I understand that staying healthy and injury free in running is one of the most important things to allow for improvement. However , when training for the 800m-1500m in particularly, lots of faster/race specific sessions are required, which are likely to cause some niggles/pains that need to be dealt with ( particularly as a high school runner, due to growing pains etc). However, I have never known what to do when i get one of these small pains ( particularly knee and under), should you rest or run as usual? Should you just run easy? Should you apply ice or heat to the area? Should you do specific strength exercises immediately or let it rest first?
I understand that it will vary slightly for different niggles/injuries , however my question is: is there a general protocol that you follow when faced with a small pain, that still allows for consistency in training and minimises fitness loss?