Runners are terrible at handling injuries and reading the warning signs when there is an injury coming in like a thunderstorm. We either panic at the smallest twinge or pretend nothing’s wrong until we can’t walk. I’ve done both.
I’ve been running for 30 years. I’ve had plenty of injuries: some I handled smart and most I didn’t.
NOTE – This framework isn’t medical advice as I’m just a guy on the internet who’s learned the hard way. But this framework has kept me running when I probably should’ve been panicking, and sent me to specialists when I was being an ego driven stubborn type a-runner.
Your Body Needs Time to Figure Stuff Out
Whether you’re starting a new training block or dealing with weird discomfort, your body needs 1-2 weeks to adapt. It works both ways.
When you should push through it
When I start tempo runs closer to race season, they feel kind of off. Not injured or painful, wrong just awkward-wrong, tired towards the end and feeling quite fatigued later in the day and for the next 48-72 hours. Things are a bit more sore later in the day and the next morning. But by the third workout three week later? They click.
My achilles does the same thing when I ramp up volume. Last fall I went from 3 to 5 days a week and my left achilles hurt every morning for months straight. But it was more like a 3/10 getting out of bed, then it was mostly gone by 15 minutes into my warmup. Then a few months ago I was halfway through a run and felt amazing! Then did a quick body scan and realized the angry achilles tightness/pain just stopped.
Tendons, knees, IT bands and generally the lower leg have a very low blood supply. Think your achilles, ankles, knees, feet/plantar fascia, shins, etc. Complete rest actually makes some of these injuries worse because these tissues need circulation to adapt. Movement delivers nutrients and motion is lotion (I kinda love that saying!)
But training load also compounds like credit card interest.
When you shouldn’t push through it
I did this in March 2024: jumped from 50 to 70 miles weeks (80-110k +), felt fine, added another 5 miles (10k) the next week because what’s 5 miles/10k right? By week three my resting heart rate was 8 beats higher than normal, I couldn’t sleep past 4am, and my hamstring spazzed out on a normal tempo run. This took me 4 weeks of backing off to feel normal again and came back to haunt me in my marathon.
That’s overreaching sliding into overtraining if you don’t back off.
When You Should Actually Worry?
Stop immediately if:
- Pain starts manageable but climbs during your run
- Pain is worse the next morning and doesn’t improve after 2 full rest days—see a specialist
- Pain hits a 5/10 at the start and you unconsciously change your running form to protect your injury
This framework is for dull, vague discomfort. Sharp, acute pain is different. Learn the difference or pay for it later.
What do you do with all of this?
- Give your body 1-2 weeks before you panic or push through stupidly.
- Track macro zoomed out trends and not individual runs.
- Trust the process but actually check if things are improving.
- Always stay on the side of caution. A few easy days and maintaining fitness will always beat 3 months of no running and losing it all.
- If you’re already injured – watch, listen or read this to learn my best 4 rules of dealing with injuries.
This works for training and life. The balance point sits between paranoia and denial, and you find it by having experience and more importantly, paying attention.
