How Do You Know When You Get Hurt Way Too Much/Should Throw In The Towel?

Don't be discouraged by some minor set backs you are still young DON"T THROUGH IN THE TOWEL!

You are too young to throw in the towel. There is plenty of time to get healed, start back with a solid mileage base + cross-training/strengthening/stretching and get back the fitness you had lost. Don't rush your comeback, and try to strengthen your body to prevent injuries before they occur. Good luck.

You "throw in the towel" just as they slam the lid on your coffin. Learn from your injuries and do some exercises to prevent the injuries that you've developed in the past.

These injuries you describe are frequetnly caused by restricted mobility: tendonitis in your foot and achilles may be caused by tight calves or achilles tendon region, the IT band thing suggests that your IT band is tight and resticted also. Perhaps you're just naturally tight. I would find a physical therapist who can identify where you're tight, and apply the treatment to looesen those areas. Once you have normal range of motion and your legs can move the way they're supposed to, you should be all set. I don't know about the diarrhea---too much beer, maybe?

Be wary of physical therapists. A good one will get you running. A normal one will hook you up on ultrasound and waste your time and money. I've been in your situation, and it sucks.

Speaking as someone who had four stress fractures in my first two years of college (three season ending), among many other chronic injuries, I can tell you there is light at the end of the tunnel. I spent my whole college career gettin hurt. The problem was that I was so focused on getting good that I didn't take the time to get my body better. Now I'm two years removed from college and I haven't had a single injury. What did I do to get injury free? First I threw out my orthotics and motion control shoes and replaced them with racing flats. WHY? Most doctors had ASSUMED that because my feet were relatively flat that my injuries were caused by excessive pronation. The doctors never really checked to see if I actually pronated when I ran, which I didn't. I was totally efficient. Second, I changed my stride length to make it shorted. For years I had been overstriding which had caused excessive impact forces in my lower legs. Changing my stride length not only made me land much softer, but also made me more efficient in longer races. Third, I stopped static stretching and replaced with ACTIVE STRETCHING. I haven't found one shred of evidence that staic stretching has helped in alleviating injuries. I found that after I switched to active stretching I stopped feeling tight was I was running. I never had to stop to stretch in the middle of a run again. I know this is all very long now, but the point is I found what was wrong with my running and I fixed it. Don't just listen to the advice of others. Research everything your self and maybe you can help your self run injury free.

what is the difference between active and static stretching?

Static stretching is based on holding a stretch for a longer period of time, say for example 30 seconds. With active stretching the stretch is held only for a second or two once you reach the point of initial discomfort. After the 1-2 seconds you repeat the same stretching motion again. I usually do each stretch from 5-8 times. An excellent book for active stretching, strength, and also for the study of running form is EXPLOSIVE RUNNING. It's written by Michael Yessis.

Ah says you should have thrown in the towel before you got hurt. Then you would not have got hurt. Sport leads to nowhere even for those who don't get hurt. Don't waste your time anymore in a sport that no one care about. Think of all the great runners and mention them to the common person. They not know or care what you are talking about.

Take good ahdvice and throw in the towel.

The problem way be systemic. Get your Thyroid checked. Get your serum ferritin checked. Get your magniesum levels checked. There could well be an underlying condition that causes your multiple problems.

As a college runner who has gone from usually two relatively significant running injuries per year to being pretty much injury-free, here is what I have done, three major things that mostly complement each other. This may not apply to everyone, but it worked for me.

1. Short, quick stride. Overstriding causes you to come down harder on your heel, increasing the chance of injury. By concentrating not on your stride length, but on your stride rate, it is easy to change this. On easy days, hard days, and everything in between this past summer I would time myself for a minute once or twice every run to make sure I was doing 180 strides/minute. Now that stride rate is totally natural to me. If you read Daniels, it is evident that this stride rate is pretty universal. Running slower means that you are in the air longer (i.e. higher - read some physics textbooks) and you will come down with a greater acceleration.

