I played sports for most of my life and I was a track and field athlete in my primary school. Personally, I enjoyed short burst high energy activities over long endurance activities. I could sprint, jump or lift heavy weights better than an average person but long distance running/ cardio workouts was an activity I dreaded or disliked the most!
I saw my lack of interest in long distance running as a form of weakness and I decided to work on it; at the same time it will improve my overall health. As much as I dreaded it, I started running at least 5 km regularly for 1-3 times a week since October 2023. Initially, I was just running. I couldn't grasp the idea of tempo runs, threshold runs, fartlek or interval training. All I did was running my best 5 km and measured the time I took.
During the first 1 month of running seriously, I started to experience some pain at the back of my knee and I self-diagnosed it as a form of hamstring tendinopathy. My issue was a mild pain at the back of my knee when I was walking but no pain when I was running so I wasn't too worried. I carried on running but I reduced my frequency to once weekly. I had to allow my tendons to adapt to the increase in work load and for it to repair on its own. Contrary to popular belief, resting isn't the best intervention for tendon issues. It is better to have a solid load management plan and a strengthening programme.
From October 2023 to May 2024, my running programme didn't change much and my 5 km running time improved and plateaued at around 25 minutes. And I did a lot more treadmill runs from May 2024 to August 2024 as I was sick every few weeks. My treadmill runs were either somewhat hard runs or interval training. My 5 km time was still the same.
In August 2024, I was able to programme my own outdoor runs after getting a running watch. I read and did some research about various running programmes and adapted them to suit my running abilities and commitments. I tried my best to run 2 to 4 times per week for an average of 5 km per run. The running watch allowed me to track my pace, distance and it made it easier to customise my running programmes. My programmes were flexible but structured. It consists of 400m, 800m, or 1km intervals, fartlek runs, threshold runs and long runs. I don't have a fix structure as I will just select the programme I feel like doing the day before.
So far, I have not had any more running injuries or pain and I have improved my 5km time to slightly above 23 minutes. I strongly believe that a solid structured running programme is needed to prevent running injuries. I have seen other recreational runners that ended up with running injuries because they didn't manage their running stress properly. All of us are made differently so please get an assessment if you're running in pain or have pain afterwards. I do not subscribe to concept of "no pain, no gain". Running in pain is not normal and can lead to severe injuries. Therefore, my advice to minimising your risk of running injuries are:
Have a structured load/ running stress management
Have 7-8 hours of sleep daily
Have a well balanced diet
Do 2 days of strength training per week
Get a running coach with at least a sports science background or equivalent
Lastly, feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding running or pain. I welcome any concerns you may have. Thank you for reading!
Lian Yun-Perng
Chartered Physiotherapist
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