The Big Picture – Runners and Injuries, Part 4
Assuming that more of you want to stay healthy more and get injured less, I shared a few tweaks to consider to improve your chances of this happening. This week, I’ll address the risk side of running, training, and racing to consider in addition to their rewards.
Let’s face it, it’s much more fun and exciting to focus on the reward side of things when it comes to deciding how you want to run, train, and race. And yet, this very mindset IS what gets us into trouble with downplaying the risk inherent in each reward we chase. Ultimately, it will ALWAYS be YOUR DECISION TO MAKE given what I, you, or anyone else says or whatever you read so choose WISELY to the extent you want to stay healthy more and get injured less for both the short and long term.
Low Risk Activities
-Warming up BEFORE all runs
-Starting all runs noticeably slower than the pace you’ll settle into for each run
-Doing a longer and more conservative warm up before doing whatever hard workout (long run, goal pace, hill workout, speed workout) is on the schedule
-Keeping your easy days easy
-Relaxed and short (1 to 6 miles) runs
-Low weekly mileage (25 miles or less)
Moderate Risk Activities
-Starting all runs at a moderate effort
-Warming up conservatively and then settling into a moderate effort for your semi long and long runs
-Turning your easy days into moderate days (reducing your amount of recovery on the days you’re supposed to be recovering and increasing your risk of burnout & injury)
-Medium distance runs (this will vary for each person but anywhere from 3-10 miles) at a moderate effort
-Making your hard workouts progressive by holding back a little and gradually picking it up as you get ever more fully warmed up before settling into your ‘sweet spot’ of effort (this is preferable to turning your hard workouts into high risk activities as you’ll see below)
-Easing into the race (or doing an ever longer warm up the shorter the race) and gradually picking it up depending on how you feel before settling into your ‘sweet spot’ of effort (all hard racing will be at least a moderate risk activity)
-Moderate weekly mileage (25-50 miles)
High Risk Activities
-Skipping the warm up and starting all runs at a moderately hard effort
-Starting semi long and especially long runs at close to the same effort/pace as you’ll end up settling into
-Turning your easy days into hard days (basically shooting yourself in the foot when you should be taking it easy!) in your quest to ‘Beat Yesterday’ vs. valuing the ‘Stress-Recovery’ cycle
-Starting your hard workouts too fast and then hanging on even as you slow or fight ever harder to maintain
-Plyometrics, Sprints, or anything harder than 1 mile race effort – The greater the intensity, the greater the risk
-Starting a race too fast and then hanging on
-ANY intense cross training or strength training
-High weekly mileage (over 50 miles)
Summary – This is just a thumbnail sketch of common things that runners deal with. As you’ll note, you can turn high risk activities like racing and hard workouts into moderate risk activities by combining a thorough and conservative warm up with a progressive (i.e. ease into the intensity) workout or race plan.
The good news is that you can get by with a lot less in terms of volume and intensity and not lose that much when it comes to race performances with a great trade off of staying healthy more and injured/burnt out less. It really does come down to if all the extra volume and intensity is worth shaving off a few minutes at the greater risk of injury and burnout once you go beyond your “optimal” point where the law of diminishing returns kicks in.
If it is and you’re good with the greater risk that comes with the diminishing reward, by all means, go for it! However, if the pain starts to outweigh the gain in the short term, rest assured that this will be magnified for the rest of your running years to the extent you play the injury-recovery cycle game. You’re better off being proactive NOW vs. LATER and turning your high risk activities into moderate risk activities along with turning your moderate risk activities into low risk activities.
Find the right balance for YOU and ADJUST as needed along the way. Running can be invigorating and a great challenge, but it should also be enjoyable and adventurous. Injured runners are grumpy, and for good reason! Play it safer and keep running without setbacks and you’ll be nicer to both yourself and your family/friends! You’ll also last longer with your chosen hobby for physical, social, and mental health instead of being forced to stop due to an accumulation of injuries taking the fun out of even the most basic running. Learn from the mistakes of the masses and MAKE GETTING/STAYING HEALTHY YOUR NUMBER 1 PRIORITY.
Ordinary People Achieving the Extra Ordinary – This past weekend, Nichole Holmes was able to go back to the Grand Canyon this summer (a few months after her initial atttempt) to complete her ultimate goal of hiking from one rim to the other and back (R2R2R)! Here is her reflection about it.
