how do you stay injury free?

If almost all your injuries are on the right side, you are probably imbalanced. (All of us are, but some are more so than others.)

So you need to figure out what is causing the imbalance, and address that issue. Is there any strength/mobility difference between two sides? Is your running form tilted to one side? Are you running on the surface that is not even (like sidewalks that are tilted)?

Try shortening your stride.

I started paying attention to any signs of oncoming injuries and keeping an injury journal where I'd document anything in the days leading up to any possible injury, along with a daily log of the recovery after (how it felt, any time off or restrictions, etc). Included also included things leading up to the injury such as shoes, mileage, pace, location/terrain, etc. Just by being aware of contributing factors to my past injuries, I've been able to go injury free for about three years now. For me, the main problems I was having were:

- Running on a slanted surface was causing peroneal problems (in my case, always running on left-hand side of suburban streets, which tend to slope subtly downward on the sides and cause an imbalance as mentioned by the previous poster)

- On hard long runs I was getting tired and letting my form break down slightly towards the end, causing my foot strike to be less fluid/elastic and more of a jabbing foot strike.

- I had a pair of shoes which squeezed my achilles, causing problems

I'm just like you, have good pbs but can't run more than 40mpw. My right is also the one that takes a beating. Everything from my foot up to my hip. I've noticed my left leg is weaker, therefore the right leg is worked a lot more. I was getting a massage and the therapist said my left leg was even smaller. The best advice. Physical therapy or get in a gym and do exercises to correct the imbalances. A lot of single leg exercise and try doing a couple more reps on the weaker leg. Core is important obviously because if this is strong than can help with the imbalances. I'd also suggest getting your biomechanics looked at. Their is no easy fix unfort. Even after money and time spent I've still always got an issue, but obviously I am not meant to run above 60mpw

read up how to strengthen up your hips - that's where running is and where many of the muscular stresses happen.

We all have different types of things we use. A few of mine are don't run the same route every day facing traffic, keep 3 different styles of running sneakers in rotation, staying hydrated 72 ounces of water a day. And probably the most important forcing myself to run easy every few days.

Run your easy runs easy. Only run your hard workouts hard.

Have a purpose for your run before you begin the run, and stick to that purpose.

agip wrote:

read up how to strengthen up your hips - that's where running is and where many of the muscular stresses happen.

Can't emphasize this enough. Hip strength, especially abductors and external rotators, is so huge. For me the key pieces have been:

1) Running in a neutral and relatively lightweight shoe

2) Doing a hip strength routine EVERY DAY

3) Being very gradual with progression in training—usually increasing mileage no more than 6-8% per week

4) Getting enough sleep and getting enough to eat

5) Being smart with any injuries that DO crop up

6) Taking it EASY on my runs, and starting VERY easy (I'm a decent bit faster than you, and I average 7:30-7:45 pace most easy days. First mile of my runs is probably over 8min)

The specifics might be a little different for you.

I have missed a total of nine days of running because of injury in the last 1.5 years. None of these injuries needed any more than 3 days off. I run upwards of 110 miles per week at times, and have been above 90 for several month stretches in that time period.

i have been in that boat, stuck at low mileage and injured a ton, but recently 2 years at 80-100 mpw without injury. although currently fighting some peroneal problems from not paying attention and getting a little too stressed.

repeating some good ideas others have said:

1. hip strength for sure, also glut and hamstring strength (if posterior chain is weak other muscles - quads and calves - have to take up stress)

2. sleep (9-10hrs/day) and balanced diet (eat enough, including fat)

3. "kenyan shuffle" start to all runs - start all runs slower than your grandma walks and ease into it, first couple miles are just warm up. if you care about average pace then just ignore these warm up miles for accurate reflection.

4. run roads with camber very infrequently, but do go out and run a lot of hills - attack the up and go easy on down (hills will help balance out quad/hamstring strength)

5. body circuit work, do things like burpies, single leg squats, bounding, squat jumps, any type of lateral jumping motions. overall dynamic exercises are good. this was one of the main things that let me increase my mileage.

6. besides slow mileage increase, one way to increase that has worked well for me is to add say 6 miles (so go from 50 to 56 to 62 mpw, etc) to a week, and hold there for 4 weeks before increasing again. only increase 3 times in a cycle (so you could go from 50 to 62 over 3 months and then wait 8-12 months before increasing again).

