Previous issues:
- plantar fasciitis
- ITB

Three things have helped me:
1. Strength training 2x / week - mostly single leg work, some core, some plyometrics,
2. Dynamic stretching before all work outs S, B or R - leg swings, hip openers, side squats and skipping
3. Weekly message - work out any kinks

Three things commonly recommended and didn't help:
1. Ice
2. Rest
3. Compression or braces

Good luck!

I have done 30+ triathlons, 3 ironmans, 6 halfs

I've never been healthy for any of them. How stupid is that?

This is the year I change this though. I am 5 weeks away from imtx and 100% healthy (knock on all the wood I can find....)

What's worked:

- stopped using strava for my runs that made me run faster than I should because I like competing

- an extremely extremely pro-active responsive to any tightness in my legs. It's always a precursor to injury.

- the treadmill is my friend now. I look at it as a soft running surface instead of a torture device

- no more huge long runs. I do doubles instead with the first run on the treadmill and second run at lunch outside

- two days off after that long run double day. No exceptions. Consistently running 5 days a week though.

Good luck!

There are two ways I might look at the same set of things:
1) I am always injured and constantly need to take time off
2) I am never injured and never need to take time off.

Same circumstances, very different interpretations.

I usually go for the never injured interpretation. So far that has worked,

When i first started running i was always injured, shin splints and ITB issues.

I changed shoes from Hokas to more minimal padding and don't run longer than 1h30 in one run.

It may even just be something outside your workout plan.

For me it was the treadmill. I usually ramp up my training in early January and by Feb or March I'd be be dealing with my knee (Patellafemoral). Because I'm in Canada, a lot of the early training in winter was/is on the treadmill. This year I connected the dots - it wasn't the volume so much as how I did that volume - specifically a cheap treadmill that has a bit too much cushion. What I suspect is that I'm overextending relative to pavement.

This year, I've done it almost all outside, even in deep freeze or blizzard and I'm able to handle more volume than I ever have. Now that I've gotten my base, I can even go back and do once a week on the treadmill without risking it all. Though now when I do go to the treadmill I both check that it's a good one and I make sure to change my incline or pace at least 1x per minute (so I'm not doing repetitive kms over and over)

For me it was keep trying things until something works. Gradually ramping up is a good idea. I tried dynamic stretching as my issue was recurrent calf strains. Then I tried strengthening calf muscles with heel dips. In the end the static stretching I did when I was in my teens worked. And a physio showed me how to do a soleus stretch with my knee bent in addition to a regular achilles stretch with knee straight. The other thing is if something hurts now I back off rather than trying to "train through it" My shoulder is sore now because I wiped out on it running outside on an icy day rather than using the treadmill.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I started this thread 4 years ago as I struggled with getting injured.

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...tring=injur#p4464335

I didn't think any of those people were right at the time, but reading back on it now..... they definitely were.

It wasn't until this past summer that things finally started clicking. What worked for me (and this took years to develop and figure out):

- Run slow at a conversational pace Almost all runs are in zone 1/ low zone 2 hr. Let the pace be whatever it is. This was the biggest thing that made everything click.
- softer surfaces. I run on the treadmill most of time and try to find trails to run on. I do my best to avoid asphalt/concrete.
- running form. Found someone who knew proper running form and showed me what I was doing wrong and how to fix it.
- massage.... i get a massage every other week
- must address any little tweaks or tightness as soon as they happen (foam roll, stretch)

I'm now 9+ months without having to take a day off due to injury. Longest streak I've ever had since being in this sport.

(knocks on wood)

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blog

^^^^^This^^^^

Probably the most sensible thing I've read on this forum. Most of my runs are done 'as they come', and usually so that I can talk. A couple of tempo or interval sessions a week to lift things a bit. Most runs on trails and really focus on form. Good running form makes running look easy and is well worth taking some time to develop. I don't get enough massage and I do need to stretch a bit more. But, I am 60 and run on average 70 kms per week (5 or 6 days) with some biking and swimming in there too.

I believe that spending too much time chasing numbers can be detrimental. Focus on the training, not the numbers.

