With the weather warming up and summer around the corner, the motivation is there to hit the pavement and start jogging again. This month we want to answer a couple of common questions we get at the clinic.
1. How quickly should we increase how much running we do?
The significant majority of running injuries arise because people increase their running loads far too quickly. All too often we hear someone gets a motivation kick and decides to run 5 times a week, as far as they possibly can, and then within a few weeks their body breaks down.
So what are some good rules in regards to increasing your running loads.
Where to start:
Everyone’s tissues (bone, muscle, tendon etc) have a different amount of load they can withstand before starting to break down. If you train regularly, you probably have a rough idea what your body can take. If not, then start at two or three times a week, always giving yourself a full days rest in between runs (eg run Monday, rest Tuesday, run Wednesday, rest Thursday and run Friday).
If you’re new to running try one of the couch to 5km programs you can find with a quick google search, or try the Nike Run app on your phone. You can also try a jog/walk interval style where you run for 2 minutes and then walk for 2 minutes, repeating it until you cover whatever distance you are working on.
How to increase your running:
As a general rule, you should try to only increase your running loads by around 10% per week. This goes for distance or speed. If you are jogging 5min30 per km for 5km, try to increase your distance or your speed, not both.
Not every run is race:
One of the biggest mistakes we see in recreational runners is that they burn themselves out with every run. As a rule, 80% of your runs should be at a comfortable pace and distance, and only 20% should be pushing your limits.
Cycle your running weeks:
Another common oversite in recreational runners is that they train hard every week, it is important to give your body a chance to recover every now and then. There are plenty of ways to do this, some more complex than others, but an easy rule would be to have one light training week in every 4-6 weeks. An example of this might be If you run 3 or 4 times a week, to only run 1 normal session and 1 light session.
2. Is rearfoot striking or midfoot striking better for me?
This is another topic that has had a lot of press over the years. Depending where you look you can find anything from midfoot striking is the cure to all running injuries to midfoot striking is the worst thing for injury rates! The real answer to this question is probably somewhere in the middle.
Human variation in our anatomy is massive, and every person runs slightly differently. If you have ever watched the best long distance runners you’ll notice that some run with a rearfoot strike, and some run with a midfoot or even a forfoot stike.
What we do know is that rearfoot striking shares more of the pressure on your knees and midfoot striking puts more of the pressure on your calf and lower leg. So if you get knee pain while you run, a worthwhile thing to try may be to a midfoot strike to see if it improves your pain. If you get achilles or calf pain while you run, you may want to try a rearfoot striking pattern to see if that helps.
When it comes down to it, your running style is probably the one most suited to your body shape, but like anything else variation is key (more on this later).
3. Are minimalist shoes going to fix my pain?
Over the last couple of years minimalist shoes have had a lot of press. Many groups claimed that they were better at decreasing injury because it was closer to running barefoot, like we did thousands of years ago, but is this really true?
The short answer is no. The evidence is now showing pretty strongly that injury rates are no different when comparing minimalist shoes and cushioned shoes.
So where to from here? Variation!
A study published in 2015 in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sport, found that runners who rotated between different pairs of running shoes were 39% less likely to get injured versus those who ran in predominantly the same pair of shoes over 22 weeks. It’s possible that rotating between different shoes, and thus different strike patterns, minimizes the repetitive strain at each specific tissue structure and allows for more effective recovery and overall decrease in injury risk.
So there you have it, have a few different pairs of shoes that you find comfortable and then mix it up!