7. balance life to avoid stress - job, school, relationships, etc. body sees stress and stress and can only handle so much, so if stressful job you'll have to run less.

8. massage and active release therapy (ART). at this point you should go, with your injury history your connective tissue and muscles are all junked up and all that needs to be released. once you get all the knots and scar tissue worked out you should be able to do more. at this point those old injuries are weak points that are going to hold you back. this was another key for me.

1. Short stride/high step per minute (180-200)

2. Stay off pavement

3. Foam roll when you wake up, before running, after running, before bed

4. Hydrate (pee clear 10x per day)

5. Nutrition (eat a lot of carbs)

someone in the world wrote:

Try shortening your stride.

This

If you have a low arch that is failing, you might take a look at a very minimal soft orthotic. Otherwise, no orthotics.

I would say doing hills consistently week after week has been a big help for me (and I am old). I was doing all sorts of stuff in the gym for about two years trying to correct an imbalance. I just kept getting slower and had no improvement. I gave up the gym and made sure to do one solid session on the hills every week. The difference has been huge. There is really nothing you can do in the gym or with drills that will help your form (especially when it comes to engaging your glutes) like hills do.

Good suggestions in here. Would like to add:

1)Train in at least 3 different shoes, rotating them. Probably helps if they are slightly different lasts.

2)Mix in some trails which force shorter strides, different foot plant and toe off as well as reducing pounding. The multifaceted torsional stressors related to trail running strengthen stabilizing muscles from your toes to your shoulders; probably even your neck.

3)Stretch (more than most suggest) paying attention to problem areas.

I hate to be the one to say this but accept that it is unrealistic to expect to be uninjured all the time. Those that are are simply the fortunate few or they are not honest (I’m older now but when I was young I lied about injuries).

I used to have constant nagging injuries (stress fractures, etc) before going minimalist. So far I've been injury free so it's worth a try. Even if you just rotate some minimalist shoes a couple times a week I think it will help. Everyone's different. Find what works for you, don't give up on running yet!

every day:

1) 2-3 min per leg of single-leg balancing on inflatable disc (close eyes and/or throw & catch ball of wall to make difficult, throw in half squats when you get good)

2) sideways/lateral walking with therabands

3) clamshells up the azz

(1-3 will strengthen the h*ll out of your glutes/hips. will take the stress of everything below if you are strong & stable there.

4) eccentric calf raises on a stack of textbooks (SLOW, focus on pushing through you big toe)

5) nordic curls for the hammys

thanks for all the advice. having niggles wouldnt bother me. its just i havent had an actual season xc or track in 5 years. if i run the early races i miss the champ races and if i run the champ races ive already missed the early ones with injury so am not fit anyway. will start doing hip exercises as well as glute and hamstring exercises. i will also buy another couple of f;ats to train in. i usually just buy one mileage shoe and swap after 2/3 months. im also going to replace one session a week with a hill session and just be patient. am meant to do a 15min jog so fingers crossed this is the start

I don't think anyone has stressed this yet but when I read,

"the annoying thing is i think im much better than my pbs suggest as i get in that kind of shape in 8 weeks even if ive missed 8 weeks."

I think your problem is that you start back before the earlier injury is truly healed and then build up too quickly. It is not that you don't have to do exercises and the other good suggestions here, you do.

You also need to spend the first 2 weeks back just walking 2 miles with a few 200m jogs each day. Then 2 weeks just jogging 2 miles per day. Then run 3 miles 2 days per week and jog 2 miles the other 5 for 2 weeks. Then 2 weeks running 5 miles 2 days per week and jogging 2 or 3 miles the other 5 days.

The idea is that you need to make sure that you don't improve your lungs faster than your legs can handle.

yes thats a good point. i do generally get back up to 50 miles or almost top mileage within 4 weeks back. will definitely try the slower approach this time.

Running Formula reader wrote:

If almost all your injuries are on the right side, you are probably imbalanced. (All of us are, but some are more so than others.)

So you need to figure out what is causing the imbalance, and address that issue. Is there any strength/mobility difference between two sides? Is your running form tilted to one side? Are you running on the surface that is not even (like sidewalks that are tilted)?

This. Get to a physical therapist who understands running and find the imbalance. Then, you can work on whatever is needed.