Nov 28, 2000

Bob Cooper is a teammate of mine at Runner's World. He writes a monthly athlete profile column but is now at work on a longer article of a different type.

"RW has assigned me to write a feature on injury prevention," he said. "It will consist of 40 to 50 tips, and because there are so many, each will be limited to two to four sentences."

He asked for my contributions as co-author, with Dr. Joe Ellis, of the book Running Injury-Free. (In the name of truth in advertising it should have been titled Running Injury-FREER, since we can reduce breakdowns but probably not eliminate them.)

My reply began by noting that I've gone from almost always being injured in some way to hardly ever getting hurt. This isn't to say I've found perfect health, but injuries that once struck every few months now visit me no more than every few years. The following three tricks have been my best foot/leg-savers:

-- Take walk breaks. If you don't like the word "walk," think of it as interval training. Certain conditions (knee problems in particular) respond better to intermittent than steady running. Take midrun breaks of about a minute each, as often as needed, whenever the feet and legs don't feel quite right.

-- Start with a test. Run 10 easy minutes, then decide exactly what to do that day. If this warmup works out the kinks, continue. If stiffness and soreness grow worse, stop and try again tomorrow. Make a final decision on what to run that day -- or not run -- only after completing this test mile.

-- Rest after racing. Don't try to "flush out" the post-race discomfort. Recover sooner and better by resting at the rate of about one day for each hour of the race. Walk or cross-train those days if you wish, but save the running for later.

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