Step to Increase Mileage and Stay Injury Free
During the last sixth months, I’ve upped my mileage as well as added more speed workouts. I’ve been able to stay injury free throughout the process.
But how?
Step 1. Slow and Steady Wins the Race
If you increase your mileage too quickly, you will get injured and be sidelined. Follow the 10% increase of mileage. If you ran 40 miles last, adding 10% will give you 44. I’m normally pretty good about this rule.
Step 2: Decrease with your Increase
This step has multiple parts.
First every few weeks, it’s important to take a recovery week. It’s the golden rule, but your body must rest and recover to build muscle, speed and endurance. Personally, I like to add 1-2 more rest days and drop out of 1 or both of my speed workouts.
Here are a couple of articles:
10 Laws of Injury Prevention
The 10% Rule
Step 2.5 Decrease Your Speed with Increased Mileage
Reducing speed is an important but overlooked fact. You can’t run the same speed when running 10 miles a week or 100. Sprinting a 100-mile week will result in massive fatigue, exhaustion and ultimately injury.
While I didn’t run 100 miles, it was the reason of my first stress fracture. For example, I don’t worry about my pace on easy days. Sometimes I run with a watch and sometimes I don’t. You must pick and choose which runs are fast.
Step 3: Know your Limits
Injuries don’t typically come out of nowhere. Know your personal weak spots. Running is a lifelong process, and it takes months to build a strong base. Don’t rush the process because you’ll be sidelined with a minor or major injury.
Other Running Posts I’ve Written Lately:
Why Training for Shorter Distances Will Make You a Better Distance Runner
There is no Perfect Running Shoe
Deep Tissue Massages
Questions for you:
How many miles do you run weekly?
How do you stay injury free and healthy?