Saturday, March 25th

Spring has Sprung this week, or at least it has according to the calendar, the daylight lasts a little longer, the races seem a little more plentiful, River Run training is in full gear and your seeing more and more runners on the road, whether coming out of hibernation or back from unexpected and unwelcome time off. 

I have included, yes another, recent post from the Fleet Feet newsletter, I know, the last thing you want to read is another runner article, let alone one about something as taboo as running injuries, but It hit home for myself and I've seen way to may of my running friends doing things other than running on Saturday mornings the last few months, so enjoy or quickly scroll on to the weekly route.

Congrats to everyone that took part in the Run of Luck 7k at home, the Rodes City 10k in Louisville, the Bataan Memorial Death March in NM and LA Marathon, some great runs!

Best of Luck this week to those running the first leg of the Ultimate Fit Series, the Valhalla 5k/10k in Poseyville, and the Southern Illinois Spring Classic Half in Lawrencville IL.

Options below are a Northside route, or the River Run Training route from the North Park Nursing Center, or head out 1st Ave for the 3.5ish to meet up with the Training, what ever you choose enjoy!

See you Saturday!

Remaining 2017 River Run Training Schedule 

8 Mar 25th North Park Nursing Center 650 Fairway Dr
9 Apr 1st Yoga 101 2800 Linclon Ave
10 Apr 8th Double Tree 601 Walnut St
11 Apr 15th Ultimate Fit 1308 S Greenriver Rd
12 Apr 22nd Audubon Mill Park 123 N Water St Henderson
13 Apr 29th Lamasco's Bar & Grill 1331 W Franklin St





Upcoming Racing Action:

SATURDAY,APRIL 1st

SATURDAY, APRIL 8th

Coming Back From Injury? Get It Right The First Time

by Coach Tim Cary

Raise your hand if this has happened to you: you get injured, you rest, you rehab, you rebuild your training (gradually) and just when you’re back in top form… you’re hit with the exact same injury all over again. (My guess is quite a few of you would have your hands in the air if it weren’t so weird putting your hand up while reading a blog.)

So are we destined to a never-ending cycle of run-injury-rehab-run-repeat?

The most common reason for injuries in endurance athletes is biomechanic overload. Sure, there’s always the chance that we’ll twist an ankle, but most of the injuries that sideline us are overuse injuries.

What are overuse injuries? Overuse injuries are the result of the running motion overloading a particular tissue of the body (muscles, connective tissue, bones, etc.). We all have muscle imbalances and weaknesses. As we increase our training, we simply put too much load on our weak links. And our weak links, in turn, give us the finger.

Healing from overuse injuries involves rest, recovery, and rehab. Believe it or not, runners often do a great job in the rehab process. We attack rehab with gusto because we want to start running again.

Our mistake, however, usually comes immediately after we are given the green light to start training again.

I’m free! we say to ourselves. I can run again!

And then we ramp up our training load too soon. And that is a problem.

Training load is the volume, frequency, and intensity of our training. It's a three-pronged equation in which one prong usually gets overlooked.

One prong is a gradual build-up to our total mileage. It’s an easy concept: don’t jump back in at the mileage you were logging before your injury. Most of us are pretty good at taking care of this prong.

Another prong is the gradual increase of running frequency. It’s the same concept as the first prong; frequency increases as mileage increases. Not a problem.

The third prong—and this is the problem prong—is intensity. We tend to forget the intensity prong since we’re rested and fresh. Our lungs are in front of our legs.

What do I mean by “our lungs are in front of our legs?” Cross-training allows us to keep up our cardiovascular fitness even when we’re not running, which means when we finally start running again, our cardiovascular system is much stronger than our muscles and tissues. Many times injury recurrence happens because we overload our muscles, tendons, and ligaments before they’re up to the task.

Along the same lines, we often neglect our rehab strengthening. Rehab strengthening should be considered prehab. We need to strengthen our weak links so they can handle the training loads we plan to maintain once we get the green light.

So how do we bounce back from injury safely and effectively? First, keep the three prongs of training load in mind. No matter how good you feel, build up your training very gradually in terms of volume, frequency, and intensity. As a general rule of thumb, I have my athletes increase only one or two pieces of the training load per week, and intensity is always the last piece to increase.

How gradually should you increase your training? I like the equation of Time Off = Time Back to Normal. Meaning, if you were running 30 miles per week and were off 6 weeks due to injury, you should take at minimum 6 weeks to build back up to 30 miles per week. Frequency should follow a similar timeframe. Intensity should not be increased until normal volume and frequency levels have been reached. And you should not run anything faster than your previous intensity until you’ve maintained at least 3 to 4 weeks at normal mileage and frequency. You should also keep up with your rehab/prehab work 2 to 3 days a week. This will help you bounce back stronger and healthier than before.

Focus on the three prongs of training so you can bounce back without setback, because there's nothing worse than an injured endurance athlete.

Good Luck and Happy Racing!
Coach Cary

Tim Cary is Head Track & Field and Cross Country for Lindenwood University at Belleville and the former Fleet Feet Assistant Training Manager. Over his more than two decades of coaching, Tim has coached athletes to three national team championships, five national individual championships, two national records, and numerous All-American and All-State honors. Click here to subscribe to our blog.






River Run 8.5 mi. from North Park Nursing Center
R on Tremont
*Becomes Sheridan
L on Stratford
R on Fairway
R on Tremont
L on Buena Vista
R on n 3rd
L on N Park/N4th
*Water –Holy Redeemer
L on Mill road
R on Ridge Knoll
R on Sheffield
L on Norbourne Way
R on Cross Gate
L on Berry
Slight right on Old Post
L on Berry
R on Stonebridge
R on Whitehorne
L on Old Post
L on Foxboro
R on Stonebridge
R on 1st
L on Concord
*Water/Gatorade (Concord/Stratford)
L on Stratford
Follow around
R on Concord
L on Stratford
R on N. Park Dr
L on Longview
L on Lexington
R on Stratford
L on Sheridan
Follow around to Senior Care


Water Stops:
4 mi. - Kratzville/Lohoff
8 mi. - Heidelbach/Richard

12 Mile BOR Route from Y...7:00 a.m.
Court to MLK
L on MLK/Mary to Franklin
L on Franklin to 7th
R on 7th to Columbia
R on Columbia to 1st Ave.
L on 1st Ave to Ulhorn
L on Ulhorn to Fulton
R on Fulton/Kratzville to Lohoff
R on Lohoff to 1st Ave.
L on 1st Ave. to Fairway
R on Fairway to Stratford
L on Stratford to Buena Vista
R on Buena Vista to Stringtown
R on Stringtown to Olmstead
L on Olmstead to Kentucky
R on Kentucky to Negley
R on Negley to Heidelbach
L on Heidelbach to Morgan Ave.
R on Morgan to N. Main
L on N. Main to Sycamore
R onto Sycamore to MLK
L on MLK to Mulberry
R on Mulberry to 6th
L on 6th to Washington
R on Washington to 2nd
R on 2nd to Court

R on Court to 6th to Y.......12.2 mi.