10 Ways to Combat Overuse Injuries for Runners

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Overuse injuries are a stark reality among runners, especially long term runners. Studies have proven that most runners will fall victim to injuries at some point, and around 70% of these injuries are due to overuse injuries. Here’s 10 ways to combat overuse injuries, so you can keep going strong!

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Table of Contents

10 Ways to Combat Overuse Injuries for Runners

#1: Minimize Back to Back Running Days – aim for every other day at most
#2: Consider Long Runs Every Other Week – allow for additional training time
#3: Don’t Increase Intensity Too Quickly – gradual increments
#4: Focus on One Thing – don’t add too many extras at once (speed work, hill repeats, tempo runs, etc).
#5: Stick to the 10-15% Rule – increases weekly in distance/volume
#6: Allow for a Reduced Mileage Week at Least Once a Month – long term or as needed
#7: Remember Your Supporting Players – Recovery, Nutrition, and Sleep
#8: Is it Your Gear? – the wrong shoes can impact everything, including endurance
#9: Don’t Play the Comparison Game – run your own run. Don’t injure yourself trying to keep up with someone else
#10: Strength Train and Cross Train

Decades ago, when I was training for my first full marathon race, I experienced my 1st debilitating overuse injury. Looking back, I know it had to have been due to the increased mileage and volume load. Back then, I was less experienced in knowing how to proceed with this injury, and it drastically altered my training plan, and actual performance on my marathon. I had no knowledge of strategies other than just winging it.

Even today, I still occasionally struggle with overuse injuries. Now in my 40’s, I’m aware of the early osteoarthritis in my knees, as well as the other common culprits that want to pop up anytime I increase my running volume and distances. As I write this, I’m currently having to put some of these 10 tips into practice as I train for an upcoming 50K ultra trail race.

I have found that the more experienced we become as runners, often the harder it is to admit we may need to make an adjustment. Sometimes we push through out of ego or a weird sense of “shame” at being a lesser runner, but the fact is it often is not a reflection of being a lesser runner, and just being a human with an increased training load. I have found that running is a constant learning game, and it’s never a sign of weakness to learn ways to combat overuse injuries. It may mean making unexpected changes to your training timeline and plan, but at least, more often than not, you get to keep training and working towards that goal instead of coming to a grinding halt.

If you have found yourself struggling with overuse injuries, either as a new runner training for your 1st big race, or a more experienced runner struggling with overuse injuries as you pursue new goals and higher training loads, these 10 tips for handling overuse injuries are worth putting into practice.

And remember, just because you didn’t struggle with overuse injuries while training for a half marathon, doesn’t mean you won’t experience them when training for a full marathon. Always know the signs of common running overuse injuries, and be extra watchful of them anytime you are implementing changes to your running, including longer distances, more running volume, running post injury, or training for a new distance.

Here’s how each of these 10 strategies can help you combat and prevent overuse injuries….

#1: Minimize Back to Back Running Days

A lot of training calendars will have you running back to back at some point, especially training plans for marathon distances and longer. While this completely makes sense (higher volume), IF you are experiencing overuse injuries, or have a history of overuse injuries when making increases, consider cutting back or doing away with back to back running days completely. Instead, consider every other day at the most. That 48 hours in between will help to increase recovery.

Yes, it may feel counter-productive to only run 3 or 4 days a week instead of 5 or 6 like you imagined, but at least you get to keep moving forward. If too much running volume back to back is the suspected root of your running injury, better to cut back and adjust your training expectations while still allowing forward movement, than to have that nagging overuse injury become something that stops you in your tracks completely. As always, if you feel the issue is a more serious injury, seek professional medical advice as well.

#2: Consider Long Runs EVERY OTHER WEEK

Oh, this is a hard one, but one I’ve had to implement over the years. When you sign up for that race and you break out your training plan for the next 4 months, you see all those weekly long runs, and you are determined to run them all! Unfortunately, this is an expectation that sometimes has to be adjusted if you are having nagging overuse injuries. You can make changes to your training plan that include long runs every other week instead of every week. You can do this temporarily to combat an overuse injury, or sometimes, that just needs to be the longer term plan. In any case, allow for extra time in your training timeline if you can.

