Triathlon is an exciting sport. It’s addicting! You do one race and you want to do another one because you just know you can do it better. What people fail to think about is how training can injure them. Injury that comes from doing too much distance, too soon. Specifically, running distance.

Upping bike miles quickly is usually not something to worry about. It can be done fairly quickly without risk of injury.

Swimming can pose injury risks if the yardage is upped too quickly. I hurt myself by training for a three mile open water swim, with only a month to prepare for it. My shoulder felt that for a good eight months after that poor choice.

Now running? Running is where you get hurt. Some people are genetically inclined not to get hurt running. Honestly though, you don’t know if you are that person or not, unless you train haphazardly to see if you get injured or not. Not a great plan.

Yes, it’s hard to pull back. It’s hard to not sign up for that half marathon, marathon, or half ironman. All of your friends are doing them. You don’t want to sit on the sidelines, so you take the plunge and go for it!

Nice idea, but only if you up your overall run training distance by 10 percent per week. For example, if you are currently running 10 miles per week, that means the next week you run 11 miles overall. Not that much. Realistically look at where you are, and where you need to be in X weeks and ask yourself, “Is this a smart running plan that will keep me injury free?”

The bottom line is if you are injured, you can’t train and you can’t race. Why risk it? It’s not worth the risk. Step back, be realistic, and stay injury free.

You’re only human, ya know?