Running is a high-impact sport which makes succumbing to some sort of injury quite common, especially the longer you continue with the sport. You can mitigate this risk by doing things like run-specific strength training and following a well-constructed running training plan, but even then things can happen—I once scuppered a marathon training cycle by banging my knee on a radiator jumping across a room to impress my toddler.
When an injury does occur, it can be devastating. Not only do you lose out on the physical benefits of the sport and lose any improvements in fitness you had gained from training, it’s also hard on your mental health to not be able to participate in something you enjoy, especially if you’re friends with runners still training and taking part in events.
There is a lot of advice out there for injured runners, but the best I’ve come across was from Stephen Haas, coach of the Under Armour Dark Sky Distance group when he was speaking at the launch of the Under Armour Infinite Elite running shoe. The words of wisdom are especially good for keen runners who are always looking towards their next event.
“It’s a piece of advice that my college coach gave me when I had an injury,” says Haas. “I think it was freshman or sophomore year in college.
There’s always another race
“At the time, you think the most important thing is that race that you were getting ready for, or whatever that intermediate goal was. He said to me that the best part about our sport is there’s always something new. There’s always another race. There’s always another goal. There’s always another championship.
“That really hit me at the time, and it was something I needed to hear. It got me to think a little bit more positively: I get through this, then I reset my goals and there’s another race on the horizon.
“I make sure to share that with my athletes now. The biggest thing for getting through an injury is not rushing. It’s being patient and taking your time and not rushing back. You have to be over your injury before you can train properly. You have to be healthy, so there’s a level of patience that is required there, and I think to have that you have to be positive.
“You have to be positive about what’s coming up next, and if you’re healthy and training at the level you want to be training, there’s going to be another goal right down the road.”
So if you are unlucky enough to get injured this year, try to remember that when you’re back on your feet, whenever that happens to be, there will always be another event to train for, a running group to join, or a running holiday to go on.
