How to Get Back to Running This Spring Without Injury
When the spring sun and warm weather begin to beckon us, roads and trails beckon. We fought mentally and physically to train in the winter , but now the conditions are more favorable for longer kilometers and harder training. But if you rush your workout too quickly, you can get injured. And there is nothing more frustrating than wasting time exercising in perfect weather.
When runners start picking up pace after a break, they are more prone to injury than if they were to maintain a more constant running volume. While short breaks are essential for both mental and physical recovery, long rest periods and wild fluctuations in mileage can make you more prone to injury.
So what do you do when spring is just around the corner and you can’t wait to get back to more serious training? Whether you’ve taken a vacation or reduced your mileage considerably during the winter months, the most important behavior to practice while exercising is patience. A slow and consistent recovery gives you the best opportunity to stay healthy and improve your fitness without significant setbacks.
Let’s take a look at how you can prepare now, before spring officially arrives, and how you can stay healthy as your workouts get more intense.
How to prepare for spring running
This may seem like an oversimplification, but when you start training again, it is important to remember one wisdom: start where you are now. You may have run a marathon three months ago, but if your training has stopped since then, you won’t be able to handle the same amount of work you did when you were at your peak.
If you’ve been running consistently for years, your fitness may return faster than a beginner’s. Either way, take an honest look at what you’ve done in the last couple of months and start from there.
- Rebuild your foundation: Start with an easy and comfortable run. Try to focus on effort, not pace. This is a great time to leave your GPS at home – set a consistent running mode instead of worrying about running faster or farther. At the moment, consistency in training is much more important than volume.
- Strength Training for Endurance : Since your initial mileage will be less than what you ran at the height of your workout, use the extra time to start lifting weights . If you lift weights in the gym, twice a week will usually be enough. If you’re doing shorter bodyweight exercises for strength and mobility, you can do them any day you run.
- Increase your mileage gradually: Despite the adage, only increase your weekly mileage by 10%, this can be either too conservative or even too aggressive, depending on where you start. If you run very little over the winter, you should keep your mileage constant for about two weeks before increasing it. As you increase your miles, gradually add them to both shorter runs and weekly long runs as you get closer to your regular weekly run.
- Add some variety to your workouts: Once you’ve started rebuilding the base for easy running, it’s time to add some variety to your workouts. While this can be done with pace (more on that below), you can also vary the routes you run, the type of terrain, and flat or hilly trails.
- Enter a little faster running: It is important to vary the pace of your runs. Make sure your easy runs are really light and conversational. Stepping and short, unstructured fartleks can be a great return to faster running. Fartlex can become more structured over time to help you progress to more challenging workouts.
How to prevent injury when you start running again
If you’ve taken the time to maintain or rebuild a base of healthy, consistent running, you’re off to a great start. But inviting spring weather can still tempt many of us to move longer and faster than our bodies are prepared to handle.
Spring is the time when local races start popping up almost every weekend, and group races with friends are becoming more common. While it’s always important to enjoy your run and seek out new adventures, you should still avoid overzealous training.
To maintain good habits as you build your fitness, be sure to stick to some basic training principles:
The “sandwich” of your runs
As mentioned above, strength training is an important part of keeping a runner healthy. Ideally, you should “sandwich” each of your runs with a short dynamic pre-run warm -up and then end with a focused strength or mobility program. A five to ten minute warm-up will prepare your body for more efficient work from the moment you walk out the door. When you get home, do a 15-minute program that focuses on core or hip strength, or can make you more endurance as your runs get more intense.
Don’t drastically increase training stress
It’s important not to change too many variables at once as you train. While having a variety of pace and terrain for each run is helpful, changing variables such as mileage, density, or training intensity too quickly can lead to injury. Mileage can usually increase faster than the “10% rule” until you reach your typical best run point. But apart from that, carefully increase the mileage. It may take you several weeks at constant volume before you increase it beyond your comfort zone.
Similarly, don’t increase your heavy effort too quickly, both in terms of frequency (number of times per week) and the time you spend running faster (minutes or miles). Starting with short fartlek workouts and modified tempo intervals, you can gradually increase the volume of more intense runs so that your body has time to adapt.
Set goals to help with consistency
Even in perfect weather, we all have moments when we lack motivation. It may take some time to develop the discipline to walk out the door, but eventually it will become a habit with practice. But setting both short-term and long-term goals can give you focus, especially when it’s the start of the season and running doesn’t feel as easy or fun as it would once you’ve improved your fitness.
With a little patience and planning, your late winter and spring training sessions can set you up for a strong training and racing season.