Well, I decided to give R2R2R another shot in 2024 for a few reasons. First, I had already trained and felt confident I could complete the entire trek. Second, my husband purchased me an R2R2R shirt during my first attempt that was dated 2024 so I had to go back! Right?!? Lastly, one other gal from the original group really wanted to give it another try. We both had some difficult family stuff this summer so this was also an escape from that. Ideally we would’ve gone in October when temperatures were a little cooler but due to schedules we settled on Labor Day weekend. We flew in on Friday to Phoenix and hiked Saturday and Sunday.
What did we do differently this time?
Both of us hit the gym and weights. I added a weighted vest to my workouts as well worked my core and got my shoulders ready to carry the weight of my pack. I walked with my pack during hotter times of the day and made sure to incorporate hills. I ran 4-5+ days per week and picked hillier routes. We also decided to start at the South Rim this time, which turned out to be a good choice. The climb up to the North Rim is no joke!
HIghlights: We met so many amazing people from all over. (Colorado, Indiana, California, Hawaii, Spain, Finland, etc.) We really took in the sights and noticed the difference a few months makes with some of the flowers and trees. We worked really well together as a pair. My friend is better at descending and I am a stronger climber so we took turns leading. If one of us got a little ahead we would find a nice place to rest and wait for the other to catch up. The weather was in the 40’s at each rim when we started in the early mornings and was a little over 100 at the bottom of the canyon. We made sure to soak our clothes to try to keep cool.
The water from Phantom Ranch to the North Rim had been shut off for a couple of weeks due to a pipe break. That meant we needed to carry extra water (aka extra weight) as well as be prepared to filter out of the creek. As of Friday the water was still off but we lucked out and it was turned on at every location by Saturday! The lodges/hotels on the South Rim also canceled all reservations on Thursday due to water supply issues and the holiday weekend. We panicked a bit but were determined to make this trip happen. We were able to find a room just outside of the park for Friday night. It only added about a 15-20 min drive on Saturday morning.
Our hike from South to North went pretty smoothly. We played leapfrog with a couple of other hikers and saw quite a few others along the way. When we made it to the top of the North Rim there were some ladies waiting on family members to finish. We were able to confirm we had seen their family members about 11 miles back on the trail. One of the gals was super sweet and gave us a ride 2 miles up the road to our lodge. We stayed Saturday night at the North Rim Lodge and caught a shuttle at 4am back to the trailhead on Sunday morning. We descended way faster down the North Rim than our previous trip in June.
This was awesome but it did put us coming up the other side in the direct sun. With that being said, we took breaks in the shade, soaked our feet in the cold water, and made sure to drench our clothing when we could. One stop was cut a tad short when a very long snake decided to join us! LOL! We shade hopped up the south side and even saw a bighorn sheep with about a mile left in our hike! The water levels were a little different in places along the trail than they were in June. We both remembered most of the previous hike but then there were also parts of the trail that we didn’t remember at all from the first trip.
Advice: Don’t be afraid to set lofty goals! Do your research, put in the training (weights, hills, stairs), and enjoy the hike! I went with the motto of “respect the canyon” and didn’t take anything for granted. Be smart with your water intake, electrolytes, and food. Take breaks and stop to really look around you and enjoy the beauty of the canyon. Pictures do not do it justice. 🙂
My Garmin had us at about 27 miles each way with a total of 1,021 flights of stairs climbed. I know that isn’t totally accurate but just gives you an idea of what you are in for.
Streaker Update – Great job to the following people for keeping their daily exercise streaks going: Michael Andersen (48 days), Laura May (128 days), Scotty Todd (491 days), Megan Hamilton (614 days), Ryan Kimbrell (755 days), Karen Hayse (981 days), Sarah Johnson & Sylvia Davison (1,193 days), Eric Leigel (1,427 days), Greg Schultz (1,566 days), Kenny Miller (1,567 days) Amanda Bradford (1,589 days), Kallie Flexman (1,590 days), John Pitzel (1,604 days), Rebecca Kandt (1,616 days), Dawña Garza (1,630 days), Chau Smith (1,633 days), Micah Jacobsen (2,182 days), Stephanie Michaelis (2,682 days), Tomi Duffett (2,853 days), Ken Skrien (3,059 days), Emily Lott Viebrock (3,203 days), John Crum (3,209 days), Cheryl Lentz (3,660 days), Ben Chan (4,182 days)!
We invite you to consider crafting any type of streak that helps you release stress while boosting your health and joining us for positive accountability but keeping it simple with trusting in the ‘honor system’. I’m happy to add you to our list!
Have a great week!
Eladio Valdez III