INJURIES: The FIVE STEP PROCESS

I meet a lot of you out there that have trouble training at peak, get tired, are endlessly injured, or just plain worn out. I've briefly covered how important periodization is, whereby you successively increase load over a 3 week period, then in 4th week cut back. (See my last article, as OC's are unable cut back to go faster). Then, do it again with a little bit more load.

We've all fought off injuries. Contrary to rationalization, they are predictable and easy to spot from afar. Tree/woods syndrome stops us from recognizing we are overtraining, however. So let's approach it from another viewpoint.

As you physically improve, there are 5 parts of your anatomy that respond. Unfortunately, they improve at different rates. Here goes, in the


ORDER OF IMPROVEMENT:

1. Aerobic Capacity  This improves fastest, especially beginners
2. Muscles  Again, beginners improve the fastest. ( Amazingly, journeymen, epsecially older athletes, often remove muscle unwittingly by overtraining with too long of runs or miles).
3. Bone Density  Stress fractures anyone??? It's not an anomally, but usually predictable.
4. Ligaments  knee issues, for example, or ankles.
5. Tendons Hello Achilles sufferers.....

 If you look at the above, 1 and 2 will improve rapidly.

So, if you like injuries, merely train to how you mentally feel, without periodization and without a schedule, view recovery days off as weakness, and add junk miles ad nauseum without speed, and VIOLA!!! pick your injury from doors 3,4, or 5! Then, astonished, remark to everyone "I don't know how it happened!".

Hardly a surprise if you understand the order of improvement.

Time and again, especially beginners and older runners, folks ramp up for a few weeks or even a few months, then it all comes crashing down in the endless syndrome of injury, or performance plateaus. Don't let this happen to you. Try and recognize it when it happens and change behavior. Injuries almost always do not come "out of the blue".

One of the reasons you need a schedule is to allow 2,3,4 and 5 catch up before moving to the next level, else you are increasing risk by moving onto the "injury zone".

Now go have a good workout!