Fitness: Runners need to find an alternative route in case of injury – Montreal Gazette

As much as runners like to think of themselves as hardcore exercise enthusiasts, a few studies have questioned whether they’re as fit as they’d like us to believe.

The first blemish on their reputation was in 2014, when a study of recreational marathoners and half marathoners revealed they spent eight to 10 hours of their day sitting. Based on that lifestyle, the study’s authors suggested “recreational distance runners were simultaneously highly sedentary and highly active.”

A few years later, another study reported that 32 per cent of runners polled didn’t meet the recommended 150 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity exercise per week.

The latest blow to their reputation comes with the disclosure that injured runners would rather put their feet up than find an alternative workout routine. Instead of preserving their fitness by hitting the pool or the gym, they wait until their pain or injury subsides enough to get back to pounding the pavement.

Anyone who knows runners shouldn’t be surprised at their tendency to stick with what they know, even if that means losing some of their hard-earned fitness due to inactivity. Runners, often to their detriment, are creatures of habit. They revel not just in the sameness of putting one foot in front of the other, but also in the ease of lacing up a pair of shoes and heading out the door — no gym membership, equipment or experienced trainer required.

The authors of this latest study, published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, suspected that runners were too set in their ways to explore new exercise options while recovering from an injury. Reaching out to local runners and running groups, they recruited 49 people (30 women and 19 men) who agreed to wear an activity tracker during their waking hours as well as report weekly on their injury and pain status. The goal was to get an accurate look at just how active runners really are, as well as how injuries affected their workout habits.

The study logged the number of active and inactive hours the runners accumulated over the course of 52 weeks, and how often they took time off due to injury. It also noted the level of pain runners experienced on a scale of 0 to 10, ranging from “no pain” to “the worst pain imaginable,” and whether the pain was such that they cancelled or reduced their planned running sessions for the week.

The results revealed runners averaged 58.6 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous activity (the Fitbit categorizes activity by intensity, not type), with only one perfect week (no report of injury or pain) recorded. Almost half the runners (46.9 per cent) were injured for at least one week, and four of the runners didn’t accumulate the recommended 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per week.

Injured runners experienced a decrease in physical activity of about 14 minutes per day, which the researchers suggest was due to “not fully replacing their lost running time with other forms of moderate to vigorous physical activity.” Interestingly, runners who reported pain didn’t experience the same drop in daily activity, suggesting that runners often opt to run through pain — which provides some redemption for their hardcore reputation.

What does this mean for the running community? With statistics suggesting 80 per cent of runners will suffer an injury, it’s worthwhile coming up with a strategy that increases the chances of returning to running stronger and fitter than before a forced break. Even if that means settling on an activity that isn’t as accessible or doesn’t spark the same kind of joy as running, the goal is to turn an injury time-out into an opportunity, not a loss.

To be clear, taking a break from running isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s often one of the best strategies to becoming a better runner — especially if it means working on weaknesses that are often ignored, instead of putting in more training miles. But it’s also important to keep those hard-earned fitness gains from diminishing, especially since runners almost always try to start back where they left off, which isn’t always a good strategy when recovering from an extended layoff.

Good options for injured runners include joining a masters swim group or hiring a personal trainer to design an exercise program that retains fitness without aggravating an injury. Also worthy of consideration is starting a strength training program designed not only to address any weaknesses, but to reduce the loss of muscle due to aging.

Then there’s another issue with runners: understating the amount of time they spend being sedentary. Like most people in today’s workforce, much of the day is spent sitting, the health consequences of which aren’t totally erased by a daily run, no matter how much ground is covered. The bottom line is that runners need to do more than just run if they want to be at their fittest.