Kelly Facteau, MSPT. GSPT Clinic Manager, Gilford. UESCA-Certified Running Coach.
Fall is a wonderful time to be a runner in New Hampshire. Now that the heat, humidity, and mosquitoes are gone we can enjoy the crisp air and beautiful foliage.
Whether your racing season is nearing an end, you’re starting your cross country season, or heading up to the Whites for a big effort, you want to approach the starting line or trailhead healthy, strong, and confident.
As a physical therapist and a UESCA-Certified Running Coach, I help prevent injury, improve performance, and return runners to the sport they love when they are injured.
At Granite State Physical Therapy, we go beyond simply treating pain. We identify the root causes and design personalized plans to keep runners healthy and performing at their best to ensure longevity in the sport.
Here are five evidence-based tips to help you stay injury-free:
1. Progress Your Training Gradually and Train Smart
Strava and social networking, attempts to set a PB (personal best), or the excitement of signing up for a race often tempts us to push too hard or do too much during training.
To be successful and stay injury free you will want to run consistently and build in a “pull back week” every three weeks where you reduce your volume/intensity. This will allow your body the ability to build and adapt to the demands of training without breaking down.
Recovery runs (running shorter distances at an easy conversational pace) are just as important as hard workouts. If we truly run easy on our easy days we’ll be able to push harder on our tough workouts. Easy runs improve our heart muscle strength and capillary density to better deliver oxygen and nutrients and remove waste products from our muscles.
Incorporating cross-training, such as swimming or cycling, can reduce the repetitive stress on your bones, joints and connective tissues (muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia) while still training the cardiovascular system.
Tapering before a long race can be difficult-we’re often tempted to put in that extra work at the end of our training block but this can be counterproductive and result in injury instead of our best performance.
Taking a break from running after a busy racing season and incorporating other activities, such as nordic skiing, can maintain or improve your cardiovascular fitness without further wear and tear on your musculoskeletal system.
2. Prioritize Strength and Stability
Running is a repetitive, single-leg activity. The average runner experiences the impact of the foot hitting the ground approximately 1,000 to 1,500 times per mile at 3-4 times their body weight.
Weaknesses in your core, hip, knee, and foot muscles can lead to compensations that increase injury risk. Depending on where you are in relation to your racing season adding two to three short strength sessions each week or sprinkling strengthening in throughout the week can make a significant difference in your body’s power and durability.
Focus on exercises like single-leg squats and bridges, dead lifts, calf raises, and side planks to improve strength and stability as well as your running form. At Granite State Physical Therapy, we use musculoskeletal assessments to pinpoint each runner’s deficits, then build a targeted plan to address them. The result? Better efficiency, improved performance, and fewer aches and pains.
3. Refine Your Running Form
Even small deviations in form, such as overstriding, limited hip extension, or altered trunk position can contribute to problems over time.
A professional running gait analysis can be an eye-opener. During our gait assessments, we use video and biomechanical evaluation to review areas such as your cadence, ground reaction force, spinal rotation, and posture. From there, we can coach you through drills to improve mechanics, reduce stress on tissues, and improve your running efficiency.
4. Don’t Skimp On The Basics
Adequate sleep, nutrition, and warm-up activities will all improve your running.
Sleep is when our bodies perform repair work. Do what you can to go to bed and get up at consistent times. Try to get seven to nine hours of quality sleep per night
Food is fuel for our bodies. Hydrating adequately and eating a diet of nutrient dense foods with a balance of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats will support your training load. Your body will burn other things but highly processed foods or foods high in simple sugars can take longer to break down and will not provide the best energy for our systems.
Runners are more efficient if our muscles and tendons have a high level of elasticity and recoil. Include dynamic warm-ups instead of static stretching before runs and gentle stretching, self-massage or foam rolling to quads, hamstrings, gastrocs, hip flexors, and IT bands afterward to maintain adequate mobility and prevent injury.
5. Address Issues Early
A twinge in your knee or a dull ache in your foot might seem minor at first, but ignoring early warning signs often leads to bigger problems. Seeking help from a physical therapist who understands runners can make the difference between a short adjustment period or weeks to months of work to return to your prior performance level. Because we specialize in comprehensive injury evaluations, we can uncover the underlying cause of your discomfort before it escalates. Early intervention keeps you on track for your race or goal and helps prevent recurring injuries.
If you note persistent soreness or fatigue, it may be a sign to back off and allow your body to reset. Just because you have a workout on the calendar doesn’t necessarily mean you should perform that workout. Listening to your body and taking a flexible approach with your training is always a smart approach.
Stay Healthy and Ready for Race Day
New Hampshire’s fall running races are some of the most scenic and rewarding in the country, and with the right approach, you can enjoy them injury-free.
Appropriate training, targeted strength work, form refinement, intentional recovery, and early problem-solving are key ingredients for a successful training season.
If you want expert support, Granite State Physical Therapy offers running performance assessments and injury evaluations tailored to your goals. If you’ve been injured while running, schedule an evaluation with us. Each evaluation includes:
- Review of History: running and racing, training, prior injuries, footwear, and orthotics, self care, basic nutrition
- Biomechanical Assessment: Observation of movement and video analysis of running form.
- Musculoskeletal Evaluation: orthopedic exam including assessment of tissue texture, flexibility, strength, stability, posture, and foot structure.
- Treatment: Therapeutic exercise, strength, agility, and plyometric training, movement pattern re-training, hands on manual therapy, guidance for running and training progression as well as running form drills such as strides and skipping.
Whether you’re returning to training, preparing for a race, or simply want to run for fitness without pain, we’re here to support your progress every step of the way. Contact us for an evaluation.
