Belated Training Tuesdays: Avoiding Injury

I'm sorry this post is a day late.  I was having formatting issues yesterday, and I didn't want to publish it without that Paxton Professionalism you've come to expect from us.  But on the bright side, it's saving you from the April Fool post I was going to write about a fictional stress fracture that would keep me from running for a couple of months.

See below in blue for tips from Olympian Jeff Galloway on avoiding injury.  If you're interested in learning more, visit his website at www.runinjuryfree.com.  And don't miss the special promotion at the end!

Why do we get injured?

1.  Be aware of irritation of weak links.  The Key Weak Links are body parts where my runners tend to experience injuries: Knees - Feet - Calf - Achilles - Hip - Glute/Piriformis/Sciaticia.  But the body parts that YOU need to be aware of are the sites where you are injured or suffer more aches and pains.  So if you're sensitive to the first indication of irritation in these areas and take immediate action it's possible to avoid injury.
2. Stress buildup due to the way we train:
• Training schedule is too intense; not enough rest between stress.
• Adverse Training Components - speed is too fast or has too much, too soon.
• Running form - too long a stride, forward lean, bouncing too high off the ground.

So staying focused on the way one runs and following these guidelines can often allow runners to maintain a manageable increase without injury.

Top 5 ways to avoid stress buildup and avoid injuries

1. Take walk breaks more frequently, and run shorter run segments
2. Form: shorter stride, feet low to the ground
3. Slower long runs, with more walk breaks
4. Avoid stretching
5. Be careful when running speed sessions

Teresa here: I find tip # 4 very interesting.  I know I'm dating myself, but when we were kids we were taught to stretch before any activity, while we were still cold.  And not only did we stretch, but we bounced further into the stretch instead of just holding it.  It's amazing that we never got injured doing all that stretching before dance class.  The resilience of the young protected us, I guess.

PROMOTIONAL NEWS!

Register now for the Jeff Galloway 13.1 with no risk!  The 2nd annual half marathon on Dec. 13, 2015 is currently $95. You can sign up with no risk! Take advantage of this low price, and if you can't make it, you can roll into the virtual option with no extra charge!

Register today at

Jeff Galloway 13.1!