How to prevent injuries when beginning to run

Injuries don’t have to be a part of running, smart training and a focus on recovery can help avoid that!

When you start out running, it can take a bit of time to start enjoying it as your body adjusts to this different stress on your body. BUT there will come a time when it starts to feel a lot easier and those runs you once thought were difficult become a breeze. There is nothing worse than this being hampered by an injury that takes you out for a period of time and then makes you feel like you’re starting from 0 again. So today, I’m going to go through some advice on how to avoid that so that you can stay consistent for months on months on months.

Mistake #1

You’re running is improving, maybe you’ve now downloaded Strava and see what distances others are knocking out, maybe you’ve started following running influencers on Instagram and start to think you can start do more than maybe what you’re ready for. For example, you may be running 15kms a week and then you decide to up that to 30kms a week. Ramping up your mileage too quickly too soon can overwhelm your muscles, joints and tendons leading to IT band syndrome or stress fractures which is what we want to avoid.

What to take into consideration

A common suggestion from many professionals and across the internet is to increase your weekly mileage by 10% each week. This allows your body to get used to the extra strain and adapt. For example, if you’re running 15kms a week, try not to do more than 17km the following week. Remember to include rest days as part of this as well so that you’re body is able to rest and rebuild.

Mistake #2

Not stretching before a run, when I say stretching, I don’t mean static stretching like just pulling your hamstring for 30 seconds and that’s it. BUT dynamic stretching!

What is Dynamic Stretching?

Here we want to think movements that mimic how you run to get those specific joints warmed up and ready to play. Think lunges, leg swings, high knees, fast feet, which all help your body to prepare for running. If you don’t want to stretch or don’t have time (you always have time), a fast walk or very slow jog can also help in warming up. I would recommend some dynamic stretching though over that, but I will have to admit there are days where I just use the first 10 minutes of a run to get my heart rate up and allow my body to adjust.

Mistake #3

Not strength training! Strength training is not just for those gym bros, but also super important for runners. When running, you can put up to 7x your body weight through your joints, which is a lot. So you want to be able to allow your muscles to activate properly to stabilise your joints and absorb impact, an easy way to do that is to start lifting weights to build up that muscle strength. The added benefit of this as well is that you will build up your speed and endurance.

What exercises to do?

At the beginning, keep this super simple and work on the basics like squats, lunges, dead lifts, calf raises to make sure those core muscles are firing properly before moving on to more complex moves or single leg work.

Mistake #4

Not sleeping enough – if you’re doing more exercise and increasing your mileage, you need to make sure that your body is able to recover properly. This does mean making sure you get your sleep otherwise your body won’t be able to heal itself properly.

With proper sleep (7-8hours a night) you can really reduce the likelihood of getting injured.

Run Smart, Stay Strong

When thinking about reducing your chance of injury, the key things to focus on are patience (progress slowly), strength training, warming up and getting enough sleep. I’m not saying there is 0 chance of getting injured, but this does help with reducing the likelihood of it happening. Trust me, your body will thank you.

JC Running