Run Without Breaking Down

So let's get into, I mean, my audience is predominantly sort of runners or people who are starting out on the journey in running.

So let's kind of get to the number of it.

What do you think runners, in your opinion, because you work with them kind of on a daily basis, what do you think runners get wrong about injuries?

One of the things that I've learned probably about three years ago, we had a dietician that was working in our office and we found out very quickly that a lot of our long distance runners, when they would start to get stress reactions or stress fractures, that that was actually an under fueling problem first and foremost.

Oh, right.

Yeah.

that if we're not consuming the correct amount of protein was the biggest one that we would find that our athletes were not consuming enough protein.

And because of that, your body would not be able to rebuild that bone structure as it's getting stressed.

Interesting.

It's a stressed environment on your bones and your joints and your ligaments and your tendons.

your muscles like everyone knows.

What we have found is that 80% of our athletic injuries come from repetitive microtrauma.

So doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over again, which is what leads to stress reactions or stress fractures.

So that are the biggest things that I think runners don't realize is that if we're not consuming enough If we're not fueling enough, because we are a Ferrari out on the highway, we don't need to be making sure that we're putting the top fuel into us, not junk food, and making sure that we're getting the right amount of protein and carbs and fat into our diet so that we can actually repair.

Because what we have found with Team USA, I work with Team USA track and field, and I work with Team USA bobsled, so sprinters and

runners.

What we have started saying that it's not an overtraining issue, it's an under-recovering issue.

And under that umbrella of under-recovering is fueling properly, getting enough sleep, and then actually having a program that will stimulate you correctly.

We also see that a lot of our runners will, especially if they're just getting into running, They will just go out and they'll just run as far as they can, as fast as they can, as long as they can.

That's a spike increase in load.

And that's the other time that we see injuries most of the time is when our body is not able to handle the load that we're putting on it.

So a regular load that you're prepared for doesn't break you.

It's a load that we're not prepared for.

So it's kind of a very fine balancing act in terms of diet, which you've talked about, sleep and obviously rest, and then obviously the training side.

So on the sleep side, I mean, I know professional athletes tend to take rest periods.