"If you have been forced to take time off from running, you have to be patient getting back. If you have been crosstraining and maintained some sort of fitness, your aerobic capacity is stronger than your legs. Keep that in mind and and increase your running very gradually."

- Grete Waitz,
9-time winner of the New York City Marathon

Run smart, run healthy
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Among the things runners have in common is the desire to run healthy and not get injured. We don't like to take time off and we are not enthusiastic about cross training. But, unfortunately, the majority of runners bring on injuries themselves by not paying attention to the warning signs.

What kept me relatively injury-free throughout my career was sound training and racing. My career had a sensible sequence -- from shorter distances on the track to longer distances on the roads. Nothing I have done was on an impulse except for my first marathon. But, to a degree, I was well prepared by having a strong running background.

This doesn't mean I didn't make mistakes along the way. Looking back, I regret that very often I didn't cut back on training when I felt something was wrong. Like many of you, I made the common mistake of thinking I could run through an ache or pain, that it wasn't as bad as it was. I think this sense of invincibility is shared by all runners, each of us believing to be the exception to the rule. We are good to give advice to others, but are better at ignoring that advice ourselves.

Your first warning is often some pain after running. You may have some minor aches and pains while walking the stairs or running across the street. You are not concerned since it doesn't bother your running.

The next warning is some discomfort – but not pain -- during running. You can still maintain your training, so you don't worry. This is when you should pay some serious attention to the area where you feel the discomfort. If not, you will get to the next stage - pain that limits your running. If you haven't backed off at this stage you will finally reach the point where you can't run at all.

Staying healthy is a question of how quickly you can get beyond the denial and deal with the reality. You then have an opportunity to back off that little bit you need to recover. You don't have to back off a lot if you can recognize the potential problem soon enough.

Running injuries occur for a reason, so try to find out why the injury happened in the first place. It might be some changes in your training routine. It may be you have run farther, trained harder or run on different terrain or even in different running shoes.

To be able to treat an injury you have to find the cause. I'll give you an example:
Many runners have had pain on the outside of the knee and treat that area with ice, massage etc. or take time off. The cause for this injury is very often a tight IT band. To get rid of that specific pain in the knee you have to treat the IT band by stretching and deep friction massage done by a good massage therapist.

If an injury doesn't get better with some self treatment like ice, rest, massage and stretching, you may consider seeing a physician who is familiar with running injuries.

Can you prevent injuries from happening? In most cases you can. In wanting to get better - go faster and farther- we push ourselves beyond our comfort zones, which is necessary. But that is also when injuries may occur.

Warning signals:

• mild tenderness or muscle stiffness that doesn't go away after a few days rest;
• muscle cramping or spasm during or after running;
• swelling or redness in any area;
• any fatigue or excessive soreness that continues for several days;
• any unsual or severe pain;
• soreness or pain that occurs in the same place every time you run.

If you have been forced to take time off from running, you have to be patient getting back. If you have been crosstraining and maintained some sort of fitness, your aerobic capacity is stronger than your legs. Keep that in mind and and increase your running very gradually.