By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

While the mistakes a novice runner makes as he/she breaks into the fascinating and addictive world or running are plentiful, there is only one, as a coach, I consider the Cardinal Sin. The one that will lead you to breakdown, overtraining and injury. This sin is comprised of three elements, which when combined become a dangerous cocktail: Too much, too fast, too soon.

If you don’t allow your tissues to recover before you do it again, they will break down and you will get injured (Image by Copilot for Windows)

And, before you think: ”I am a seasoned runner, so it doesn’t apply to me”, know that this sin also applies to coming back from injury. And you know that unless you hit the genetic lottery, you will eventually injure something.

As a novice you are so excited about the sport and your progress that you feel invincible. You can’t be stopped. It is a wonderful feeling. But there is so much to learn about shoes, science, mechanics, and the latest tech gear that something will go awry.

You might end up with the wrong shoes. You might forget strength or cross training because you’re focused on racking up more miles. You may succumb to bad mechanics. You might start comparing yourself to your friends, your neighbors or even the world elites. Each issue will bring its own set of consequences.

Too much, too fast, too soon is the cardinal sin of the novice runner because it will affect their recovery and thus, their adaptation to training. It will negate the gains. It will get them overtrained, burned out and could lead to overuse injuries. Do I need to say more?

 Let’s break down the elements of this “Cardinal Sin”:

Too Much: The progress curve for the novice runner is very steep. The more you run, the easier it becomes. You feel you can run longer, faster, and more frequently. While this is true, your body is not ready for the wear and tear of the constant pounding, so it needs more time to recover and adapt. Recovering so you can do it again is what “being fit” means. Running is a journey that may last a lifetime as long as you manage it properly. It requires patience and wise execution. If you don’t, your running life will be painful and short.

A long and successful career in running is in your hand. Manege it properly (Image by Copilot for Windows)

Too Fast: Running slow so you can run fast is a counter intuitive thought. But the concept has been proven repeatedly. The era of GPS watches and social media oversharing have pushed us to thinking that recovery runs, or God forbid a bad run, are shameful elements in our training. That taking a day off is a sign of weakness. What will our followers think? So, we refuse to slow down. Inevitably, the progress curve will flatten. If it didn’t, we would all eventually break a world record. And that’s not going to happen. So, take it easy on easy days. That’s the exact reason they’re labeled as “easy”.

Too Soon: Ligaments, tendons, cartilage, bones, and muscles must adapt to the pounding of running. This means they need to repair themselves from all the micro-tears caused by the constant percussion. Setting up our bodies to become an effective auto-repair shop needs time and purposeful effort. If you are planning to check an item off your bucket list and move on, you might be able to get away with it. If you plan to run for a lifetime, you don’t need to run all your distances and PRs in the first week, month or season. Give it time. You have it.

My running experience of several decades allows me to insist that you understand that accomplishing your running goals takes time. A lot of time. The old clichés “it is not a sprint; it is a marathon”, or “it is a journey, not a destination” fit in perfectly into this narrative.

Trust the process, be patient, keep it easy on easy days and be constant. While running injuries will affect most runners during our careers, the better prepared we are to confront them, the faster they’ll heal. Especially if we set up a solid base from the start.

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