Runners - why do I keep getting injuries?

[mymadworld]

I've picked up yet another injury and it's really getting me down so hoping someone here can advise. My usual week is as follows:

Monday: intervals
Tuesday: easy 5km or rest
Wednesday: swim
Thursday: 14-16km
Friday: easy 7-8km and 15 minutes body weight exercises & stretches at home
Saturday: usually rest sometimes a park run
Sunday rest

I stretch before and after every run and use a foam roller regularly but I've had hamstring & calf pulls and a groin strain this past month and looks like I'm going to have to pull out of a HM I was booked in for next week as now my glutes feel really tight.

What do I need to change to help me prevent all these niggles I keep getting

Increasing speed or distance too quickly?
Not allowing injuries to properly heal (causing displacement issues?)
Is your nutrition adequate?

I think my diet is ok - I am loosely doing slimming world as I've got half a stone to shift but up my carbs & protein around a long run and eat plenty of fresh fruit & veg, fish, lean meat, beans & pulses etc

I took 10 days off running last time I pulled my hamstring and I did feel pain free when I started back up again but maybe I'm being too impatient and need to cut back a bit more.

go and see a rehab physio. They will look at the way you move and the way you are using your muscles and give you a program of exercises to correct and problems. This will help to prevent further injuries. it you specifically need a rehab physio rather than a manual one

Are you stretching before running? I thought that the recommendation was to only stretch afterwards as you are stretching cold muscles?

Have you thought that maybe you are lacking in anything e.g magnesium and zinc especially.

Also what are your running shoes like, are they old? have you been properly fitted?

You may also be someone who has naturally tight glutes which I think affect your whole leg.

Also just thought - is it one leg or both? Maybe you have one leg slightly longer than the other (quite common I believe). A physio will be able to help.

Run less and cross-train with the emphasis on weightlifting. That will help build your strength and endurance, protecting you from the massive wear and tear that running places on your muscles and joints.
Also, proper warm-up - you need to do more than stretch, perhaps walk a mile or so or do a 20 minute workout before your longer run.

What sort of surfaces are you running on ?
Too much 'hard' surface' can cause problems, especially if wearing the 'wrong' shoes.
Are your intervals on grass/synthetic track/concrete or tarmac.
Do you change footwear between soft & hard surfaces?
Are you part of a training group, or do you work/plan your training alone.
What I am getting at is - who designed your training plan ?
You don't appear to be overtraining so how is your stretching regime is it static moving into dynamic when warmed up or is it static before and dynamic after ?
and definitely give your injuries time to recover.

How old are your shoes? My body would tell me promptly and painfully when my running shoes need replacing.

Thanks all.

Warmup stretch after a gentle jog (& walk to school!) so not from cold and trainers are only 4 months old properly fitted and same as my old ones so I'd be surprised if it's that. All my running is road in the winter but I will start adding trail runs when it's not so boggy but definitely not ideal.

It sounds like an appointment with a rehab physio and some strength training might be in order.

Quite often the issue will be weak glutes/weak hips causing your pelvis to not align properly and this can effect everything down to the ankles.

You need to be strong to run. I don’t think 15 mins of weight training is enough. I’d see a physio, they can assess where any weaknesses are and devise a strength training program.

I kept getting injured and doing lots of glute and hip work had really helped me stay injury free.

Pilates weekly and strength training mostly squats, lunges & plank etc have helped me be stronger to cope with running more plus I swim 1-2x a week. A physio gave my single knee bends & balance exercises to help strengthen glutes. Plus I get a sports massage every 4-6wks as it really helps deal with niggles before they turn into injuries.

I'd swap out one of the cardio sessions for ether weight training (get serious with moving towards lifting heavy), or Pilates, or yoga.

And make sure you use good form, technique & alignment. Regularly recurring injuries suggest that there's something going wrong in terns of your technique, or your body alignment.

Or with strength ... squats are great for training strength.

For me, to avoid injury, my distances need to be similar each time, and fairly regular. Since my normal now is 5-6km & I wouldn't consider doing a 'long' run > 10km. I would expect to be at risk if I didn't run at least 3x/week, too. I need the regularity to keep strength up.

So what OP is doing would be recipe for injury for me.