#3: Don’t Increase Intensity Too Quickly

If you are dealing with overuse injuries, it’s best not to worry about increasing your intensity too quickly, or at all even, temporarily. Just focus on a consistent pace and intensity level as you figure out what works for you. If you are having overuse injury flare ups, don’t be out there trying to set a new speed record every time.

If you are set on working on intensity / pace, do so in very gradual increments, to help prevent further flare ups. If in doubt, gradual increments are almost always a solid recommendation for any endurance event.

#4: Focus on One Thing at a Time

If you are experiencing overuse injuries, don’t go adding a bunch of new things to your running regimen. Trying to fit in hill repeats, tempo runs, or speedwork every week will likely worsen your existing issues. Focus on one thing at a time AT THE MOST, but also consider not worrying about the extras at all while you work out an overuse injury, especially if you are a new runner just establishing a normal running routine or training plan.

#5: Stick to the 10-15% Rule

This just means that your overall total mileage volume each week should only increase by about 10-15% each week. So no jumping around from running 5 total miles one week, to 15 total miles the next week. Also, you can apply the 10-15% rule to your weekly long run, and increase that long run distance each week in gradual increments of 10-15%.

What does this actually look like? Here’s an example:

Week 1

Tuesday: Run 2 miles
Thursday: Run 2 miles
Sunday: Run 5 miles

Total: 9 miles

Week 2

Tuesday: Run 2.5 miles
Thursday: Run 2 miles
Sunday: Run 5.5 miles

Total: 10 miles (increase of ~ 10%)

This means that you’ll need to be very intentional with your training timeline and training calendar, and allow for the necessary gradual increments, especially if you know you are prone to overuse injuries. This rule has been one of the most helpful for me personally, whenever I’m training for longer distances.

#6: Allow for a Reduced Mileage Week at Least Once a Month

This is not a hard and fast rule for everyone, but if you are struggling / have struggled with overuse injuries, it’s a good recommendation to allow for extra recovery time. This could be a “half – mileage” week or a decreased mileage long run week. You can see what an example of this looks like with this FREE 12 WEEK HALF MARATHON TRAINING CALENDAR example. Just check out week #6.

This strategy could be applied throughout an entire training block, or as needed if experiencing some nagging overuse injuries. It’s one of the most helpful strategies for me personally.

#7: Don’t Forget Supporting Players: Recovery, Nutrition, and Sleep

Are your overuse injuries perhaps affected by one of these: lack of recovery, nutrition, and/or sleep? These basics of human health, especially for physically active adults and runners, are surprisingly overlooked. Did you know inadequate sleep can actually affect your body’s ability to recover properly, thus affecting its ability to come back stronger, thus making you more prone to overuse injuries?

It’s always worth an honest examination of recovery, nutrition, and sleep to determine if those are affecting overuse injuries. While the focus tends to be on running days, pace, intensity, or gear, these human health basics play a HUGE role in your body’s ability to combat overuse injuries.

So ask yourself:

Is recovery a priority?

Do you have a recovery plan for runs longer than 60-90 minutes?

Are you adequately replenishing your carb and protein levels during recovery? (Here’s the top protein-rich foods for runners).

Do you have “go to” recovery snacks that you consistently use within 30 minutes of a completed long run?

What else are you doing to recover? Stretching? Massaging? Foam Rolling?

Is nutrition a priority?

Do you have a balanced and consistent nutrition plan? One that addresses all the macro and micronutrients your body needs as a runner?

Do you know the PERCENTAGES of each category of food that you need in your meals?

How are you fueling BEFORE and DURING your runs, especially on long run days?

Do you know WHEN and HOW OFTEN to fuel during runs?

(If your answer to any of these questions was “NO”, and you want to learn more about basic nutrition and fueling for runners, check out my “Runner’s Diet: A Beginner’s Guide to Nutrition and Fueling” for a simple yet informative introduction).

Is sleep a priority?

Our current culture seems to actually celebrate lack of sleep, which is extremely harmful to athletes and runners. We pride ourselves on how much we get done on minimal sleep. Unfortunately, lack of adequate sleep can GREATLY affect our body’s ability to recover, as most recovery is done AS WE SLEEP! Get enough sleep (talking 8 hours +). 5 or 6 hours a night is NOT ENOUGH, especially with higher training volumes.

#8: Is it Your Gear?

Poor running shoes are the biggest potential source of gear issues affecting overuse injuries. The wrong shoe, an overworn shoe, the wrong size shoe, etc. I always recommend new runners in particular visit a running store to have their gait assessed and get some recommendations.

Also, if you’ve been running in the same pair of shoes for 2 years and the tread is worn down, and now all of the sudden you’re starting to get flare ups, you might need a new shoe. I very absent-mindedly discovered this just a few weeks ago, when I had a few little twinges in my knees, only to realize how worn down the tread on my Hoka Speedgoat trail runners was getting. Sometimes I just forget to keep track, and this was a good little reminder.

While trusty footwear is obviously going to be the single most important piece of running gear to invest in, here is a complete checklist of beginner running gear basics for you newbies! And remember, your running gear basics will look different depending on if you are a road runner or a trail runner! Here’s the complete checklist of trail running basics as well.

#9: Don’t Play the Comparison Game

Every runner wants to make progress. But it’s important to make sure that you are running your own run, and not prematurely trying to achieve new running feats just out of comparison with someone else. Or changing your running goals to fit what you see someone else doing.

I see this more often now due to all the “social” aspects of running – sharing our stats socially and publicly, posting our paces and times to Facebook groups, tracking every movement we make on some kind of technology or app. It’s really easy to get sucked into thinking that you need to be running faster by now because so and so is running faster. Or to start adding hill repeats and speedwork to your routine, even though you are currently dealing with an overuse injury, just because one of your STRAVA or Facebook friends are.

I love that runners have more ways to share, celebrate, and collaborate with others as they pursue goals. That’s easily one of the best parts of running and the larger running community. Just make sure that the comparison game doesn’t cause an overuse injury. Stay true to your running goals, your running timeline, and your running style. And remember the saying “comparison is the thief of joy”. Run because you enjoy it!

#10: Strength Train and Cross Train

And the #10 way to combat overuse injuries in runners – strength train and cross train. These should be mainstays in any running regimen or training plan.

What do strength training and cross training accomplish?

Like the name says, strength training will help make you a stronger runner. Strengthening the important muscle groups will greatly reduce the likelihood of injury. Additionally, cross training is any sport that you do in addition to your main focus sport (running). Cross training helps to utilize the muscle groups that you may not be using for running, and helps to keep the whole body functioning in harmony.

Strength training and cross training do not have to be super complicated (or expensive). Strength training routines can be as simple as this FREE “create your own path” strength training home workout, with moves like squats, deadlifts, and lunges. Strength training could also be going for a weighted rucking hike, or doing weighted step up and step downs from the comfort of your own home while you watch Netflix.

Cross training, which can include strength training, should incorporate a physical activity that is different than running, but that benefits your cardio and core muscle groups. For me, cross training includes rucking hikes, brisk walking, and cycling every week. But cross training could also include swimming (great low impact), rowing, HIIT workouts, etc. I recommend that cross training be something you ENJOY doing!

Want more helpful running tips? Check out these beginner-friendly resources!

1:1 Coaching Consults for Runners – fill out this INTEREST FORM to reserve your spot today!
All Beginner Running Training Plans
10 Simple Ways to Prevent Burnout in Athletes
How Long Does it Take to Train for a Half Marathon?
What is a Taper, and 6 Tips to Do it Correctly
Why Running Rest Days are Important, and How to Do Them Right
How to Increase Running Mileage and Distance Without Injury

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10 Ways to Combat Overuse Injuries for Runners