experience is that GPs aren’t very helpful for running injuries. They don’t understand running and how important running is to our lifestyles. I have always been given extremely conservative advice such as ‘take it easy’ or ‘have a few weeks off running’. I only want to have a few weeks off if I am seriously injured.

These days I book into see the relevant specialist for the complaint. If it’s foot related I see the Podiatrist or anything else and I will see the Physio. I have been lucky to find specialists who are runners and are able to determine if my injury is serious or not. I am almost always told what I want to hear. My physio has never told me to stop running, only ever to reduce load slightly and do exercises. Exactly the kind of information I want to receive.

🗄️Keep your Own Medical Record

This is something I started doing when I began using Obsidian to take notes. After every Physio appointment I go home and type up my own summary of the consultation. I note the findings, exercises prescribed and the outcome.

This has become a useful resource for me to review when an issue arises. I can often look back and find the issue previously and can see what needs to be done to remedy it. I’ve seen the physio so many times about so many different niggles that I can now draw from this knowledge base to know how to treat most of my problems when they arise.

🚲Diversify your Hobbies

If you do get injured or need to have some time off running it is important to have other options to maintain your fitness and sanity. If you go all in on running and it is taken away from you it is devastating for your mental health. To prevent a full nervous breakdown you should build up a few alternatives to running.

I bought a gravel bike. This is the classic trail runners back up plan. I also have a gym membership so I can do low impact cardio on the elliptical or bike. If I need to give my legs a rest I turn to these activities to get my cardio fix. If and when I do get injured I have my gravel bike waiting to get the usage it deserves.

Summing Up

While running can be a fantastic way to stay fit and healthy, it’s important to approach it with care. By incorporating these key strategies you can significantly reduce your risk of running injuries and enjoy a long and fulfilling running career.

Remember, every runner’s journey is unique. What works for me may not work for you. The most important thing is to listen to your body, seek expert advice when necessary, and above all, have fun!

Here is a summary of my list of 11 things you can do:

1. 🧘 Curb Your Enthusiasm
2. ❌ Avoid Training Errors
3. 📈 Consistency is Key
4. 🐌 Easy Runs Easy
5. 💪 A Little Strength Goes a Long Way
6. 🛌 Rest and Recovery
7. ⛽ Fuel for Success
8. 🧐 Monitor your Niggles
9. 👩‍⚕️ See a Specialist
10. 🗄️ Keep your Own Medical Record
11. 🚲 Diversify your Hobbies