This article is taken from the eBook Your Half Training Schedule available here.

Runners get injured. It's not a question of whether you'll get injured, but when, how often and how badly. Even when we do everything right, we get injured sometimes.

Running related injuries are generally not life-threatening, but they can wreak havoc with our schedules. For this reason, it's a good idea to allow more time than you need to train for a race. If you can, give yourself 3-6 weeks more time than the schedule asks for.

Why so much?

The problem is not just the time out to recover from the injury, but also the time to get back to where you were. Rescheduling your training presents a special challenge addressed in detail in the eBook mentioned above.  The general rule is that for each week you're off you need to back up two weeks in your schedule. That time adds up fast.

For example, I recently broke one of my own rules, and suffered for it. It was a beautiful day, I was out on an easy run and running well. Rather than turn back, I extended my run to 1 hour instead of 30 minutes.

I felt fine during the run, but afterwards found that I had pulled a hamstring, which took two weeks to recover. Using the 2 for 1 rule, that meant I had to step back 4 weeks in my training. I lost 6 weeks training overall, just for 30 minutes of easy running!

Of course, I had forgotten that the easy day was the day my muscles needed to recover from the previous workout.

The 2 for 1 rule is a tough one to follow, especially when you are training for a half marathon.


Recovery from Running Related Injuries

The first task in recovery is to “baby” the injury. Recognize that you won't be running for a while, accept that fact, and take steps to minimize the recovery time. Most importantly, don't make the injury worse by pretending it doesn't exist.

I think the worst running related injury I had was a sprained ankle. In itself it wasn't all that bad, but naturally it happened when I was some way from home. I was not carrying a cell phone, so I had to walk a few miles back with a sprained ankle. It wasn't all that painful at the time, but it didn't speed my recovery one bit! Moral: carry a cell phone, especially on long runs.

Different injuries have different treatments, but for the first 72 hours the RICE treatment works for most running injuries:

  • R=Rest. This one is obvious – just rest the injury as much as you can.

  • I=Ice. Ice packs are good, but if you can use ice massage that is even better. Either way, 20 minutes at a time is sufficient. With ice massage, you freeze some water in a styrofoam cup, tear off part of the cup to expose the ice and massage the affected area with the ice for 20 minutes. At first it feels cold, then it burns and finally it goes numb. Ice should be applied every 2 or 3 hours for the first day or two, but you don't need to wake up at night to do it! (That's part of your Rest.)

  • C=Compression. Ace bandages work well, especially when combined with an ice pack. Depending on the location of the injury, there may be specific equipment you can use: for example, I used an Air Brace for my ankle, which compressed and supported it when I was not giving it ice massage.

  • E=Elevation. This one, too, is obvious.

Read more about running related injuries in the eBook "Your Half Training Schedule" available here.