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Trust me I’m a doctor!
Well, I have a PhD :-)

I felt like I chased a goblin around from psoas to hamstring to calf to lower back for about 3-4 years, but have been able to (knock on wood) be pretty much good to go by doing a few things:
-A reduction in overall load, often to the point I was angry at my coach off and on for a year for leaving me "undercooked." It took a long time for me to see his patience and accept it rather than do "bonus" workouts. Very gradually, incrementally, we've been able to build back up far, far past where I ever was, keeping in mind:
Avoid massive swings in overall load. "Overload periods" are a thing of the past. Instead, work to make it all very, very consistent.
Trading more and more tempo-type work for top-speed type stuff. It also works that I've gradually transitioned from mostly a focus on draft legal sprints to XTERRA, so a 55 minute race with the 5k being the very defining feature to a 2.5 hour race that's a bit less necessary for crazy top end stuff.
Getting more and more percentage of my overall aerobic loading from swim and bike. It certainly doesn't translate 1:1:1, but there's certainly a benefit.
I started running in "more" shoe. Specifically, I shifted from the Brooks Pure flow to the Launch, and for a while after the worst of my calf issues, even a pair of early Hokas for easy runs.
Lastly, what others have said, but do not ignore anything that seems out of the ordinary. Anything acute needs to be addressed somehow, or at least carefully monitored.

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IG: idking90

Me - anytime I got over 20 or so miles a week, injured. Every single season i'd be out for a month or two, usually calves but other things as well

Last January started working with an MAT practitioner. It has worked wonders, ran 1400 miles last year with a couple 140-150 mile months, without any injury (of course now o have some random abdominal pull....). I cannot recommend MAT highly enough

I have been plagued in the past but made it through a long season last year ok for the first time in years with a total of 1500 miles for the year on 48 year old uncooperative knees. What worked for me was more hills and less overall distance on longer runs, almost exclusively running in Hokas (bondi and speedgoat), using my Norma Tec fairly regularly and scheduling the long stuff-Iron distance and Ultras two months apart. For this year I did a proactive 8 week twice a week physical therapy program and continue with the exercises at home 2 to 3 times a week. I try to keep my bike sessions hard to brutal and run a lower intensity but higher volume type of thing. I foam roll my IT bands at least 3x a week, usually more. I do run a lot of hills but I don't try to blaze them. Good luck.

Whats MAT?

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Muscle Activation Technique

It's a little woo woo. You can google and get the specifics but damn if it hasn't worked for me

I also seemed to be plagued with never ending running injuries. I think I have suffered, at one time or another, almost every leg/foot injury there is. Like other posters said it was a combination of things that have made me run relatively injury free.

1) no pre-run stretching, do after run stretching, if any.
2) speed work on treadmill only
3) strength training
4) easy run warm ups
5) find the right mix, mileage, long run length, frequency, intensity
6) finding the proper shoe (cushioning, more important than stability or anti-pronation) for both training and racing. After trying brooks, saucony, nike and asics, Mizuno's became the brand of choice and I have not looked back They have been more consistent in making only minimal changes with each successive model.

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Dean Wilson
http://www.anaerobiczone.com
Bicycle Protection Indoors & Out

Weightlifting.

I had two knee issues and some tendinitis in my foot in a span of 3ish years, 2013-2016 (this was as a runner, started triathlon during my recovery from tendinitis which made me intentionally walk my first 70.3 run in NOLA). Incorporated strength training into my in season workouts along with heavy weightlifting in the off-season, meaning enough weight that 3 sets by 5 reps does you in. I did 4.5 full distance races last year (.5 being IMMD) albeit very slowly as I try to rack up the legacy count, but still I think a testament to including weightlifting 1-2x a week during the season. Squats and deadlifts being the key workouts.

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

I had a few seasons of consistent niggles and then shin spints put me out of action for about 18 months. Now I am pretty bulletproof, the biggest thing that's changed for me is that I started to listen to people and I started to do my runs a LOT slower.

I used to run 2-3 times a week and they were all shortish tempo/hard runs (maybe 15-18 miles per week) - every run was a race to me, now I run a 5-6 times (35-40 miles) a week and probably do 80% of the mileage at around or slower than 8m/miles, for context I am a low 18s 5KM runner.

