Dealing with Injury

This is the time of year where soon athletes will begin increasing their mileage in anticipation of Spring Races.  Even with the best plans, that can mean injury.   Your ability to predict, efficiently address injuries can determine if the impact is minor, major or even becomes chronic.  Once you’re able to train again, you will need a good plan to recover lost fitness while avoiding reinjure and address the mental aspects as well.

First is predicting injury risk.  One tool is to make sure that your increasing training load at reasonable rate.  A tool offered in TrainingPeaks is the Performance Management Chart.  Using it is a whole topic by itself.  A simpler method is tracking weekly miles.  This however does not factor in harder intervals sessions or the impact of longer runs.  An experienced runner knows how their legs should feel, when they are fatigued and what feels normal or not normal.   Pay close attention to particular tightness in the hips, calves, quads and hamstrings.  Deliberate stretching of the associated muscles after a run, goes a long way to prevention.  It’s also smart to avoid running on highly fatigued legs.  This can result in altering run mechanics and placing additional stress on tendons, joints and connective tissue.

Let’s say you failed at the above and find yourself injured.  It’s OK, it happens to the best athletes.  When you’re finding new limits, you sometimes cross them.  The first thing you need is rest.  Yes, that means not doing any training that aggravates the injury.  Next is to use ice to reduce acute swelling and rolling any tight muscles. 

Finally you need to determine what caused the injury.  This is often the hardest part.  Once identified, you will need a clear plan to address the issues and slowly progress back to running.  A physical therapist experienced in sports related injuries is often the most skilled at this.   For more minor injuries, an experiences coach can make adjustments and recommendations on beneficial stretches and exercises.  Most injuries will require focused stretching and strengthening exercises.  These will need to be done consistently and as prescribed for as long as it takes to eliminate that root cause of the injury.

Once you able to train again.  You will need to access where your fitness is at and develop a plan to safely return to normal training.  Again, an experiences and trained coach can be critical in aiding this process.  Finally, you may need to deal with the mental challenges of losing fitness, missing races or poor performances.  It’s important to focus on what you can control, what training you are able to perform, stay positive and know that many athletes return more focused, well rested and sometimes stronger than they were before the injury.  Many pro triathletes have had their best seasons and performances following their worst periods of injury.  They took the challenge as an opportunity to overcome, improve and move forward.  

Key Lessons:

1) If in doubt, take time off.  

2) Evaluate your condition and identify any tight muscles or tendons.

3) Seek professional help if its a new injury and doesn't clear up in just a few days. 

4) Seek professional help for constant pain or sharp acute pain.

5) You probably cannot just run through it and just a couple days off won't work unless it addresses the root cause.