Sí, puede no sufrir lesiones y aumentar su cantidad de millas

Fall is on the way, bringing perfect running weather in many areas. You may have signed up for a virtual fall marathon, be feeling more comfortable about exercise with the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, or just feel like running more miles on crisp fall days. Before you bump up your mileage, there are a few questions to ask yourself to avoid an injury inflicted by the “terrible too’s”—too much, too soon, too fast.

Have You Built a Solid Base on Which to Add More Mileage?

I don’t mean just a base of running—do you also have a solid base of strength, stability, and flexibility? Running is essentially jumping from one leg to another and if you can’t land on a single leg with control and good alignment, you’re setting yourself up for an overuse injury.

Try this test: Stand on one leg in front of a mirror. How’s your balance? Now, perform a single-leg squat. Can you maintain your balance? Do your trunk, hip, knee, and foot stay lined up as you squat or do your hips drop out of alignment, your standing knee collapse inward, or your foot collapse into pronation?

Any limitations in strength or mobility that affect your single-leg alignment will be amplified with the greater pounding and fatigue that come with increased mileage. If you haven’t already been doing some regular strength training and foam rolling, start. It will not only help prevent injury but also help improve your running performance.

Do You Have a Training Plan?

Being strategic about how and when you increase your mileage will help both to minimize your risk of injury and reap the greatest benefits from the additional miles. Rather than just running more and more, develop a plan or follow one from a reputable coach geared toward your goals and abilities. Most training plans incorporate rest days and include a variety of workouts—some focused on building endurance, others on speed, and others for active recovery. There’s science and art involved in adding mileage and there are loads of great, experienced coaches out there who can offer valuable guidance.

What’s Your Overall Level of Stress?

Stress is not necessarily a bad thing—it can lead to positive adaptations, as when you stress you do interval workouts and get faster or take a course and get smarter—but there’s a point when additional stress leads to breaking down. Running imposes a physiological stress on your body that’s cumulative with other life stresses. If you’re taking on a project at work, have a new baby at home, are recovering from an illness, are skimping on sleep, or have any other major stress in your life, this may not be the best time to run more miles. Keep in mind too that the pandemic has brought a variety of stresses, even if you haven’t been directly affected by COVID-19. The physiological adaptations that lead to increased fitness require adequate recovery. If you can’t work that recovery into your schedule, you may want to wait for a better time to commit to more mileage.

There’s nothing better than a long run on a fall day and with a strategic approach to ramping up your mileage, you’ll be a stronger, faster, and more durable runner by the time the snow flies!

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Polly de Mille is the Director of Sports Performance at Hospital for Special Surgery, where she oversees all aspects of performance programming, from sport-specific analysis to metabolic testing to training clients across the spectrum of age and ability. Her research interests focus on bridging the gap between injury and return to peak performance and she has authored chapters and journal articles and presented nationally on this topic. Polly has also made numerous appearances in national media serving as an expert on the science behind fitness trends.