Injury Prevention for Runners

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2 T his program provides a library of twelve training plans for race distances of 5k, 10k, half marathon, and marathon. Each race distance has three plans for beginner, intermediate, and advanced runners. What makes these plans special is that they follow the six principles of injury prevention that help you stay healthy. They re specifically designed for performance and prevention. Rarely is this the case prevention is a mere afterthought in most training programs. You ll see that each plan utilizes recovery weeks to help you absorb the training and recover both physically and mentally. Many weeks are also repeated. These adaptation weeks ensure you re adapting to the mileage, workouts, and overall workload. They also make sure you re not increasing either volume or intensity every week. Other aspects of injury prevention include: 16 weeks to train so you re not rushing your fitness. Rushed training is risky training. A variety of paces to vary your stride mechanics A dynamic warm-up before every workout to help you develop overall athleticism, balance, proprioception, and increase your functional flexibility A post-run strength workout that focuses on runner-specific needs, like glute and hip strength A training plan is just that: a plan. It s like a roadmap to the final destination but you don t necessarily have to follow the exact route as it s laid out. You could take a detour and still get to your destination without any issues. Knowing that, it s important to recognize that training plans are flexible. As long as you follow the plan about 80% of the time, you ll be in good shape to run a great race and stay healthy. 2

3 Always prioritize the most important workout of the week: the fast workout for 5k/10k runners and the long run for half marathon/marathon runners. Skipping a short run isn t as detrimental as skipping the critical workout. Let s cover some common questions so you know how to execute each run. What are strides? Strides are integral for every runner. They re simply 100 meter accelerations that should take you about seconds. When you re finished with a run, start your strides. Run them in your front yard (if it s big enough), on your street, the sidewalk, or a nearby field if that s possible. Start at a jog, gradually build to about 95% of your maximum speed, hold that pace for 2-3 seconds and then slow down to a stop. That s one stride. If they were graphed, they d look like this: Take about a minute of walking or just standing between each stride. These aren t meant to get you in good shape so there s no need to rush them or jog in between each one. 3

4 Keep in mind that they should be fun and something that you look forward to after your easy runs. They ll help you develop more speed, increase your turnover, make your regular runs feel easier, and improve your stride mechanics (making you a more efficient runner). What paces should I be running? Regular distance and long runs not structured workouts should be run at an easy pace. Remember the 3 C s of easy running: comfortable, controlled, and conversational. In terms of specific pace, most coaches would say somewhere between 1:30 2:00 slower per mile than your 5k race pace. But if you re a slower runner, this might be skewed closer to one minute slower than your 5k race pace. Here are a few examples: 5k PR Easy Pace 21:00 8:00-9:00 22:00 8:15-9:15 23:00 8:30-9:30 24:00 9:00-10:00 25:00 9:15-10:15 26:00 9:30-10:30 27:00 9:45-10:45 28:00 10:00-11:00 29:00 10:15-11:00 30:00 10:30-11:15 Note: Since easy runs have a wider pace range than other runs, it s more beneficial to run short runs on the slower end of this range and your long runs at the faster end of 4

5 this range. This helps make your easy days easier and your hard days harder. This maxim helps you prioritize both recovery and fitness gains. Tempo is a comfortably hard effort that should be the pace you could hold for about an hour. Here are a few estimates: Marathon Time Tempo Pace Half-Marathon Time Tempo Pace 3:15 6:45-6:55 1:30 6:30-6:40 3:30 7:15-7:25 1:40 7:15-7:25 3:45 7:45-8:00 1:50 7:55-8:10 4:00 8:15-8:30 1:55 8:15-8:30 4:15 8:50-9:05 2:00 8:40-8:55 4:30 9:15-9:30 2:10 9:25-9:40 4:45 9:45-10:00 2:20 10:10-10:30 5:00 10:15-10:30 2:30 10:50-11:10 Remember that tempo pace will be influenced by stress, sleep, hydration, and weather conditions so it may fluctuate slightly based on how you re feeling. That s okay! Just do the best you can without pushing yourself too hard. Race-specific paces like 5k or 10k Pace should be done at your current race pace. If you re running goal race pace, run the pace that you hope to race at during your goal race. There s a workout that looks like this: 5 miles: 8x1 10k Pace, 2 jog rest. How do I run this? What looks a little complicated is actually very easy. The 5 miles is the total mileage for the day. The 8x1 Fartlek is the interval portion of the run (minutes are represented by the symbol) and each 1 interval is followed by 2 of easy running for recovery. 5

6 Fartlek workouts are done in the middle of the day s total mileage. So in other words, there should be some easy running before and after the intervals to help you warm up and cool down. The workout would be executed like this: mile warm-up 8x1 intervals at 10k Pace, with each followed by 2 easy About a mile to cool down The beauty of fartlek workouts are their versatility: they can be run almost anywhere and you don t need access to a track. What s a progression workout? A progression is when you gradually run faster. You progress to a faster pace over a few miles. Here s an example: 8 miles: last Progression to Tempo Pace This workout includes a progression during the last 3 miles. Once you ve run 5 miles at easy pace, gradually start running faster until you finish the run at Tempo pace. Only the last 3-4 minutes should be at Tempo. Progression runs are used as introductory workouts. They help you learn proper pacing and are easier than tempo runs so they re often used earlier in the training cycle (or as a second workout during the week). 6