Quote:
if you'd like to run that 13.1 miles strong this year; if you'd like to not have IT band problems, and constant strained calves...(Although I am responding to Dan's post, this is not necessarily directed at him more than anyone else.)
The problem with the some of the blanket statements being thrown around here regarding volume and intensity (other than the fact that everyone probably needs their own particular approach to training to reach their full potential) is this:
The majority of medical research indicates that injuries in runners are probably best correlated to volume / mileage, not intensity. An interesting study in triathletes in particular indicates that more years of experience, not less, were a risk factor for preseason injury, and that in season injuries were most correlated to mileage run (not intensity) and injury history.
See:
Walter SD, Hart LE, McIntosh JM, Sutton JR. The Ontario cohort study of running-related injuries. Arch Intern Med. 149:2561–2564. 1989.
Burns et al. Factors associated with triathlon-related overuse injuries. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 33(4):177-84. 2003.
Macera CA, Pate RR, Powell KE, et al. Predicting lower-extremity injuries among habitual runners. Arch Intern Med. 149:2565–2568. 1989.
Jacobs SJ, Berson BL. Injuries to runners. a study of entrants to a 10,000 meter race. Am J Sports Med. 14:151–155. 1986.
James SL, Bates BT, Osternig LR. Injuries to runners. Am J Sports Med. 6:40–50. 1978.
Wen DY. Risk factors for overuse injuries in runners. Curr Sports Med Rep. 6(5):307-13. 2007.
Lysholm J, Wiklander J. Injuries in runners. Am J Sports Med. 15:168–171. 1987.
Marti B, Vader JP, Minder CE, Abelin T. On the epidemiology of running injuries: the 1984 Bern Grand-Prix study. Am J Sports Med. 16:285–294. 1988.
Note that I'm purposefully leaving biomechanical factors out of the discussion, though some of the papers above address those factors as well.
In my sports medicine practice, my experience bears this out. Moreover, the people who run a lot of quality seem to get acute injuries like ankle sprains by taking a bad step, often by running quality on a surface they should not be, or doing something silly on the bend of the track. The people who end up with overuse injuries (i.e. ITB, PFS, etc) are often running too much, or running too much too soon.
Much of the idea that there must be large amounts of volume before intensity can be traced back to Matveyev's analysis of the Russian Helsinki Olympic squad. (He basically published the team's approach to training as the gospel of training. If I am not mistaken, it was mostly the track team. He gave them surveys). There was a lot of criticism of this at the time within Russia...those alternative viewpoints did not make it to western audiences. Somewhat more sophisticated (and more recent) views come from people like Tschiene and Verkhoshansky. However, they formulated their approaches by working with elites almost exclusively. Volume before intensity (even according to Tschiene) will work in relative beginners, but this is not to say it will work any better or worse than anything else.
Marky makes the good point that there needs to be distinction between most age-groupers and most professionals. They are different protoplasm. Case studies of individual athletes, be it Scott, Allen, Reid, or whoever, are not nessecarily relevent. Did I apply a "raise the left, fill the right" approach to Joanna's training this year, sure I did. Does that mean that a similar approach would lead to a world championship / world record, or even just a PR performance, for anyone who tried it? Not hardly. In my estimation, the idea that any athlete, regardless of ability, will be more likely to be injured in one way than another (provided they don't do anything stupid) is probably meaningless. Doing dumb things gets people hurt, period. If people were just a little honest with themselves about where they are now, and then made an honest assessment of their potential and goals, and stopped doing things that clearly hurt, my medical practice would be a lot less busy.
Phil
Dr. Philip Skiba
Scientific Training for Endurance Athletes now available on Amazon!