Most people run too fast, too far, too often.

Thanks, everybody. Useful insights.

Follow up question for those referencing pace (stevej, uk_bloke, etc): how does one identify the right pace for the majority of the (easy) runs? Eg: I am a low to mid 19min for a 5k. Should the bulk of my runs be around 5min/km (8min/miles) or 5:30min/km (9min / miles)? And if running that much slower, how does one maintain good running form?

Thanks

I don't think if you can go wrong if you use some thing like Jack Daniels running formula. There are loads of posts about it on here. But essentially you use your time from a recent race / test and it calculates your training and equivalent race paces.

It's really important you use your current times, and not your PBs or your aspirational ones for the calculation and the e-pace is what you use for you the vast bulk of your running, and as you progress that pace will quicken. It's also important you run at e-pace and not a bit quicker because you feel good, your mates are running quicker etc. I actually think that the e-pace is fastest a 'slow' run should be, and it doesn't hurt going slower.

I am not a coach but I don't think many people would wildly disagree with me.

You've received a ton of good information but I'll add my experience as well.

Strength training and dynamic stretching, specifically hips, glutes, IT band. Those were always tight and causing a lot of issues. Since I have been crazy proactive about stretching those areas I have had no issues. Strength training in the sense of body weight workouts not like lifting weights. Dips, pull ups, push ups, planks, pistol squats, etc.

Another thing that I felt helped but couldn't directly measure was eating better, specifically foods that reduce inflammation, but mostly fruits, vegetables and lean meats. In my mind this helped more than I can quantify as it helped recovery of workouts and sleep patterns and such so give it a try.

Best of luck!

I would like to suggest some food for thought here. We are always discussing running as the source of our injuries and are doing everything to mitigate the impact. I agree with all strategies already brought up. All sound and make sense.
My experience with injuries is a bit different and I changed my thought process.
I think cycling training has been the primary driver of my injuries. We are pretty liberal at the principles of stacking hard and long cycling workouts. Here and elsewhere, it is always labeled as low risk no impact. I challenge that school of thought.
My IM training spun around 11-13hrs of cycling a week. A lot of it was hard. My long rides were never under IM power. Lots of 110-120milers at power that I held during IMs. I would than run for days with trashed legs after rides like that. Tight legs everywhere, tired legs all the time from all cycling. Reduced ROM, developed trigger points.......Rolled and stretched as much as somebody can with a job and 20hr training week. Running on legs like that is what got me injured every time.
To give you perspective, my IM weeks were all at 40-45mi per week, but cycling was 220-250 weekly. Neither astronomical by any stretch. It was just chronic fatigue from cycling that caused tight and weak hips. From there, the chain of events was set.
Any of my run standalone blocks where there was no cycling, never produced injury. I ran many Fall periods at 55-65mi/ week of all flavors following many guidelines listed in this thread, never got in trouble.
After 10 years in the sport, 15 half and 3 fulls, coaching a few guys and girls, I observed the patterns. I am fairly convinced that cycling training impact is under estimated on running mechanics and injuries producing out of that.
3 achilles injuries, 3 calf strains and now a hip labral tear are the summary.
I really challenge you all to stop delaying the true functional strength training program. And I mean a visit to a PT that specializes in work with endurance athletes. Get an assessment, get the program developed and follow up on 6 month basis, reassess, change routine and keep going. All of that work is done at home on the floor and takes little time commitment. That is small bands, single leg type work aimed at your weakness, ie hip, gluteus, core......The majority of issues are there, they just spread lower and appear at your weakest link. Any PT here can chime in and likely witness to that.


