Injuries are one of the most detrimental factors affecting an athlete’s progress or performance. This is why coaches advocate knowledge of injury prevention as an essential tool that all athletes must have. Most people try to do too much training too soon and this makes them likely to get injured. Progressive training is important because it allows your body to build up strength before moving on to higher mileage or harder intensity training. The conditioning process requires one to put in time and many people often do not spend enough time doing the long slow distance work. Without a solid base being built upon, performance suffers and fatigue will put a great strain on your muscles, which will eventually lead to injury.

Proper warm up and cool down techniques are very crucial to keep you on your feet. Getting your muscles warm helps to promote better blood circulation and cooling down helps to remove any waste products that are produced as a result of training. These will also help to improve your flexibility, which is a common problem for most people and often leads to injury.

Lastly having a proper running technique should be one of the first things you should get sorted out early in your training before you begin clocking higher mileage. Just remember, the last thing you would want for yourself is to get injured a week before your race and for all your hard work to go down the drain.

So train smart and take care of your body.
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Article by:
Racers’ Toolbox http://www.racers-toolbox.com