Staying Injury Free

Many people wonder how a distance runner can run so many miles per day/per week without constantly getting injured. Running over 10 miles a day or 75 miles in a week does take a toll on the body. The training requires me to get a lot more rest than the average person. I did not suddenly begin running 10 miles a day. Working up the intense training that my team and I do was a gradual increase over a long period of time.  I began competing as a distance runner 8 years ago when I was a freshman in high school.  Back when I first began running track, I only ran about 2 or 3 miles per day, or 20 miles in a week. Each year forward, I slowly increase the milage. I reached about 40 miles a week as a sophomore and between 50 and 60 as a senior. The same progression has occurred throughout college. The body adapts to small changes that take place over time and builds up the muscles around the knees, shins and ankles to protect the bones.

Even with the gradual increases in our training, many injuries that can occur that we work hard to prevent. Injuries such as shin splints, tendonitis, stress fractures, and pulled muscles can occur and we prevent these injuries from happening by the exercises that we do at the Biomechanics Lab located next to the Oak Hollow Mall. Many of the workouts we do at the lab strengthen our weaker muscle groups to take pressure off other parts of our bodies when we are running. Important muscle groups involved with running include a strong core, lower back, gluteus muscles, hamstrings and calves. Strengthening these muscles improves running form and help runners to become less injury prone.

HPU Biomechanics Lab

The Time Commitment

Division 1 athletics take up a lot of time during the day. As a distance runner on the track and cross country team at High Point University, a typical daily practice includes running about 10 miles, 20 minutes of stretching and foam rolling, 15 minutes of core/planks and ice baths. 2.5 hours quickly disappear from the day.  This amount of time does not include afternoon weight strengthening sessions, appropriate rest, team meetings and bus rides to off-campus running trails. Weekends track meets also take up a bulk of our time. We are easily gone for a full day to two days when traveling to compete at schools such as Louisville, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Penn State, Arkansas, and Columbia.

In this blog, I will continue to describe and give current updates on different aspects of what it is like to be a NCAA track and cross country runner including diet, practices, easy vs. hard days, balancing school work and athletics, competition and more.