Please take that strain that you are nursing seriously. I really do not want to scare you but I would like to help you prevent truly serious injury that resembles that strain.
Hip labral tears and atheltic pubalgia (family of pelvic floor injuries), all show initial signs similar to adductor/psoas/rectus abdominis strain.
It started for me like that in early 2016. Adductor tightness and dull feeling running down the muscle itself during running. Trained for 2016 IMAZ with 18-21hr weeks. It was not stopping me.By August had to take celebrex post runs and saw soft tissue injury specialist due to developing sharp pain post runs in lower left abdomen. Was treated as rectus abdominis strain. ART, graston, dry needling. It was not going away. Thought maybe during taper it would subside. No. Went and raced. At mile 16 had very sharp pain, breath zapping, from lower abdomen to hip area, could not push the knee forward......finished the race under 10hrs still. I knew I screwed it up.
Month ago diagnosed with MRA as hip labral tear. I have been down now since the race. Never had any hip symptoms, just that adductor dull feeling and tightness, lower abdomen sharp pain post activity.
No panic. Just be open minded to down time if needed to avoid if possible an injury to leads to hip arthroscopy and the brutal 6-8 months recovery.
Sorry for such a long post.

I won't say I was always injured, but as I got older I would get injured (Achilles) at some point during the season. I increased my run cadence (no swim or bike until after my April marathon), and now am doing 60 mpw with more speedwork at the age of 48. With an increase of cadence, I have no more injuries - just soreness that goes away after a few hours.

Conversational pace. Not "5" or "5:30".

Cap yourself at a truly easy RPE or low HR (mostly Z1 for me) and ignore the pace. If I run on a flat route in perfect weather, it can be 5ish pace; alternatively, it could be near-6 if the route is hilly or technical. Form comes with practice - at first I also struggled to see how "jogging" can be of any use, but over time my run looks more normal at those paces.

I'm a 19min 5k on a good day. I'm also skinny and relatively injury-prone, and yet using the easy-volume approach outlined by others in this thread, I've become a fairly stable runner and made decent gains. Also PR'ed my HIM run in January, going from 1:35 to just under 1:30 while feeling like I could've dug deeper.

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ZONE3 - We Last Longer

I had four stress fractures between July of 2005 (I was 18) and October of 2012. I also managed posterior tibial tendonitis for a couple months and psoas tendonitis that took two cortisone shots to get rid of. I have been injury free since 2012, knock on wood. (This excludes getting hit by a car while I was cycling last year and the two sacral fractures that resulted - that wasn't my fault).

In my case, the series of fractures was a result of two things. One was running too much. The other was that I gained about 20 lbs between ages 17 and 18 (this was a good thing) and I think my bones needed time to adapt to the "extra" (healthy) weight. Also, I finally accepted that my body doesn't seem able to handle more than 60 mile run weeks. I also became much better about running on soft surfaces - I almost NEVER run on paved roads. Additionally, I started wearing stability shoes, and I that helped.

I pretty routinely do exercises for my hips and glues, which I think helps. I try to do things that involve lateral hip movement, such as breaststroke and breaststroke kick, to balance out all the "forward" motions.

YRMV.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

some general guidelines:


do work but do less more often
consistency is king, more frequent more often
less is more
less being more allows you to work towards more becoming more
swim more...a lot more
don't get out of shape once you get in shape - stay in the game
slow is fast
hills instead of the track

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Previous Issues:
- Plantar Fasc.
- ITB
- PF syndrome

I'm coming off a very long (>5 year) hiatus. So, I'm still a work in progress, but I haven't had a FORCED injury time-off in 6 months. But, what's (mostly) working:

- Slow long run ramp up (less than 5% / wk...)
- Don't take all the pace: My pace (at fixed HR) ramps up faster than my connective tissue can support. So, I'm holding pace "constant" and letting HR drop week over week. If I increase pace one week, I decrease volume to compensate. This is a new rule, as pace has been ramping up very quickly recently (>10s / mile / week) and is clearly ahead of my connective tissues, now.
- Use the treadmill for half my runs.
- Static stretches post run (hamstrings, quads/psoas, calves, soleus)
- Always cool down on the bike (15-20 minutes of high-cadence at IF < 60% really seems to help with tightness and soreness)
- I don't run more than 3x in a row...typically 2x (Tue, Thu, Fri, Sun)

- I rarely run in a fatigued state---too much risk. This has had more impact on my bike than the run...it forces the discipline to keep the bike in check (still per plan, but it keeps me from overdoing it, as I'm wont to do) to ensure I'm no too whipped to run with good form in 12/24 hours.

