How do most runners avoid getting injured for years on end?

Play a lot of soccer from ages 5 to 13 then get into running. It'll set your body up for maintaining better joint health in the long term.

A good way to avoid injury is to get into running gradually, especially fast hard running.

Start slow and short, and gradually build up to decent easy mileage. Then extend that. We are talking LSD miles in an extended base building period.

This helps strengthen joints, ligaments, tendons, even bones so they can handle harder more intense efforts later.

There is a recent tendency to marginalize easy runs, with some calling them useless junk miles. Those easy runs have great value in that they help improve and maintain the musculoskeletal system so it handle the stress of fast running without breaking.

Going back to that base building period each and every year helps with prevent injuries.

this and this wrote:

A good way to avoid injury is to get into running gradually, especially fast hard running.

Start slow and short, and gradually build up to decent easy mileage. Then extend that. We are talking LSD miles in an extended base building period.

This helps strengthen joints, ligaments, tendons, even bones so they can handle harder more intense efforts later.

There is a recent tendency to marginalize easy runs, with some calling them useless junk miles. Those easy runs have great value in that they help improve and maintain the musculoskeletal system so it handle the stress of fast running without breaking.

Going back to that base building period each and every year helps with prevent injuries.

This is what I learned in 2021. Was able to run 1600 miles and most of it EZ, so I could do much harder workouts without a problem. Slight calf injury for a few days in June but hill workouts fixed that!

Even now, I'm realizing my recovery runs after my LR must be at what my body feels. If it's 10:05 pace, so be it.

this and this wrote:

There is a recent tendency to marginalize easy runs, with some calling them useless junk miles. Those easy runs have great value in that they help improve and maintain the musculoskeletal system so it handle the stress of fast running without breaking.

I wouldn't think that anybody is confusing easy miles with junk miles. These are two different things.

In my opinion junk miles are endless long runs past 25-30% of your weekly mileage.

Walking on the treadmill - seriously!

I have replaced most recovery runs with uphill walking on the gym treadmill. Set the grade at 15% and the pace at 3 to 3.5 MPH. This gets your HR into the same zone as easy running, reduces impact on your joints, and really works your posterior chain. I started at 30 minutes and am working up to a full hour. It is making a big impact by eliminating a lot of niggles and makes running seem much easier since my glutes and hammies are stronger.

brahbrah wrote:

Yeah, that Jim Walmsly guy is completely disintegrating from not eating meat. You are right. Give yourself a pat on the back.

walmsley is also a 2:15 marathon runner which is not really much to brag about. congrats to him for "dominating" ultrarunning, what's next, is he going to dominate his the local middle school's cross country as well? disgusting

Its quite a bit faster than the person bragging about their 2:45 and attributing it to eating meat. In fact its worlds apart. Not to mention Walmsley's 140 mile weeks and drastically dropping CR's on courses that have ended peoples running careers.

But sure, we can switch to talking about the Africans and how little meat they eat too if you'd rather.

You really don't even have to run to get hit by a car.

newtorunning wrote:

So how much should you run when coming back?

To be really safe, start with 10 minutes of jogging a day. Add 5 minutes to your runs every 2 weeks. Progress will be slow but your body can keep up with that.

I had a string of bone injuries at one point but have been mostly injury-free for a few years now. What I've changed has been:

- diet. In my case, this meant becoming a vegetarian. I don't think vegetarianism equals better health for everyone, but it did for me as it made it easier for me to eat enough carbs. My body composition, hormonal health, and how I feel in general have improved since becoming a vegetarian.

- easy run pace, as a lot of people have mentioned. I sometimes run 3+ minutes per mile slower than 5k pace.

- letting go of some of the ego component of training. Not every workout should bring you PR splits, nor should you go to the well in every workout. Many workouts are designed to be easier on your body.

- flexibility. This means moving workouts back a day or two when you're feeling beat up, cutting runs short when pain pops up, being willing to bike/cross train for a few days when you have pain that isn't going away, taking unplanned rest days when you're especially tired... These things might feel like a lack of commitment, but the benefit of years of consistency will outweigh the fitness you might miss out on by taking an unplanned rest day here and there.

The secret is there isn't a secret. Most people including myself run thru the injuries.

By not getting injured in the first part. I was never really injured in my teens and 20's but then one bad injury in my 30's just led to one injury after an other.

newtorunning wrote:

How do most runners avoid getting injured for years on end?

Other than not doing stupid things, it's honestly just dumb luck. Obviously some people overtrrain and get injured. But some people are just injury prone for reasons outside their control.

I'm just a hobby jogger, but I've averaged 2800 miles a year for the past 5 years with peak weeks over 90 miles per week. I'm almost 40 and I've never had a major injury.

I know guys who do all the right things and still end up recurrently injured. Have a family member who's in his 20s and has had multiple stress fractures despite being very careful with mileage and intensity and doing all the extra stuff like stretching and strength.

There's an element of pure luck there and I can't take much credit for having not been injured.

elvid33 wrote:

newtorunning wrote:

So how much should you run when coming back?

Depends

Depends for the runs makes sense.

I was a hobby jogger that never really went above 10 MPW, but I ended up being constantly injured

newtorunning3 wrote:

I was a hobby jogger that never really went above 10 MPW, but I ended up being constantly injured

Or you make tons of posts about going 20 mpw then 25 mpw then 30 mpw or whathaveyou

In reality you sit on your computer mashing your keyboard with one hand and jerking it with the other and don't run at all.

You never told us how those two broken shoulders turned out.

Then how did I get injured?

You constantly lie and make stuff up, why is it not the same for your supposed 'injuries'?

You went from flat feet -> intrinsic muscle pain -> PF in a less than 3 day span, all diagnosed by the same doctor. Never mind that it you only claimed the diagnosis about intrinsic muscle pain AFTER somebody here told you it might be that.