Five tips for avoiding a winter running injury

It’s December and with Canadian winters there’s no shortage of snow and ice. And bad footing can put some serious stress on the body while running, not to mention the potential for a nasty accident.

Watch out for the ice

Some of the more common injuries during the winter that runners are usually not accustomed to during the warmer months are fractures and concussions. Running isn’t a contact sport and so these seem out of place, but running on ice means slips and falls, and from there physiotherapists find themselves dealing more with these types of problems in runners when it’s cold outside. Go with winter specific running shoes that feature grippier treads, or even Yaktrax. The only downside to running with studs under-foot is that they become problematic on unfrozen pavement.

Embrace the treadmill

If it means keeping safe, hitting the treadmill once in awhile is always an option. Plus, you can stay inside and avoid all that bitter wind.

“If it is slippery and dangerous outside and you’re not good at running on ice or want to do a tempo workout, staying inside on the treadmill is a necessary evil,” said Laura McIntyre, a registered physiotherapist and competitive runner. Running on a treadmill doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. Do a short, fartlek-style workout to keep things interesting. Run easy for 10-minutes easy to warm-up, then alternate 30 seconds easy and 30 seconds at a faster pace. Try 10, 20 or even 30 30-second segments, and then cool down for 10 minutes at the end.

Reduce the training volume

McIntyre also suggests to reduce your training load after the first major snowfalls of the year. Your footing will be off and a change in gait can can injury if you’re not careful. Giving your body time to adapt to the new terrain can be the difference between spending the week on the coach or the roads.

“If the first large snowfall of the winter arrives Saturday evening and, with a 30K run scheduled for Sunday for the majority of marathon groups, there is a good chance that someone will be in on Monday morning for a foot or ankle injury,” said McIntyre. It’s worth reconsidering how fast and how hard you run after a heavy snowfall. If you can’t skip your long run, take it slower, as you are putting a heavy burden on your stability muscles when running on uneven surfaces.

Run in snowshoes

As much as we love getting out and pounding the pavement, there are always other options if it means keeping healthy.

“The good news is that these injuries usually do not last that long, but they could have been avoided if the distance ran was decreased – the 30K was postponed to a day with better footing, the run was done on a treadmill or the workout was changed to a cross-country ski or snowshoe,” says McIntyre. Snowshoeing and cross-country skiing are almost one-to-one trade-offs with running, so don’t fret about the mileage, just worry about putting in the same amount of time as you would running.

Be careful once all that snow melts away again

Still, you can’t always beat injuries by staying inside or opting for other activities. Even if you chain yourself to a treadmill all winter, when you do decide to move outdoors again your tibia, the bone on the inside of the shin, will be weaker from the reduced impact. You will have to allow time for your tibia to regain strength when moving back to the roads to avoid strains and stress fractures.

Overall it’s a dodgier time of year outside for runners, but getting in those chilly runs is still doable with a bit more planning and being mindful of conditions.