How does one not get injured running < 20km/week
This is honestly a pretty crazy post to make, but i have been trying to fix this issue for about 6 months now, and at this point i figure asking for help couldn't hurt anymore than I have myself 😂 (unintentionally ofc). Some things to note, im ~60kg, Max HR of 215 (22yo), and a CURRENT FIELD TESTED LT2 of ~195 (it is normally higher when i am fitter). Idk how relevant that'll be.
Little backstory. I completed my first marathon in 2024, finishing with a 3:46 (5:22/km). Hands down my proudest achievement. Now it wasnt smooth sailing, I was dealing with calf problems for a decent part of the 6.5 months I was training for it, but i did come to the start line on healthy legs. Fast forward to late winter/early spring 2025, and i start half marathon training, with a goal of going sub-1:40 (PB is 1:45 from 2022, it is VERY improvable). Welp, that didn't come into fruition, ended up with shin splints, anterior if I remember correctly. I spend some time in mid 2025 rowing just to keep myself entertained and injury free.
Mid/late 2025 comes around. I decided to train for sub-6 in the mile, and sub-21 in the 5k. Welp, I got injured during that time, got hit with the double whammy, both posterior and anterior shin splints. It was completely my fault, I built up the mileage too quickly, and I was overstriding and heel striking like a dumbass (which is NOT how I normally ran, I have zero idea how my running form degraded that badly). Anywho, i managed to PB both distances, 5:53 and 20:30 respectively, while also hitting a 10k PB of 43:25. After that training cycle, I give some time to recover, and I go back to running. Very low volume and intensity, and ontop of that i fixed the issues in my running form. within 4-5 weeks, I have issues with my shins again. I drop the volume entirely, and decided to row through the winter, as I wanted a bit of a break from running, as I was getting a little frustrated with the issues I was having.
March 2026 rolls around, I try to start running again. I really make an effort to build volume far more slowly, and I started doing a decent amount of walking to keep the intensity even lower during this time. I made it up to about 16km running and 4-6km walking, before having issues again after about 7 weeks (you'll never guess where 😂). I once again, drop the volume entirely as id like to not have a stress fracture, so I pick up cycling, as it was a form of cross training for me during rowing when I had power outages. I had a goal of just finding a 100km, which I was successful in, finishing in 4:10 in June. This is one of my proudest achievements, right below the marathon for me. After giving some time to recover, I come back to running again, and surprise surprise, I have issues again, I think the combined run/walk volume was like 18km when I decided to drop it (like 5-6 weeks later).
I'm very tired, and annoyed about this issue. I feel like I've tried everything to address the problem. Fix my running form? Didn't work. Build the volume exponentially slower? Didn't work. Increase volume either by lengthening the sessions but keeping the number of days lower, or by keeping time on feet lower but increasing frequency? Neither of those worked. Decrease the intensity of BOTH my easy and hard efforts (thats not even a good description, considering my shins complain at the thought of a session above LT1 intensity)? Also didnt work. What about incorporating walking and slightly decreasing the running volume? Also didnt work. All of this is happening, whilst my aerobic and musculoskeletal fitness is dissolving 😂 (bro i can barely run 8:30/km in zone 2 rn), because yk, not being consistent doesn't exactly lead to progress in the sport (crazy concept isn't it).
Honestly this feels like a sick joke, and I feel insane writing this out. I have tried to figure out why im so prone to injuries for years now, even before the marathon (I've had issues like this since middle school, tho they weren't nearly as bad). I sleep more than enough, and the quality is pretty decent 90% of the time. I eat very well, and enough, I drink more than enough water. I also lift and do basic S&C throughout the week, though it isn't a lot. I know this is a long post, but im making it because I need some adive to figure out what to do here. I know that there's probably something im missing, and I know that im clearly still doing something wrong even though im trying to fix what I can.
I apologize for this post coming off so negative, I just wanted to give as much context as I could, and admittedly, im still frustrated with all of this. I will end on a positive note, though. I have done a couple of run/walk sessions over the last week or so, just to test the waters. Doing like 10x1min (60s walk) or 5-7x2min (90s-2min walk) sessions keeping the effort at like a 2-3/10. Things have gone decent so far. Only doing that like 2x/week rn, just because im bored. Anyways, thanks for getting through this wall of text. Any advice is appreciated.