You've been running for a while. Maybe you've ticked off a few Parkruns, done a fun run or two, and now something bigger is calling - a half marathon, a club race, a trail event.
The leap from casual to competitive running is one of the best decisions you can make for your fitness and your mindset. But it's also one that your body needs help preparing for.
Autumn and winter are prime race seasons in New Zealand, and the difference between a great race and a painful one often comes down to what you do in the weeks before it. Here's what our physiotherapy team recommends.
Why stepping up too fast is the most common mistake
The most frequent issue our physiotherapists see in runners preparing for their first competitive event isn't a lack of fitness - it's doing too much, too soon. Your cardiovascular system adapts relatively quickly to increased training load. Your tendons, bones, joints and connective tissue take considerably longer.
This mismatch is where injuries happen. Shin splints, Achilles tendinopathy, stress fractures and IT band syndrome are almost always the result of load increasing faster than the body can adapt - not bad luck.
The good news is that with a structured approach, most of these injuries are entirely preventable.
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