The #1 Reason Indiana Runners Get Hurt Every Summer (And How to Avoid It)
Every August, the same thing happens. A motivated runner spends all summer training hard, shows up to preseason camp in great shape and within two weeks is on the sideline with shin splints, a stress reaction, or a cranky Achilles.
It's heartbreaking, and it's almost always preventable. After years of coaching at the NCAA level and working with high school runners across Indiana, I can tell you the cause is rarely bad luck. It's almost always the same mistake.
The culprit: too much, too soon
The most common summer injury isn't caused by running too many miles. It's caused by adding miles too fast.
A runner finishes track averaging 25 miles a week, gets excited, reads that the varsity guys run 50, and tries to close that gap in a month. The cardiovascular system adapts quickly… your lungs and heart can handle the new load almost right away. But tendons, bones, and connective tissue adapt slowly. When mileage outruns tissue adaptation, something breaks.
The runner feels fine for three weeks. Then they don't.
The rules that keep you running
Progress gradually. Increase weekly volume in small, controlled steps with the occasional down week to absorb the load. Patience in June and July is what lets you race in October.
Make easy days genuinely easy. Running every day at the same moderate effort is one of the fastest ways to get hurt. Easy days should feel easy. That's what allows you to recover and keep volume sustainable.
Don't skip strength and mobility. Ten to fifteen minutes of basic strength, hips, and core work a few times a week dramatically lowers injury risk. It's the work runners skip and later wish they hadn't.
Sleep and fuel like it matters - because it does. Tissue repairs while you sleep and rebuilds with adequate fuel. Underslept, underfueled teenage runners are the ones who break down.
Listen to the early signals. Persistent soreness in one specific spot, pain that worsens during a run, or a limp are not "push through it" signals. Caught early, most issues cost a few days. Ignored, they cost a season.
Why a coach changes the math
The hardest part of staying healthy isn't knowing these rules.. it's applying them to your athlete in real time. How fast is too fast for this runner, coming off this base, with this injury history? That's the judgment call a structured, individualized plan is built to make.
Load management and injury-risk monitoring are core to how I coach. Every athlete's summer is built to push progress and protect the body.. because the fastest runner in July means nothing if they can't race in October.
A healthy summer is a fast fall. Let's build one.
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Coach Justin Roeder — Roeder Multisport · Westfield, IN · Serving runners across Indianapolis and Hamilton County.
