Starting Strong and Training Strong
This information is for the injured runner looking to keep training, or start training, and doesn’t want to be injured any more.
In this article:
What caused the injury?
80% of running injuries are caused by overtraining. That’s important to know because once you know what caused the injury you can heal it and prevent it from coming back.
Most running injuries just seem to happen. They’re not there one day, they’re there the next.
And although it seems like that, most of the time it’s been brewing under the surface for weeks or months.
Occasionally, of course, there’s been some incident and that’s what caused the injury. So I’m not talking about if you tripped and rolled your ankle, or broke a bone, or was in a car accident, you know something traumatic. I’m talking about non-traumatic running injuries… those are the ones caused by overtraining.
Who gets it?
So you may be thinking… well, Dr. Ali, that’s not me. I haven’t been overtraining, I’ve been following the training plan as planned.
Possibly.
So let’s go through this and see.
Most training plans that are out there, whether designed by a running coach, personal trainer or online from a reputable source like Jeff Galloway or Hal Higdon, are not designed for injured runners, new runners, or runners prone to injury. And I’ll tell you why. If you look at those training plans many of them 1) start off the long run at 3+ miles and 2) add 1+ miles to the long run each week.
Those 2 things alone aren’t meant for injured runners or runners who aren’t injured but are new or prone to injury.
They are the most popular type of training plans so you’ll see those options most often.
Why those training plans don’t work
Those training plans don’t work for a 2 main reasons:
They start off too far
They progress too soon
I’m actually going to talk about the 2nd point, first.
Have you heard of the 10% rule?
The 10% rule is a rule in the running world that states you should increase your distance or pace no more than 10% each week. This is the golden rule to follow to not get injured.
Yet, most running training plans don’t follow the 10% rule.
What?
The simplest way to check to see if the training plan follows the 10% rule or not is to look at the long run each week.
If the long run is less than 10 miles and the increase to the next week’s long run is 1+ miles then it doesn’t follow the rule.
See 1 mile is 10% of 10 miles. So if the long run is less than 10 miles then automatically the increase needs to be less than 1 mile.
Here’s how it should increase:
Long run = 1 mile 10% = 0.1 miles
Long run = 2 miles 10% = 0.2 miles
Long run = 3 miles 10% = 0.3 miles
Long run = 4 miles 10% = 0.4 miles
Long run = 5 miles 10% = 0.5 miles
Long run = 6 miles 10% = 0.6 miles
Long run = 7 miles 10% = 0.7 miles
Long run = 8 miles 10% = 0.8 miles
Long run = 9 miles 10% = 0.9 miles
Long run = 10 miles 10% = 1.0 miles
Ok, so look at your training plan, if it doesn’t follow the 10% rule and you’re injured then the training plan isn’t mean for you.
And at the same time you need to look at how far your first run is.
Like I said, most of these plans start you off running too far. The most popular training plans my clients tell me they use before we work together have runners starting the long run at 1 or 1.5 miles.
But, for an injured runner, a new runner or someone prone to injury this is too far to start off at.
So even if the plans followed the 10% rule, which I just talked about, they don’t, but even if they did they’re starting off too far for you so even if you progress by 10% you’re adding 10% to a distance that’s too much to begin with, so it won’t work.
What to do instead
So what do you do instead if you can’t use those training plans because they start too far and progress too fast?
You have a couple of options:
Create your own training plan with this information
Work with a coach who understands running after an injury
No matter what option you choose, make sure to figure out how far you can run on your first run and then follow the 10% rule
Creating your own training plan is an option for seasoned runners. So if you’ve been running for years and you happened to get unlucky and sustained an injury you may be able to do this option. Take the info from this post and create a training plan for yourself. Be aware that you should start off at the distance that doesn’t hurt or aggravate your injury.
You could hire a coach who understands running after an injury and tell them what’s been going on with you and they can create a training plan. Again, be mindful of your starting point and make sure you’re following the 10% rule.
How far to run on your first training run
I alluded to this before, but 1 or 1.5 miles is too long of a run after not running for a while because you’re injured, and too far for someone new to running. So instead of going out for a mile, I recommend you test your tolerance. I recommend a test that I’ve been using since I was a physical therapist working in clinics with injured runners.
It works because running is like a series of single leg hops, because you’re never on both feet at the same time when you run.
That’s the difference between running and walking.
So someone took this definition and recommended doing a hopping series to progress a patient’s tolerance to running. It involved hopping up and down 3 sets of 30 of double, single, side to side, forward and back hops. And once you hit a phase in the series you were ready to run half a mile or more.
I modified it from what I know about running and rehabbing injuries and made it into a quick test for my clients to do. I’ve dubbed the version I use the Living Room Test because you can do it right in your living room. You can take this information to know exactly how far, up to 1 mile, to run on your first run back after taking time off for an injury.
Since a mile running is about 1500 single leg hops between both legs we can take that information to know how far up to a mile someone can run.
But, of course if you already know that running 1 or 1.5 miles doesn’t hurt you can start there. In my experience 85% of my clients start off at closer to a quarter or half a mile at first.
I map all this out for my clients when they sign on to work with me and I’ve even made it into a PDF walking you through step-by-step how to use this test including: what to do if you get pain, when to stop, when to push through, and what your next 2 weeks of training look like once you know your test score. If you’d like the step by step guide you can find it here.
Run Walk Method
The run walk method is a great way to train for runDisney and other races. One mistake I don’t want you to make is to run too much.
One part of returning to running that I’ve learned in my injury rehab career is that you should only run half the distance you can walk when you’re starting out. So if you can’t walk 2 miles [without pain] you shouldn’t be running 1 mile. If you can’t walk 4 miles [without pain] you shouldn’t be running 2 miles. If you can’t walk a 10k [without pain] you shouldn’t be running a 5k. I put the without pain in brackets because if you can’t do that distance period you shouldn’t be running the corresponding distance mentioned.
This also goes for the run walk intervals. The #1 mistake I see runners make, and honestly I did the same thing a few years ago, was running too fast or too much compared to the walking portion.
When doing the run walk intervals make sure to do short intervals for the running portion and double or triple the amount of walk time.
An example of this is 15 seconds running and 45 seconds walking. Or 20 seconds running and 60 seconds walking. I personally like the 1st one because it keeps it to 1 minute of total training so it’s easier to track how many I’ve done. I also use my Apple watch to set the intervals.
And keep your running pace SLOW. In the beginning, the running portion shouldn’t be more than a bouncy walk.
Beyond the first 2 weeks
Once you’re past the first 2 weeks you need to continue to train smart. The 10% rule works, but what happens when you have a flare up, miss a week of training because of vacation or sickness?
In the training plans I write I work in a taper every 5th week. This works because it allows your body to adjust to the training, yet not over do it.
Imagine a glass of water, you can only fill it so much before it hits the brim, so in order to add more water you’ll need to take some out. Same thing with training plans with a history of an injury. If you want to keep adding more training without overflowing you need to tone back on the training for a week just like you’re taking out some of the water, before you keep adding more.
There you have it. The best way to make a comeback to running after an injury is going back to the beginning and starting off at the right distance and following the 10% rule every week and toning it back just a bit so you can keep adding more without overloading your body.