How to avoid running injuries and ease back into running — 8 tips from an Olympian.
These tactical moves and tools may help us stay in the game longer, with less pain.
Buy-in
At least once a month, I receive an email from a reader of this newsletter or my book, Not Too Late, asking how to run without pain.
The messages typically fall into three categories:
I’ve run my whole life, but I’m starting to feel weird twinges. What should I do?
I used to run but got hurt. How do I ease back into it without getting re-injured?
I’ve never been a runner, and I’d like to start but don’t want to get hurt. Any tips?
As someone who didn’t begin running until age 45, not getting hurt has been more important to me than being fast. Injuries at any age aren’t great; in middle age, they are like drawing the physical equivalent of a Monopoly “GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL” card.
I have one person to thank for staying in the game nine years — my running coach Jessica O’Connell of Fast Forward Run Coaching.
Jess is a former Olympian and clinical exercise physiologist based in Canada. (More about how Jess transformed my body and mind in this Nov. 8 newsletter.) She coaches runners of all ages, and levels.
I asked her to take over the Not Too Late newsletter today and share her top running injury-prevention strategies. (Paid subscribers to Not Too Late receive 15% off the first three months of training with Jess.)
Olympian Jessica O’Connell
Post
Jess here!
It’s no secret that runners get injured. Research suggests that the overall yearly incidence rate for running injuries is between 37% and 56%, so if you don’t currently have a running injury, you probably know someone who does. (Source 2.)
Though running injuries are common, they aren’t a necessary rite of passage in your sporting journey. Injuries generally happen during a period of over-training or under-recovery, meaning that your body isn’t able to respond adequately to the demands being placed on it. Often, this happens from mistakes in training - doing too much, too soon.
Here are a few of my favorite must-dos to increase your odds of staying healthy —and as a bonus, they’ll help you run faster too!
1. Take the talk test
Running like you’re being chased by a bear every single session can really beat your body down and is not the most productive way to build fitness. For most people, the majority of your runs should pass the “talk test.”
The talk test means you could easily chat with a pal if you were running together (or to yourself, if you’re solo!) Certainly if you’re doing an interval workout, you’ll move much quicker and talking won’t be appealing. But performing most of your mileage at an easier chatty pace keeps running sustainable.
One exception: if you’re new to running, it may be impossible to chat as you get going. This will improve over time, but in the interim, try to run as relaxed as possible. The key is to avoid pushing the pace or “hammering” by forcing yourself to go faster and faster.
2. Avoid over-striding & consider cadence
Many runners run with an “over-striding” gait, meaning that their foot strikes the ground in front of their torso (over-striding), rather than under their torso (ideal).
When this happens, much more force is transferred through lower legs and knees, which can lead to overload.
To determine if you’re over-striding, ask someone to film you running with a side view. If you are over-striding, try lifting your knees more and placing your feet “down”, rather than reaching with each step.
You can also try increasing your cadence (steps per minute) by taking shorter, more frequent steps. Shorter, quicker steps means less time during each step for your legs to swing in front of you, ideally reducing over-striding.
3. Strength train key body parts
Strength training with a focus on hip stability and glute activation drastically reduces your risk of injury by improving your running economy and strengthening muscles ready for the job.
The stronger you are, the more your body is able to absorb force. Focus on single-leg exercises targeting hip stabilizers such as:
Videos for theses moves included in the links above.
4. Trigger point release with lacrosse ball
After a run, make friends with a hard lacrosse ball.
Place the ball on the ground and sink your lower leg or hip/glute into it, using gravity to create pressure with the ball. If you find a sore spot (a trigger point), pause on that spot for a few minutes. You may not feel different in real-time, but your legs will thank you tomorrow!
[Wendy popping in for a moment: in addition to the lacrosse ball, here are some of my favorite tools for strengthening the ankles and feet.]
5. Don’t forget fuel
You need energy to fuel and repair before and after a long hard run, and skimping on energy leaves you prone to under recovery.
Have a carb-rich snack before and after a long or hard session. If you train in the morning and don’t want to wake up early just to eat, grabbing a quick granola bar or banana (at minimum!) is exponentially better than nothing.
6. Be mindful of volume AND intensity
A lot of runners are wary of increasing their running mileage, fearing that running too much can lead to injury.
Not all miles are created equal though — faster, more intense running puts much more force through your body than easier, slower running and can lead to overload, even if your mileage isn’t that high.
Injuries happen when you do drastically more work (be it mileage OR intensity) relative to the average of what you’ve done over the preceding few weeks.
By gradually increasing your mileage and being mindful of carefully layering in intensity, you can build your training volume safely as your body becomes conditioned to accept the loads placed on it.
7. Prioritize consistency
Alexi Pappas, a 2016 Olympian in the 10,000 m (6.2 miles) and author of “Bravey: Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain, and Other Big Ideas,” speaks about her Rule of Thirds on the Rich Roll podcast. (Source 3.)
She shares that when you’re doing something hard (like running!) it’s realistic to expect that about one-third of your sessions will feel great, one-third will feel medium, and one-third will feel real tough.
And if this ratio is massively off, you should reexamine what you’re doing.
I couldn’t agree more. In running, the best predictor of success isn’t feeling like a rockstar every single session — it’s showing up consistently over a long period of time. On days when motivation or time is an issue (and recovery/health isn’t the culprit), remember that doing something is better than nothing, and stacking weeks and weeks of consistent work is what will enable you to run healthy and strong.
8. Consider all stressors
Stress is stress, and exercise stress and life stress both challenge your body additively.
A study of Division 1 college football players found that psychological stress, and not just physical stress, played an important role in the occurrence of physical injuries. While this study was conducted on a particularly type of athlete, it indicates life stress may impact recovery from physical activity. (Source 4.)
If you’re sleep-deprived, under the weather, or in a period of life chaos, consider reducing your training or opting for an easy run instead of an intense running session to help buffer the invisible load that life stress carries.
Cash-out
Of all Jess’s sage advice, the hardest — and therefore most important — piece for me is the last one about stress. When life puts me in a blender and cranks it on high, my instinct is to go run myself out of my funk.
I did that this week and guess what? My achilles tendon aches for the first time in years.
That’s what I get for not listening to Jess. Never again.
As always, find something you love. Dig in. Stick with it when things get hard. (But don’t run when you’re stressed!)
Wendy
About me:
I’m Gwendolyn Bounds — an author, speaker and journalist. Currently, I work at The Wall Street Journal Leadership Institute as the Senior Vice President & Head of Content. My latest book is “Not Too Late: Break the Cycle of Sameness and Reimagine Your Limits.”
Sources & deeper exploration:
Lead image courtesy Ahdam Ahmed.
“Running injuries. A review of the epidemiological literature,” Sports Medicine, Willem van Mechelen, Nov. 25, 2012.
“The Rule of Thirds,” Alexi Pappas. Rich Roll podcast.
“Effect of Physical and Academic Stress on Illness and Injury in Division 1 College Football Players,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, January, 2016.
Michael runs?! I am a charter subscriber of his. I may have to unsubscribe.🤣. I do run a 1 mile loop with my dog most evenings ( it brings such enormous joy to my best buddy at so little cost). I am paranoid about injury. I recently tore my supraspinatus and narrowly avoided surgery. Even so, it hurt my fitness, very hard to regain muscle loss at my very advanced age. 😓
Great article, but one question remains unanswered. Why do you want to run? If you are training to participate in races, Spartan or others, sure. For general fitness I think Michael Easter, for one, has made an excellent case that walking with weight, rucking, is a better way to go. The first rule for aging athletes is don’t get injured. Recovery takes too long.