SJC Physiotherapy

POST MARATHON “CAN I RUN YET?” x a few memes to soften the blow 🤣🤣

This is the question I get asked more than any other in the week after a big race. And to be fair, I’m asking myself the same thing on day 4 🤪

The problem is social media warps what normal recovery looks like. You see people back running three days after a marathon, hitting sessions within the week, and it feels like that’s the standard. It isn’t. That’s a tiny number of elite and highly trained runners with years of load behind them, a support team, and often a very different level of damage than the rest of us are carrying.

For the average runner, the picture is different. Soreness clears in days. Strength comes back in about a week. But the structural stuff, muscle fibres, tendon and bone, is still being rebuilt for weeks. Bone is actually at its weakest a few weeks after the race, not straight after it.

So the honest answer to “can I run yet” on day 4 is, it’s probably not work it.

Walk, swim, cycle, sleep, eat. Just do low impact stuff for 10-14 days. Throw in a test run around day 8 to 10. Easy running the rest of week 2, add in some strides / tempos work week 3, then go back into your first proper training week if the green lights are ticked. Two weeks of patience costs you almost nothing long term! Rushing it can cost you the next block!

Swipe through, save it for the day after your next race, and send it to whoever ran on Sunday.

How long do you take off after a marathon? Tell me in the comments.

Need my help with injury and/or performance? Check the links in my bio for 1-2-1 online coaching and programmes

Follow Sam Caddick | Running Physio & Coach and Sam Caddick | Running Physio & Coach.clinic for more useful running tips and physio led content.

We did it ! First major for me and something tells me it won’t be the last…

Can’t help but feel a sense of pride with this one after nearly a year off from running at my best , but mostly I felt a sense of control (until about 38km when my quads left the chat) and gratitude to be back doing what I love.

There’s nothing quite like marathon race day and there aren’t many better cities to be running through. Sydney really turned it on. Amazing support, beautiful route and an unforgettable day.

Shame about the lift 💀

Damn, it’s not the fact your heel strike or overpronate after all 😉

Full breakdown in the slides of this 2024 umbrella review, basically a review of reviews, looking at what actually causes running injuries. 13 reviews, 148 studies.

Need help with an ongoing injury?

Comment ‘INJURYHELP’ to learn more about work with me 1-2-1 online.

Follow Sam Caddick | Running Physio & Coach and my clinic Sam Caddick | Running Physio & Coach.clinic for more useful running tips and physio-led content.

Sydney Marathon time!

I’ve spent the last few days consuming a ludicrous amount of carbs, and in doing so I couldn’t help but laugh at the emotions you go through during taper week.

It’s been too long since I last made any memes, so while I’m sat here I thought I’d turn a few of those emotions into some silly ones.

They definitely made me laugh, so I hope they do the same for you.

Good luck to everyone running tomorrow!

Think I’m finally getting the hang of this social media thing…right?!

Can’t wait to be running Sydney Marathon on Sunday. Not only is it my first Major, but it’s in my now home city and it’ll be a beautiful course.

After the last year and some tricky injuries to navigate, I know this won’t be PB territory for me but it feels so good to be back running again and doing a distance that I love.

To all those running, have an amazing day, hope to see you on the course.

Can’t wait to get amongst it!

“Injury prone” is a label I hear a lot of runners end up giving themselves, usually after a few setbacks in a row.

If that sounds like you, here are two things worth considering.

The first is that not everything about you improves at the same rate.

Give it a few months of consistent running and your aerobic fitness comes along nicely. Paces that used to feel like a real effort start to feel easier, and your appetite for running goes up. That’s normally the fun bit.

But your tendons, bones and muscles are a little slower at adapting, which leaves you with a mismatch. An engine that can push for longer than your tendons can tolerate. Your training history plays into this too, but that’s a post on its own.

The second thing is what happened after your last injury. Did you see your rehab out to the end? The research is fairly clear that a previous running injury is one of the biggest predictors of the next one.

We can speculate as to why, but most rehab stops as soon as the pain settles, which feels like being done, but it isn’t. Pain quietening down just means the tissue isn’t irritated anymore. It doesn’t tell you much about whether it can handle 40k a week again.

So you go back to the same training with roughly the same capacity you had when it went wrong. And a few weeks later you’re back where you started.

→ Pain settling is not the same as being ready
→ Rehab should get harder over time, not stay the same
→ Build capacity BEFORE you start ramping mileage, not after

You’re most likely not injury prone. You’ve just never built the capacity to handle what you’re asking of yourself.

And if you’re fed up of guessing and want some help getting on top of your injury:

👉 Comment INJURYHELP and I’ll send you more information about my 1-2-1 online physio and rehab, where we build a plan around your injury, your training, and what you’re actually working towards.

See you on the next one, legends

Follow Sam Caddick | Running Physio & Coach and Sam Caddick | Running Physio & Coach.clinic for more useful running tips and physio-led content.

Here’s how I’d actually approach rehabbing an Achilles tendon issue.

Having rehabbed 100s of Achilles issues, what you have to understand is there isn’t a one size fits all here.

I see socials littered with claims that this one type of exercise or style of training led to their tendon being fixed. Which just isn’t the case.

For example, isometrics are great but they aren’t an absolute essential, and as a standalone they will not prepare you for return to sport. I’ve successfully rehabbed tendons both with and without them in a programme.

Using an approach which gives you the freedom to move between isometrics / eccentrics / isotonics & plyometric training is, I feel, what yields the better outcomes.

But where you sit on that spectrum depends on a multitude of factors, such as:

→ Factors outside of running. The time you actually have available, stress, work and so on
→ How irritable the tendon is right now
→ Your training history and what the tendon is already used to
→ Your tolerance to load, both during and in the 24 hours after
→ What you’re actually wanting to return to

And if you’re fed up of guessing and want a plan built around your tendon:

👉 Comment INJURYHELP and I’ll send you more information about working with me 1-2-1 online.

Follow Sam Caddick | Running Physio & Coach and Sam Caddick | Running Physio & Coach.clinic for more useful running tips and physio-led content.