Top Ten Ways To Avoid Running Injuries:
1) Pay attention to your body.
Don’t ignore what your body is telling you. If something is hurting pay attention to it, find out why, and change what is making it hurt. Rest if necessary, but if the pain doesn’t fade, don’t forget a visit to the doctor’s office if necessary.
2) Avoid the terrible “too’s”.
Don’t do too much, too soon, too often, too fast, too hard, with too little rest.
3) Don’t change things that are working.
Don’t look for the latest and greatest running shoe or even training method if what you’re already doing is giving you the desired effects and performance.
4) Increase training slowly.
The 10% rule for most people is the maximum increase per week, not the minimum. Every third week drop your mileage significantly before moving ahead again from the previous week.
5) Wear running shoes (sport specific shoes) and change them frequently
Don’t run in tennis or cross trainer shoes. Make certain to replace your running shoes every 350 – 450 miles of running. If you run over 30 miles per week, and perhaps even less, make sure you use your shoes exclusively for running.
6) Eat healthy: Not too much, not too little, and a bit less junk
Don’t forget to eat enough healthy foods. Make certain to have adequate calcium and healthy fats (such as the omega fats found in certain fish and fish oil capsules). You need fuel to exercise.
7) Strength train two to three days per week.
Musculoskeletal fitness is one of the pillars of fitness. Strength training can be helpful for a variety of reasons. Core strengthening helps many people. On days where you may be doing both running and strength training, run first, if you are primarily a runner.
Warm up gently before running, Stretch gently when finished
Stretching is not a warm up. It is a flexibility exercise. Evidence is mixed on whether it helps avoid injury, but studies of stretching before running do not show any benefit. Stretching works better after you are warmed up. Run easy for your first 10 minutes of running. There are many changes that your body will be making to make your running go smoothly, efficiently and easily.
9) Use a Carb/Protein mix after long runs and after hard runs or workouts.
This can be a chocolate milk shake or a protein powder mix to replenish the protein and carbs that you used to help recovery.
10) Enjoy your runs and workouts.
This should ultimately be fun time, and something you look forward to. Find new paths if you need them, use old favorites if you prefer. Find something to enjoy on each run.
