UKC

I've gotten into trail running with some ultras mixed in and relized that the main challange is not cardio but staying injury free. 

I've since actually strated stretching post runs and that seems to make quite the difference. Iwas wondering what other thigns have worked for people here?

Cheers

GG

Piggybacking off this, what are people's favourite stretches to do post-run? Bonus points if they are useful for climbing flexibility as well

Dunno about 'favourite', but hamstring, quads, eccentric heel drops to protect the achilles (not really a stretch but seems to pay off), and if there's a dry bit of ground to lie on some periformis stretches.

30 minutes yoga a couple of times a week makes a big difference for me. Loads on YouTube, I use "yoga with tim" and usually work through his 30 day challenges. This has also increased my (appalling) core strength which I think has improved my running form and feels better particularly when descending steep ground.

I have a pair of utterly pathetic ankles. Not really stretching, but I have found sitting down in the evening and doing exercises for them using bands, then balancing on one of those wobbly disks has helped hugely.

General strength and conditioning has worked really well for me in avoiding all the usual niggles you get running. Squats, step ups, split squats, deadlifts. Then conditioning exercises focusing on the four muscle groups calves, hamstrings, glutes and core. I found this book really useful.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1847979874/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_NuE.FbTCQ2423

I really rate yoga with Adriene videos in youtube. her post run video is a great cool down. I've had fewer injuries since I used it. 

Recommend it.

LR

I've seen quite a lot of runner's (varying abilities and distances) and always been surprised by the lack of strength and conditioning work they do alongside their training. Without doubt the single best thing you can do to avoid injuries in running (and in turn for your running overall) in my opinion is lower limb strength work. 

Either doing in training blocks (6-12 weeks) during times of your year doing less distance/intensity or keeping it consistent through the year.

My advice would be to keep it simple, utilising the squat, calf raise, bridge, deadlift and lunge. Keep it progressively getting harder (add weight/resistance before increasing reps) and add in variety (especially upping the single leg work). Once or twice a week and it would be a great investment of your time. 

Great Advice, Its amazing the performance gains you get from Strength and conditioning. I dropped 10miles a week for more S and C and yoga and my performance (speed across mid distance mainly) improved loads. 

No point flogging away slowly in pain

General core and lower leg work and glutes glutes glutes. Everything (well, not quite but nearly) can be traced back to weak/inactive glutes.

The main thing is making sure you're doing things properly and activating the correct muscle groups.

I generally try to do something like the following 3+ times a week:

Planks/side planks.
Clams/Oysters with a theraband for resistance.
token press-ups/crunches
Glute bridges (theraband; weighted; single legs)
Weighted heel drops (achilles) and bent-knee leg raises (soleus)
Weighted squats (just a 12kg kettlebell - what I have in the house)
Lunges
Arabesques/one leg pick up.
Reverse hyperextensions.
Lunges
Mountain legs

It’s worth noting that position of hips when doing clams is vital. They should be stacked not slouching forward. This can have a massive impact on whether you work the correct muscle group.

Agree with Nic Barber, cross training such as what he said in his post it what keeps me injury free.

When I moved I stopped my twice weekly bootcamp session and I got injured and over a year later I'm still off running. Before I started the boot camp sessions I would get at least one injury a year.

I use this routine and it has helped my “runners knee” .Its squats, lunges, heel lifts with weights.

https://www.fitnessblender.com/videos/lower-body-active-static-strength-wor...

I was(am) pretty weak and this helps. 

Cheers for all the replies! Yeah definetly need to do some more S & C work. 

Been having issues particularly with my left ankle after having a jump with crampons on in the alps and rolling it (what an idiot). Been rolling it a few times so need to get that sorted, hopefully this S and C work will help

If I have any medium niggles, I search the 'AthleanX' youtube channel for videos they have on the specific area. It's a brash yank who's absolutely ripped, but he seems to know his stuff, takes a musculoskeletal and physio-based approach to the general problem (of course with the caveat that nothing is as good as getting hands on personal diagnoses).

