Sometimes less is more.

As a personal trainer, I end up giving a lot of people advice on getting fit and staying fit. As a marathoner, I end up giving a lot of advice on weekly mileage, good form, etc.... And it's funny, even though I end up giving lots of advice to lots of people, I'm pretty reluctant to take it myself! Despite all those times I've counseled people to start out taking very small steps to increase total weekly mileage to avoid overtraining and injury and to listen to their bodies and take a break when they need it, I just couldn't heed it myself - fool that I am...

So let me just re-iterate some points to keep you running injury free. (Should that word be hyphenated?)

1. Increase weekly mileage about 10% per week.

2. Make every third or fourth week a recovery week.

3. Keep a log/journal/diary-with-a-unicorn-on-it to track how your body's holding up - and pay attention to it!

4. Here's one of my favorite quotes, I think from Bob Glover's Competitive Runner's Handbook: "Better to wind up at the start line of your goal race 10% undertrained than even 1% overtrained."

I made the mistake of increasing mileage almost 20% per week for a month, skipped a recovery week to get in an extra race, and constantly wrote in my log that my body "badly needed a rest day." Well, I was forced to give it ten rest days when I hit that 1% overtrained point and injured my left calf.

Sometimes less is more. Happy Running.