Lessons learned

[Coddfish]

Many times I have seen people say don't increase your distance by more than 10% in any one go. How right you all are. I ran too long / too far, finished in a heap on a park bench, failed to stretch out or cool down properly as a result, and am now limping. I hope it doesn't take long to recover.

[Mysticalmaid Graduate]

Don't run if there's pain, or you'll end up off for longer. Take as long as your body needs to recover, no matter how strong the urge.

[Hidden]

rest for as long as you need Codd, don't risk making anything worse ... One thing I have learnt from my injury is that you have to be patient now that is harder than anything

[danzargo Graduate]

Coddfish! You total and absolute flippin' *********!!!

Take heed from those, who too have been tempted by a moment of reckless bravado, only to collapse in an injured heap - as you did!!

So....don't buck the 10% rule, ALWAYS ALWAYS stretch after a run and you'll be fine and dandy.

[AncientMum Graduate in reply to danzargo]

The gospel according to the Rev Dan. Hear it and believe, folks

[Noaky12 Graduate]

I suspect we may all at some stage not listen to the excellent advice on here, then immediately regret it.

I know I did, but thankfully avoided injury.

One things for sure. You won't do it again!!!

Take care of yourself & rest up as long as you need to. x

[Rignold]

I wouldn't beat yourself up about it. We all have runs that knock us for six, regardless of whether we are inside the supposed 10% increase for the week or not. There are loads of factors that can poop you out at the end of a run. It is unlikely you have done yourself lasting damage, assuming you have not gone from 5ks to 26 miles ina moemnt of marathon-watching frenzy. Also, you can do your foam rolling at any time after your run and that will make you feel .. well, so bad that you will think the before bit was not so bad.

How much extra mileage did you do, exactly?

[AllieG Graduate]

Yeah.... I think we've all done that... Steep learning curve and all that! On 5k, it's only 500 meters and that really doesn't sound much but... Oh dear!

[Sparkyifhungry Graduate]

Codfish, hope you don't mind if I learn from your mistake! I wasn't sure what people meant by don't increase by more than 10%, I'll be logging that info for the future so thanks for sharing!

[Rignold]

Sparky - the general rule of thumb is not to increase your overall weekly mileage by more than 10% at a time. So if you run 5k 3 times a week, your total mileage is 15k and you can add 1.5k the following week. That can be increasing each run to 5.5k or one run to 6.5k.

The next week your mileage was 16.5k so you can add 1.65k, taking you up to 18 for the week - so 3 runs of 6 k or 2 fives and an 8. The following week you can add 1.8, and so on.

It is, of course just a guideline. If you increase by 20% one week nothing bad is going to happen. The running police are not going to cme and fine you. Its just a guide for what is a sustainable increase you can use to build mileage while minimising risk of injury.

The next week