5 Tips To Avoid Injury For Runners

I've been an avid runner endurance runner for over 20 years. My first 8 years was injury after injury. I'm straight up addicted to running so being sidelined was a NIGHTMARE! I’m now 41 years old and running more miles than ever. I haven’t been injured since 2008 (well, unless I meet the asphalt on my bike..YIKES!)

I’m going to share 5 tips with you that have been key to me staying injury free, feeling stronger and faster then in my 20s and 30s.

1 - DON’T RUN EVERYDAY

Wait, what?? Yes, your read that right! Even while training for my 100 miler events, I only run 5 days a week. I may do double runs on some of those days but I always give my body 2 days week without running.

I’m not saying take them off. MOVE! Jump on your bike, go for a swim… CROSS TRAIN! The daily high impact of running can lead to overuse of the muscles. Then you start compensating in other areas and BAM! Before you know it… SIDELINED!

PLUS, you don’t get burnt out from daily running. The more you enjoy running, the more likely you are to stay CONSISTENT!!

2 - Proper warm up.  

We all know this but we don’ all do it. Taking time to warm up was a rough one for me for YEARS!! As a mom of 4, wife, and gosh, just LIFE… time isn’t always on my side and I would just go right into my main set. No! DON’T DO IT! You’re better off cutting into some of your main set then skipping your warm up!

This is a great time to get some dynamic stretches done, strides and work on form. Prepping the joints and ligaments for the training its about to do. PLUS, you feel SO much stronger on your main set. Skipping 100 meters is GREAT in the warmup but don’t SKIP the warmup ;)

3 - Hill work WORKS!!

MOST avoid hills. “Hills mess with my MPH” “Hills are HARD”. Ever said anything like this to yourself? Ignore the MPH. GO with EFFORT! Training on hills improves leg-muscle strength, quickens your stride, develops your cardiovascular system,  and can even protect your leg muscles against soreness. In short, hill running will make you a stronger, faster and healthier runner.

4 - Dial in on your cadence

Working your running cadence can help you decrease fatigue so you can run longer. A higher cadence is associated with decreased ground reaction forces. These are the forces exerted on your body by the ground when your foot hits it. More simply put, a higher cadence means less impact. A higher cadence also helps you land UNDER your hips rather than over-striding. Less impact. Less injuries.

5 - Strength train

This one was hard for me to incorporate. I wanted to RUN not be pumping iron at the gym. I don’t LOVE strength train like I LOVE running BUT… I LOVE the results of strength train.  Strength training has the potential to reduce your injury risk by correcting muscle imbalances and improving muscle activation, as well as increasing the efficiency of your running biomechanics which results in improved running performance.

There you have it!! Go grab a friend and lace up…TIME TO RUN!