Hi - I appreciate your point of view, but as a longtime running coach and someone who's been running for 25+ years, I'd like to offer a different point of view. Some injuries ARE avoidable. For example, many women get stress fractures from a combination of low energy (not eating enough) which leads to amenorrhea (loss of periods) which leads to weak bones. This is preventable, and it's important that young female athletes get this message. Other injuries, such as Achilles tendonitis and other forms of tendonitis, usually result from a combo of overuse and poor biomechanics. Both are preventable. Injuries are great teachers -- they can show what needs to be altered in training and what needs to be improved for biomechanics (i.e. flaws in our running form). And why the point "you're never going to heal completely"? That is just not true. I know runners, for example, who coped with a calf strain or a glute pain for months -- but when it finally went away, it did not come back, because it had healed and they had improved their running form and took other precautionary measures to make sure it did not return. Finally, "the best and only remedy is patience" is not necessarily true. There's a lot you can do while injured, in terms of physical therapy, bodywork, and nutrition, to expedite healing.
Hey Sarah! Thank you so much for your in-depth feedback. It speaks a clear language of experience as a coach and working with hundreds of (sometimes injured) athletes. My writing about running is generally very personal an rarely to be viewed as a "how to guide" or "self help" text (I point that out in the introduction of this article, too). The internet is full of this and to be honest, I find most of it totally boring and not very helpful. What I am trying to do with my writing is to connect with my readers on an emotional level. Very often it feels great to know that you are not alone with your thoughts and feelings, especially the more quirky ones. Either way, as a direct feedback to your points let me say the following: Yes, some injuries are indeed avoidable (that's why my second point is "Injuries do not fall from heaven - You can see them coming"), but the REALITY is that 99.9% of runners don't pay attention to early warning signals. That's why I state that "everyone is injured all the time". On a positive note I see a lot of runners, who do not suffer from the same injury twice, because they learn to understand their bodies and early warning signs better when dealing with a (new) injury. As for "you're never going to heal completely" I agree that a lot of injuries completely disappear if you treat them well. However, if you regard the whole body, the sum of all aches and pains that you constantly or irregularly feel increases over time. It is a very physical sport and the older you get / the longer you run, the more you will recognize that. I have seen runners almost quit running for good because they thought they're doing harm to themselves if they continue and that's sad. That's why my point reads "...but you can learn to manage your injuries". It gives you a feeling of control and at the same time it teaches you the difference between a real injury (which needs a pause from running and a professional treatment) and an ache that must not necessarily kill your love for running but can be managed on a day-to-day basis. As for the last point "The best and only remedy is patience" - I stand by what I said ;-) By patience I do not mean doing nothing. I am speaking about being patiently waiting to RUN again. Because that's what everyone wants in the end. Thanks again for your feedback! I love such discussions.
Hi - I appreciate your point of view, but as a longtime running coach and someone who's been running for 25+ years, I'd like to offer a different point of view. Some injuries ARE avoidable. For example, many women get stress fractures from a combination of low energy (not eating enough) which leads to amenorrhea (loss of periods) which leads to weak bones. This is preventable, and it's important that young female athletes get this message. Other injuries, such as Achilles tendonitis and other forms of tendonitis, usually result from a combo of overuse and poor biomechanics. Both are preventable. Injuries are great teachers -- they can show what needs to be altered in training and what needs to be improved for biomechanics (i.e. flaws in our running form). And why the point "you're never going to heal completely"? That is just not true. I know runners, for example, who coped with a calf strain or a glute pain for months -- but when it finally went away, it did not come back, because it had healed and they had improved their running form and took other precautionary measures to make sure it did not return. Finally, "the best and only remedy is patience" is not necessarily true. There's a lot you can do while injured, in terms of physical therapy, bodywork, and nutrition, to expedite healing.
Hey Sarah! Thank you so much for your in-depth feedback. It speaks a clear language of experience as a coach and working with hundreds of (sometimes injured) athletes. My writing about running is generally very personal an rarely to be viewed as a "how to guide" or "self help" text (I point that out in the introduction of this article, too). The internet is full of this and to be honest, I find most of it totally boring and not very helpful. What I am trying to do with my writing is to connect with my readers on an emotional level. Very often it feels great to know that you are not alone with your thoughts and feelings, especially the more quirky ones. Either way, as a direct feedback to your points let me say the following: Yes, some injuries are indeed avoidable (that's why my second point is "Injuries do not fall from heaven - You can see them coming"), but the REALITY is that 99.9% of runners don't pay attention to early warning signals. That's why I state that "everyone is injured all the time". On a positive note I see a lot of runners, who do not suffer from the same injury twice, because they learn to understand their bodies and early warning signs better when dealing with a (new) injury. As for "you're never going to heal completely" I agree that a lot of injuries completely disappear if you treat them well. However, if you regard the whole body, the sum of all aches and pains that you constantly or irregularly feel increases over time. It is a very physical sport and the older you get / the longer you run, the more you will recognize that. I have seen runners almost quit running for good because they thought they're doing harm to themselves if they continue and that's sad. That's why my point reads "...but you can learn to manage your injuries". It gives you a feeling of control and at the same time it teaches you the difference between a real injury (which needs a pause from running and a professional treatment) and an ache that must not necessarily kill your love for running but can be managed on a day-to-day basis. As for the last point "The best and only remedy is patience" - I stand by what I said ;-) By patience I do not mean doing nothing. I am speaking about being patiently waiting to RUN again. Because that's what everyone wants in the end. Thanks again for your feedback! I love such discussions.
No5 was the biggest one for me. Biggest humbler as I got older, for sure. Changed all my targets.
Same here. It's a rather new revelation for me, haha!