- occasional RUN-recovery weeks: I replace all/most of the runs with more biking/swimming. Volume/TSS increases as planned, but I just do it all with the bike (mostly). I don't "plan" these per-se, but if I'm feeling on the edge one week, then I can tell its time. Seems to happen about every 6 weeks or so.

I'm not afraid to scrap a run, if I don't feel "right" (twinge in the ankle, foot, knee, too fatigued to run with good form, whatever). I'll just replace it with a bike of equal TSS.

Thanks again.

Re: conversational pace. I have two problems ("challenges") with using this metric:

1. I have an uber low HR - just under 40 resting, mid 130s running Z2 pace (in cool weather). Therefore, I can very easily deceive myself into thinking that I am going at easy pace, but in reality my work rate is quite high. BTW, ditto on the bike.

2. I run fairly often by myself. Not much conversation going on there!

More pace thoughts. All winter, I was chugging along at 5.15 - 5.30 ish pace with a 172 - 176 cadence... Then in mid Jan, I experimented with higher cadence (184 to 188) which was WONDERFUL for joint impact. However, my pace increased to 4.50 without trying. I made an effort to slow it down but the pace just seemed to gravitate to the 4.50 pace. Based on the feedback here, seems like I should make even more of an effort to slow down...

I was/am having a similar problem. I went from 9:30 / mile to 8:00 in 6 weeks, at the same HR (154...run threshold is 174). So, I'm actively using pace (garmin footpod) to govern my runs as mentioned above, because HR and RPE result in my running "too fast" for my tissues at this stage. Last night I slowed down to 8:35 / mile and HR is down to 147 while singing along with the Radio (:-)...if it felt any slower I'd have to run one-legged.

I used to get injured pretty much anytime I ramped up bike or run training. IT band issues, plantar fasciitis, achilles pain, tight hips, etc. While I still get niggles every now and then I'm much better able to handle increased volume. Things that appear to have worked:

1) Yoga Sculpt 1-2 times a week which I believe has really strengthened a lot of supporting muscles.
2) No more stretching before runs or after runs.
3) Doing most long or super intense runs on the treadmill.
4) Really focusing on increased cadence on the bike.

I have no personal experience with it, but heard it is another way to get the correct alignment of muscles to function how they are intended to?

So basically to fix compensatory patterns, get correct activation (firing, contracting, etc.), and have the body function from a biomechanics standpoint the way it was designed to be used? Have the primary movers of certain movement patterns become the primary movers and not secondary or tertiary movers.

It's similar in goals to what stability work does perhaps in a gym setting with strength training just another avenue to get the same result?

Agreed on this too.

Too often athletes try to go all out all of the time. When really, building you aerobic base with minimal (but focused) anaerobic workouts. That's when it all really started to click for me.

I'm not an expert and sure there are folks that can explain better than I but in general yes, but as I understand it it's not a strength training program. It's more about re establishing the CNS communication between the brain and the muscle you want to work. That connection ,at have broken down and MAT seeks to find those communication breaks and restore them so that muscle can do what it is supposed to. There is a complementary strength training element but it's not traditional types of ST If the muscle is not firing (communicating ) doing stability stuff is still asking the wrong muscles to compensate

How do you convert a 6x800m workout to a hill workout? What are some good hill workouts that are beneficial for a 5K?

I don't. I step back and look at the problem (often injured) then think how can I solve that so often not injured is the new solution then do the steps that solve the problem


use a treadmill. run uphill, run a bit on the flat to recover run uphill run a bit on the flat to recover then do it some more.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Do you keep it at an easy pace still on those inclines? I have been doing 4-5% incline intervals at the same pace. Initially, I could maintain my form for maybe a couple 45 seconds stretches, I've worked up to about 5 minutes. After a couple years of run injuries, I'm finally feeling consistent from running 6-8x a week easy, a treadmill Hill set like that, and a day with strides. Unsure if I should eventually keep increasing Hill time, increase the incline, or the pace.

You can manipulate the variables. Speed, duration, incline. But I'd increase 1 at time, maybe 2. ie add 2 min and add .1mph or add 1% and 1min but I'd rarely do something like add 1% add .3mph and add 5 min

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta