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Comment by vibrolax | Hacker News Reader

Most of the distance racers I have known (including myself) will simply keep increasing training intensity and/ or duration until they suffer an injury that interrupts that. Proper equipment, running mechanics, and training practice all help increase one's injury threshold, but the potential for injury never disappears. To race to one's potential generally involves learning how to suppress physical distress signals, and some of these can indicate an incipient injury. It took me a few years to distinguish ordinary racing/training distress from injury-related distress. It's difficult to make an enthusiast back off.

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Most injuries went away after I started incorporating heavy weights training. Heavy deadlifts and squats specifically but also bench press, overhead press and rows:

1. they increase strength in the core muscles which makes it easier to keep proper form for longer while running

2. putting heavy weights on your body strengthens muscles/tendons/joints. My knee injuries disappeared and I no longer roll my ankles etc

The downside here is that a back injury while squatting/deadlifting or a shoulder injury while pressing can last the rest of your life. Really important to learn good form and start/progress slowly

Was going to say approximately the same thing. It's good old equalization of risk. People will persist in bad form, and/or train harder than they should, to the exact extent that their shoes let them. That's true for both maximalist and minimalist approaches. I have to remind myself constantly to pay attention to the minor form breaks and early signs that I'm overtraining, and I only do it because I know that bouncing back is going to be more difficult than when I was younger. I used up all my buffers years ago. ;)

For the last few training cycles I've hired coaches. They have all stuck to a three-week build followed by a down week. It's greatly increased the results of my training. The only injury I've picked up this year was blowing off steam between coaching sessions after a 100k race. I very much agree with your assertion that suppression of pain signals becomes ingrained. Bouncing these concerns off someone who can leverage numerous people's experiences can be incredibly useful. I'll retain my coach through recovery this time.

This speaks to my experience as well. I can run up to and through injuries that will then hobble me for weeks or months. When I was younger I would sometimes carry an injury to the point where I was losing significant stability in joints before I would finally relent. Now I at least have the sense to ease off my training regimen before I risk that level of injury. Regardless of how well shoes guard against acute or overuse injuries, I will always push myself to the edge of my current ability and court the associated injuries that lie there.

Some older distance runners have been able to minimize injuries and sustain good race results through extensive low-impact cross training, like on elliptical machines. It's almost as good as actual running for building an aerobic base. That way they can reserve running for the workouts that actually count, focusing on form and faster intervals.

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