By Athlete's Care on March 21, 2017
It's that time of year again... spring is in the air, birds are chirping and fair weather runners like myself start to strap on their running shoes again! Whether you are delving into training for your next race, or just running for your personal goals, here are some tips to help you avoid injury.
1. Slow and steady wins the race. Progress slowly. Do not increase any element of your training too quickly. 10% per week is a good amount of distance to increase per week. Give yourself an extra week or two in your training schedule... you may need it for recovery.
2. Do more runs, not less. You are better off to do four runs of 20 min runs in a week instead of two 40 minute runs.
3. Only change one element per week. Do not add hills AND intervals in the same week.
4. If you feel an injury coming on, take a step back. Go back to the amount of running you were doing before the injury started and stay there for a week or two. If the injury doesn't go away, it might be time to seek professional help.
5. Stretch and strengthen. A good base before your running season of glut, hamstring, hip flexor and core strength will go a long way and maintaining that strength throughout the season will really help keep you injury free (and running better!). Anyone who runs needs to incorporate some stretching into your program too.
6. Keep a healthy weight. Of all the factors associated with running injuries overtraining and a higher body mass seem to have the highest correlation with injury. On the flip side, a low BMI has also been associated with an increase in stress fractures and spinal injuries in women. Stress the HEALTHY in healthy weight!!
Rebecca is a 4 time half marathoner and a Registered Physiotherapist with specialist training in running injuries. Appointments with Rebecca can be made at our Athlete's Care Hamilton location.