2. Stop being a heel-striker. Quick, short strides will help with this because most heel-strikers also overstride. If you are running at 180 strides/minute, it will be almost impossible to strike anywhere but your midfoot, which is really the natural way to land. Landing on your midfoot, in addition to putting less stress on your body, is also more efficient as heel-striking creates a braking motion.

3. Lose the bulky shoes. Unless you are a major over-pronator, you can get by on a pair of lightweight trainers or road racing shoes. Road-racing shoes today offer as much if not more support and cushioning that trainers did thirty or forty years ago. Make sure that the shoe you get has a low heel, as this is by far the more natural way to run and facilitates midfoot-striking. Doctors and trainers told me to get a shoe with a higher heel for achilles tendonitis. This seemed counter-intuitive to me, as a short achilles is the cause of achilles tendonitis. Running in a shoe with a lower heel (only two or three days a week at first) will help to gradually lengthen the tendon. Also, for form, run barefoot on grass for 8-10 reps of 100 meters four or five times a week if possible.

Good luck with your injuries.

Thanks for the helpful information everyone. I wanted to get a couple things cleared up with a few points people mentioned. With respect to training in racing flats, wis the actual recommendation to train full time in flats? Even if running upwards of 75 miles a week?

Another thing I have pondered, during last summer I got my mileage pretty high without injury because I was training with some parters on a similar program as myself, and we had tons of extra time, so I could get in 10 to 12 mile runs done all in one session. When I got back to school, just they way our team is, 90% of the distance runners do 8 mile runs everyday with a long run on Sundays. Because of that team dynamic, I was expected to do the 8 mile runs with everyone else and then supplement the extra mileage on my own with early morning runs? Do you guys think this may have been debilitating, conducive to injury?

One thing I have thought of doing is instead of doing the extra runs, I considered supplementing the runs with morning corss training sessions, swimming or biking or a combination of the two to add on to what I am doing while reducing the pounding my legs take and possibly reduce injury. What do you think of this plan?

Again, I am very grateful for the advice and your thoughts. Thanks.

I do absolutely all of my trainging in racing flats, or very light=weight trainers. If you have ever read Lydiard's book RUNNING TO THE TOP it explains why heavily cushioned shoes don't help to reduce pounding. In the study it compares the ammount of pounding created on the lower leg when runners are running barefoot verses when running in cushioned shoes. The study found that the pounding on the legs was actually reduced when running barefoot compared to running in cushioned shoes. This is because the runners didn't notice how hard they were landing in the shoes due to the excessive cushioning.

I don't think that two a days are bad as long as one of the runs is at considerably less effort than the other run. Many African runners run very slow and easy in their morning runs. They call it "opening up their lungs." They save the harder stuff for later in the day.

With regard to training in racing flats, although it's a good idea for a great majority of runners, you should not jump headfirst into it. Using Asics as an example, say you're running now in the 2070 or Kayano, two overly built-up shoes. Buy a pair of road flats, such as the Tiger Paw, and start doing any quality miles in those. For your next pair of training shoes, buy the DS-Trainer, which still offers a lot of support, but has a lower heel like a racing flat. Tranisition from the DS-Trainer to the Gel Verdict DS for your next pair of training shoes. This shoe has a low-to-the-ground heel and less support than the DS Trainer. Now that you're doing your quality days in road flats and your other days in the Gel Verdict DS, slowly begin adding days that you run in the road flats. For example, every three weeks or so take one easy/long day and change it from a training shoe day to a road flat day. Gradually do this until all you have is road flat days. At this point you might want to gradually introduce some days in which you run in waffle racers, but I would not myself get to the point where I run in those every day. The key here is to do everything gradually. Your legs are used to too much support and cushioning, and you can't simply get rid of all of that overnight. Do it too quickly and you'll be injured even more. Do it gradually and you could keep yourself injury-free for years.

Thank you for your great posts. The information you shared is what makes this site worth reading.

Because of that team dynamic, I was expected to do the 8 mile runs with everyone else and then supplement the extra mileage on my own with early morning runs? Do you guys think this may have been debilitating, conducive to injury?

