I got injured twice recently and it had nothing to do with technique.

I’m interested in running technique. As a runner, I feel I have benefited massively from technique re-training. In particular, I believe understanding over-striding and modifying my gait to address that issue helped me in a way that was … transformative! That sounds like drastic language but I love running and I think I benefit from it so much in terms of my state of mind, that I struggle to use language which is more restrained. Being more measured doesn’t feel honest, to be honest!

BUT, there’s more to running efficiently than technique. There’s more to injury prevention than how you move. How you move (technique) is important in training, sport, exercise and life. But it is one of many factors.

In the last couple of months, I’ve sustained a couple of minor tendon injuries from playing field hockey. I’m new to the sport, and unaccustomed to the explosive running. Plus, I have been keeping up a fair degree (for me, anyway) of distance running training during hockey season. This has meant that my body has had to absorb considerable training stress. For a few weeks, I was doing a short run on Saturday morning, a hockey match that afternoon and then my long, slow run on Sunday mornings. Add in to the mix the stresses of starting a new business, with less-than-ideal sleep, and it is no surprise that I’ve had a somewhat painful tweak here or there. 

The tendon injuries/pains have been in my achilles and upper hamstring tendons. The achilles issue started just after I started playing in hockey shoes. Maybe the change in footwear was the straw that broke the camel’s back? But, also, up to that point I had been fairly slack in warming up properly before games and training and I think that has bit me in the proverbial rear end, tendon-wise. (Literally, in the case of the upper hamstring tendon issue).

All of this has occurred while I’ve been running with very good technique (if I do say so myself). The cumulative load upon the tissues has outstripped the capacity of my body’s ability to recover. It’s not been about HOW I’ve been moving and more about HOW MUCH.

Also, the older I get, the more time I need to get ready for action. I believe the tendons of a fit 43 year-old (comparatively speaking) need a little more TLC in the form of a long warm up. I’ll do my best to stick to that from here on! Incidentally, this squares with my experience of warming up for distance running. Very often, I do not feel settled into my stride until I have run about 4K. Also, my best 5K times (after age 30) have occurred after considerably long warm ups (in excess of 5K plus drills and strides).

Technique is often important, but rarely (if ever) the whole picture.