How to Avoid Running Injuries. Impatience is More Dangerous Than we Think!

Can you predict the number one way to avoid running injuries? Read more to find out!

I had a little pity party in my IG stories yesterday* that it seems A LOT of you can relate to...Over 150 raised hands in solidarity and a whole bunch of DMs told me so. I'm a little over 36 weeks into this pregnancy, which means it's been a little over 5 weeks since I've done any consistent running. Except if you count chasing around my 2-year-old whose new favorite game is apparently "Run Away" 🙄. I'm officially at that point where I'm overly jealous of anyone I see out running! My husband raced a local 5k on Monday. My kids even did the kid's fun run. I had some serious race envy. Then yesterday, I was walking on the treadmill at the gym after my strength workout and saw this woman positively gliding around the track outside the window. Aaahhhh, I just want that to be me.

AND

I know that what I'm doing right now is exactly what my body needs. The strength training I'm doing (like that in my Running for 2 U Course) directly supports the needs of my body during pregnancy and for returning to running down the road. The swim I did in the pool this morning felt amazing. I know I will get back there with the running! This and the conversations I've had in my DMs got me thinking about my return to running postpartum. Part of that is: Intentional rehab: Identifying and working on the relative strengths and weaknesses in my body.  A huge part of that is intentional strength training while working on orientation and rotation (things you hear me talk about a lot).​The other part is a bit less tangible, but in my opinion, much more important!

That brings me to my tagline…

The number one predictor of injury for runners is IMPATIENCE!
 

Whether you are returning to running postpartum, after an injury, after sickness, or simply extended time off, it's important to remember true progress takes time! Allowing your body to adapt to the demands of training takes time (months and years not weeks)! When you push beyond what your body can handle, too much too soon, that's typically when an injury occurs. Wrapped up with impatience is ego, competitiveness, comparison, and having your identity wrapped up in your sport (this last one is HUGE and deserves its own whole conversation).

A recent research paper indicated the following as some of the main risk factors for injury in sports:

High athletic identity 

When your self-worth is wrapped up in your sport, ego can take over pushing you to do too much too soon and ignore the warning signs of potential injury until it’s too late.

Perfectionistic concerns 

Again that ego, the need to do it all and do it right now can create a habit of over-training.

Negative life stress 

Stress on the body comes from many places, not just your training. Compounding stresses from life (moms right now especially, I’m looking at you) can lower your ability to recover from training. This means you may need to progress more slowly when life hands your big stresses!

Poor coach/athlete relationship 

(or in my opinion lack of coaching or support in general)  - If you have a coach, but don’t feel supported enough to report pain or be allowed to listen to your body and problem-solve, it can lead to small problems becoming much bigger problems. If you don’t have a coach or support at all, it’s hard to see the forest through the trees. The study actually showed that good coaching can out way all the above other factors and help make injury “less probable.”

100% yes, set big goals and go for it, but also recognize and plan for the time it takes to get there and set yourself up for success in the process with some very intentionally progressed programming keeping YOUR mind, body, life, and goals in mind!

I speak more on recovery, strength training, and negative life stress in other articles feel free to browse them here. It's important as athletes that we are informed and train with purpose. 

Your Coach,
Alison

*this blog was originally written in July, 2022