His videos heled me with ankle/lower back rehab exercises last year and sped up recovery/nipped issues in the bud early.

Another vote for post-run cool down on the Yoga with Adrienne videos - takes 7 minutes and is simple enough you don't need to keep listening to her to remember what to do.

I also try to get to the Tuesday or Thursday night 'renfo-session' that our run club do - focused on circuit style training with emphasis on stability and core muscles - the sort of thing I hate doing on my own but in a group it's a lot easier to be motivated. Recent lockdowns (we're in France) meant that they were doing these on Zoom last year which worked surprisingly well, but now we have small socially distanced outdoor sessions in groups of 6.

I think the final point is the biggest injuries in running are from overuse. You have to know when to ease off, and you have to make an effort to do the majority of your runs at an easy intensity. Only one or two hard sessions a week (intensity or distance). Obviously everyone is different but the key things is you need adequate recovery time to make the most of any training.

This is a brilliant thread thanks all. I'm noting these things down!

Yoga, squats, deadlifts coming my way.

I'll second Athlean-X that guy is demotivatingly shredded and ruthless in his view of cake. I think in one of this videos he says "you can't have your cake and not be f******g fat-ass".

He says he has a couple of "cheat" meals a year, never a cheat "day".

Cake is an important running fuel. Just not every day (though I am in a bit of high eating and sofa motivation/low training motivation trough at the moment!)

Low monotony.

Vary pace, distance and terrain lots. I see people injured and every run is same pace, same distance and way too quick.

Dont run shoes into the ground especially if around the 85kg mark like me. I've learned this the hard way!

Another vote for strength work.  I had a nasty calf tear last year which had me out of action for ages.  The physio said a decent runner should be able to do 30 very slow one legged heel raises off a step, with some weight added.  He also gave me a routine of squats and lunges type exercises, and have not been injured since.

I get the feeling he writes, drinks, eats, scratches his nose and wipes his bum using the alternate hand each time so he doesn't end up with muscles fractionally bigger on one arm than the other...

Thanks for this information. I am a slow off-road runner who suffers from chronic achilles tendonitis in my right ankle. it's not from overuse as I only get up to 25 miles a week at best, and for a long time it has been more like 15. I did no running at all for 3 weeks up to Xmas, tried again and my achilles was sore and I was limping for a couple of days afterwards. I have Currex insoles in Salomon Speedcross which have helped with plantar fasciitis. But, I do very little of the exercises you list apart from squats and calf raises/ heel drops.

Any thoughts on what else I could do to strengthen/ rehabilitate my achilles would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Davie

Hi, there are quite a few coaches who recommend collagen supplements combined with eccentric exercise for tendon rehab. Google it, it might be worth trying. I used it after four years of chronic hamstring tendinopathy. I can’t say whether the collagen/the eccentric exercise/the placebo effect worked but I’m running again without any real hamstring issues.

For Achilles stuff - weighting it seems to be the way to go at the moment. I'm not a physio so take with a pinch of salt!

I do heel drops - both straight legged and bent knee - off a step. I'll use a 12kg kettlebell to add a bit more weight to strengthen everything, though may be worth working the weight in. Making sure you're slow and deliberate is probably the main thing, making sure everything's working as it should.

The bent-knee drops will target the soleus muscle, which seems to be a key aggravator in Achilles issues. Searching youtube for Soleus exercises may be of use, though not sure of how tendinopathy vs. other issues will weigh up.

Going slow! Seriously. I'm doing weights and all that, but I think the biggest difference which has allowed me to increase my mileage without getting injured is doing most of my running pretty slowly. I used to run either fast (for me) or quite fast. Now I do almost all of my running slow. I am hoping to build up the faster stuff very gradually. Weights wise I have gone down the line of glute strengthening (clams, bridges, side leg raise), deadlifts, heel drops, squats + general conditioing. I think resistance bands are quite good for making you do some of the above exercises properly. 

Fingers crossed my body is still functioning at about 30 miles per week and around 4000 feet of climbing. Pathetic I know, but from a man who was constantly getting injured before getting any consistent mileage built up, this feels like an achievement!