Tips for Preventing Injuries

I have finicky ankles...

They do not like it when I wear heels. They also rebel when I run too often or too long. Or when I don't stretch. Don't even get me started on what they do when I wear shoes past their prime. {to retain my dignity, I will not be posting all of the ridiculous photos of my swollen feet/ankles. Call my mom if you're interested in seeing them - I fill our text messages with feet pictures which I know she loves...ha}

{swollen ankles/weird bulging shins}

Why do you care about my ankles?

Because last time I was training for my half marathon, I got an ankle injury that ended up costing me about 6 weeks of training/any exercise in general.

I felt like I had a severe case of cabin fever. I do not do well without exercise in my life.

So I decided that I would not let it happen again for this round of half marathon training.

To prevent injury, here are a few things I make sure to do:

Wear good running shoes - this is nonnegotiable. I must have good running shoes, and I can't just buy ones because they're pretty and/or they're not expensive. I have to get the ones that fit my feet and cater to my weird ankle issues.

There's a store in town, Louisiana Running Company, that does a video gait analysis - it's amazing and my ankles always feel better when I get new shoes {I got new shoes on Thursday - woohoo!}

Stick to a training plan - when I run too much or too sporadically, I will often have issues with my ankles and/or shins. I personally like the 3-4 day per week running plan I have. I do one or two easy/short runs, one speed work run {intervals or tempo}, and one long run.

I also include cross-training like strengthening and stretching {specifically barre3}.

Stretch - I usually consider a barre3 class a part of my stretching regimen. I also do a few stretches after I shower {when my muscles are warm}. I don't stretch before a run, but I will do a dynamic warm-up.

Foam roll - I foam roll about 2-3 times per week. It's not the best part of my day, but it feels great after I'm finished.

I love this video and use it as my guide for foam rolling. This is the article the video is from if you want to read a little more detail {it's really interesting!}

Unfortunately, I had incredibly swollen ankles after traveling last weekend and wearing heels every night {ugh!}. When I tried to run Tuesday, it felt like my shins were detaching from my leg with every step, so I decided to listen to my body and stop running.

Last time this happened {in November}, I ran through the pain and ended up with that dang injury which set me back weeks and weeks.

After multiple picture messages sent to my mom {she secretly loves them, I just know it}, she told me that I needed to elevate my feet, wear only tennis shoes or no shoes at all, and sleep in compression socks. Then she reminded me that my shoes were probably old and I needed new ones.

In my increasing age I've come to realize my mom is pretty much always right {why don't you realize these things until you're older?}, so I bought new shoes and it was like a whole other world out there. The new shoes were life-changing. Hallelujah!

My Tempo Run on Thursday went really well but then I had another flare-up on Saturday & Sunday thanks to my heel-wearing events over the weekend. {Note to self: listen to your mother... no more wearing heels all night long}

All in all, this wasn't my best week for running/training. But I'd much rather cut myself some slack and have a not-so-great week instead of giving myself an injury.

Bottom line: Always listen to your body and take care of yourself. Skipping a run or two because of negative pain is not going to ruin your training. Getting an injury will.

Last week's plan:

Monday: travel/rest day
Tuesday: walk in the park, 2 mile easy run, barre3 studio class
Wednesday: walk in the park, barre3 studio class
Thursday: walk in the park, 4 mile intervals
Friday: walk in the park, barre3 studio class
Saturday: easy run 2-3 miles
Sunday: fun run for November Project {about 3-5 miles}

What actually happened:

Monday: travel/rest day; 3,973 steps
Tuesday: walk in the park, 0.8 mile easy run {pain in my shins & calves so I cut my run short}, barre3 studio class; 15,805 steps
Wednesday: walk in the park, barre3 studio class; 18,943 steps
Thursday: walk in the park, 4 mile tempo run with 9:50 min/mile pace 1 mile warm-up, 8:27 min/mile pace 2 mile, 9:40 min/mile 1 mile cool down; 23,672 steps {got new shoes, woohoo!!}
Friday: walk in the park, barre3 studio class; 13,737 steps
Saturday: walk in the park; 12,022 steps
Sunday: had to walk the fun run for November Project because of swollen ankles/calf pain; 12,203 steps

My plan for the week:

Monday - 2 mile easy run, barre3 studio class
Tuesday - walk in the park, barre3 studio class
Wednesday - 4 mile intervals
Thursday - walk in the park, barre3 studio class {optional}
Friday - light walk {I'll be in Mobile/the bay}, barre3 studio class or online class (optional)
Saturday - 6 mile long run
Sunday - rest day

Meme

What are your best tips for staying injury-free?

Disclaimer: this is my advice for how I keep myself healthy. It is not meant to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent injuries/etc. This is just what helps me keep injuries at bay and I wanted to share my tips. Please see a doctor if you have injuries.