Yes--it could make you much more injury prone because you are not getting in proper recovery time. Buy yourself a Torso Track and use a pillow with it--get in a greater aerobic fitness by swimming--you will spend less time in the pool than what you might think--stay off the bike if you have a pool.

What about runners with leg length discrepencies? I am pretty sure my right leg is shorter than my left. My right calf is more developed than my left, and it also is a big shorter than my left - maybe half an inch or so. Also it just feels like my leg is shorter when I walk or run.

Would barefoot running and running in flats still be able to benefit me and keep me from being injured? (I've had chronic hip/glute problems that continue to resurface over the last 15 months, even after a 7 month layoff.)

runthis wrote:

2. Stop being a heel-striker. . .

3. Lose the bulky shoes . . .

Yes. Yes. Absolutely yes. From recent experience, I have to say this is excellent advice.

I'm a geezer who recently dumped my training flats and began training in my racers, and my decades-long battle with achilles tendinitis (and various other nagging injuries) seems to have come to an end. I feel like I've experienced an almost religious revelation, and I hope these ideas get the exposure they should. I'm beginning to think that running as if barefoot could spare many, many people from pain and repeated injury. And I'm getting snap back in my stride that I haven't felt since I was a sophomore in high school. Zippity doo dah.

A midfoot/forefoot plant seemed counterintuitive to me at first, too. After all, why put more stress on achilles that are already inflamed? I still can't say I understand why it works, but I suspect that you pronate less with a shorter support (stance) phase to your stride, and midfoot/forefoot plant certainly does shorten the support phase. And I think I may be feeling snappier because my foot is now able to act as a more rigid lever, and I'm getting better energy return as result of greater elastic recoil of the muscles in the lower legs (gastrocs, soleus). I'll admit, though, that this is all speculation and that I don't really know what I'm talking about. But the bottom line is that it's working. Yes!

I hope you won't quit. As Gordon Pirie wrote somewhere, you have to start thinking like an engineer and recognize that injuries are simply problems to be solved. They usually don't just happen due to bad luck. They are the result of mechanical deficiencies that can be corrected. I think you've received some great advice from the other posters here that will help you do that. Best of luck.

Also, for form, run barefoot on grass for 8-10 reps of 100 meters four or five times a week if possible.

The above is sound advice, too, considering all the difficulties footwear can cause--even good footwear.

All this talk about the feet got me to thinking about another common inury with athletes.

It never fails that whenever I play basketball with a group of guys, one of them in the lot will have high tops and complain that they have a weak ankle and they are always injuring it.

One of the reasons they injur their ankles so much is the high tops. They aren't going to protect you at all--just the opposite--they will cause you to twist your ankle a lot more than low tops will.

But the main reason people hurt their ankles when playing basketball is that when they jump up, they try to land with their feet being pointed straight out. You should always try to land with your toes pointing outward. It is the most natural way to land--and it is the most natural way to stand. Why try pointing your toes straight out? You are already forcing your feet to buckle under you. Need proof? Ok--stand up with your toes pointing straight out. Now gently rock from one feet to the next raising a foot off the ground just a little as you rock side to side. Your toes will automatically try to point outwards. The end of so-called weak ankles. When jumping up, always land with your toes pointing outward.

RE: leg-length discrepancy. I'd get to a good sports doc/PT for an evaluation, and if your right leg is indeed shorter, start wearing lifts in *all* your shoes. Within the past year I've had three friends whose hip/glute problems were essentially solved by wearing a lift.

I had a leg-length discrepancy diagnosed years ago so I never walk or run barefoot. I also wear a lift in my racing flats (on the rare times I use them anymore). Realize that a true leg-length discrepancy (not just a mis-aligned pelvis, which is a different matter) is going to transfer a lot of stress to your hip/pelvic muscles and lower back (L5). Over time that's going to cause you lots of grief. My body managed to compensate fairly well for about twenty years then everything went to hell. It's under control now but there were a couple of years when I was sure that I'd never run again, even just a couple of real slow miles a day.