There are two ways to approach your first marathon: the smart way and the hard way. Six years ago, personal trainer James Stirling—better known as London Fitness Guy—chose the hard way.
“When I trained—or, more accurately, didn't train as well as I should have—for the London Marathon in 2019 that’s when I first suffered with knee pain,” he tells Fit&Well.
“For me, it has always been a case of overuse and I think that is the most common cause of knee pain. It’s doing mileage your body is not adapted to or running too fast too soon.”
That wake-up call prompted Stirling to train as a running coach so that he, and his clients, wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes.
Now, having just completed the Berlin Half Marathon—one of six races in the SuperHalfs series he plans to complete over the next two years—Stirling says he’s taking a far more patient, comprehensive and long-term approach.
Here are the four changes he made to prevent knee pain and run injury-free.
1. Strength train
Introducing running-specific strength training has been the biggest game changer.
“Strength training a lot more according to running has definitely helped,” says Stirling. Instead of biceps curls and crunches, Stirling has tailored his workouts to build his body’s ability to withstand the repetitive impact and unilateral demands of running.
“I’ve been implementing a lot more single-leg work, plyometrics and running-specific moves,” says Stirling.
A typical workout during a block of running training will almost always include some variation on lunges to work one side of the body at a time, calf raises to strengthen the critical soleus muscle of the lower leg, and pogo hops to create resilience through the feet, ankles and knees.
2. Start training early
You need time on your side when training for a race. “Most injuries seem to occur when people are racing towards a deadline of race day without giving themselves enough time to prepare,” says Stirling.
“I actually haven't had knee pain in any of my recent runs, which is great, but it’s because my training is now patient.” It’s typically recommended to give yourself at least 12 weeks to train for a half marathon, for example, but if you’re completely new to running you should give yourself an even longer runway.
“Giving yourself a wide timescale that allows you to train patiently will hopefully help you avoid unnecessary injury,” Stirling says. “Paired with strength training, that’s a real winning combination.”
3. Build gradually
Stirling also swears by the 10% rule: increase your total running mileage by no more than 10% per week. Think of it like incrementally increasing the weight you lift in the gym or number of reps you perform during home workouts.
If tracking your weekly mileage across all your runs is too complicated, Stirling says you can apply this rule to your longest run.
“If you build the weekly mileage of your longest run by a maximum of 10% each week it should help to prevent overuse and reduce the risk of injury, while providing enough of a challenge to improve your fitness week on week,” says Stirling.
4. Go slow
Lastly, Stirling spends a lot more time doing zone 2 training—training at 60 to 70% of his maximum heart rate—especially during the longest run of his week.
Zone 2 training can improve aerobic fitness, helping faster runs feel easier. This slower pace will also reduce the impact on your joints and stress on your cardiovascular system.
“I always encourage running clients to think about every training session as a stress on the body,” says Stirling. “If you run three times over the course of a week and each one is high stress, the body is going to struggle to adapt.”
Instead, Stirling says, you must include easy runs in your week. “The stress on the body of the easy session is significantly less than if you're doing high-speed intervals multiple times. It’s about balancing that stress efficiently to avoid injury.”
If you want to stay injury-free, slow and steady wins the race. Think tortoise, not hare.
