Sidestep Injuries

The November 2012 edition of Runner's World is packed with lots of good reads.  My favorite so far is "The Life of a Runner" by Amby Burfoot.  Amby has been running for 50 years. That's right, FIFTY years!  I'll be 50 in about 18 months, so running that many years is amazing to me. The article touches on many aspects of running:  "Start.Don't Stop,"  "Train Your Brain,"  "Enjoy the Good, Endure the Bad," "Sidestep Injuries,"  "Sample Alternative Exercises," "Control Your Weight," and "Set High Standards."

After Saturday's poor run, I needed to read what he said about injuries.  20 to 80 percent of runners are injured per year.  There are as many remedies as there are injuries.  Amby says there is only one method almost guaranteed to work:

Stop running.  This has been the hardest lesson I've had to absorb in 50 years, and the one I wish I had learned better many decades ago.  When your feet, ankles, calf muscles, shins, knees, quads, hamstrings, or hips hurt, stop running.  Now.  Not the day after tomorrow, next week, or next month.  Get real.  Take time off immediately.

Stop running!?!?  Is that possible?  The article goes on:

Here's why:  The vast majority of the "20 to 80 percent" of injured runners have soft-tissue problems - that is, sore muscles, strained tendons, joint inflammation, and the like.  These are not broken bones or ACL tears.  You don't need a splint or a surgeon.  You just need to give you body time to repair itself.

He suggests three days off might be sufficient for sore muscles and as much as a week is needed for joint pains...

You know how much fitness you lose in a week?  Nothing.  That's why we taper before races.

And finally:

The one thing that's absolutely, positively known about running injuries is that old injuries lead to future injuries.  The key, then, is to avoid injury the first time around.  Today you might have a tender spot on your shin.  Keep running, and it could become a full-fledged injury that leads to chronic problems or to other counter-balance injuries.  You could spend a lifetime regretting the days when you continued running; you'll never regret the three to seven days of rest.

I really needed this!  I have been running, practically injury free, for about 16 years now.  Many times I have scaled back.   This year has been much tougher because of marathon training.  I've struggled with allowing myself enough rest, trying to get in every training run.  The paragraph about soft-tissue problems makes so much sense to me.  For the past few days I've been hurting, a lot.  Feet, quads, hamstrings, IT band.  I really feel that soft-tissue problems is all I have, so I'm taking a couple days off to do my best to make sure that's how it stays!