A Little About Injury Prevention

Injuries tend to occur for 4 reasons: accidents, poor form or technique, inadequate warmup, or doing too much too soon. Some accidents can be prevent by thinking ahead, being aware, and avoiding dangerous situations. Other times accident just happen and there's not much you can do about that. Poor form or technique can be improved upon. We work on various this on rides, runs, and especially in the water. We only have so much time together so making any significant changes in your running or riding is difficult. Because swimming is so technique-intensive we must do more with that. In addition, strength training can help build muscle balance that also supports the joints and their movements. I encourage you to add weights/strength training to your workout routine - men AND women.

The two most important things you can do are to have an adequate warm up and to carefully progress the time and intensity of your workouts. That's why there is a gradual progression in your training from one week to the next. It's also why you gradually add faster paced training like pickups, sprints, and race pace type efforts.  You do not want jump into a workout without a warmup and then all of a sudden do some sort of all out anaerobic sprint effort. Ever workout needs to begin with a warmup. 

 

Doing dynamic movements will help you warmup as well as help you with balance and with range of motion. But even if you don't do these types of exercises, at the very least you always need to start off slowly to prepare your body for the work ahead. Easy swimming, riding, or running/walking is always the way to start a training session. It's okay to feel a little stiff, or tight or sore during the warmup. However if it persists then you need to back off and possibly stop working out.

If you do get injured you need to stop immediately so that you limit the damage. Listen to your body. "Pushing through" or "toughing it out" is not a smart athlete's choice. Don't lose sight of your long term goal by forcing the short term goal of completing the workout if an injury starts to rear it's head. The words to go by? "Live to train another day."

It's important to know the difference between "good pain" and "bad pain". Good pain is when you experience muscle fatigue, lactic acid burn, or muscle stress from hard work. Bad pain is injury pain. It doesn't feel right and it's a warning to stop immediately. When coaches and athletes say something like "no pain, no gain" they are NOT talking about the bad pain!

I am not a medical professional and can't offer medical advice but if you do get injured consider the RICE method of treatment, depending on the injury of course! RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. If it is more serious, see a doctor (someone who understands sports and athletes is the best option). Get physical therapy. Give it time to heal and make sure it is healed before starting back. Also remember that there are alternative exercises you can do so that you don't lose the conditioning you've worked hard to acquire. I can often help with that.