A lot of us enjoy running, I know that I certainly do, and I’ve done my fair share of it. I don’t do as much as I use to but I still love to get out and burn those calories and get the heart pumping. If you’ve been running for a while now or you’ve been thinking about trying running to get fit you might take into consideration these tips for avoid injuries and get the most out of running.

The first tip is to have a good pair of shoes. If you’ve been running for a while in the shoes that you have and they’re starting to lose the cushion it’s time to get a new pair. If you’re someone who is considering getting into running I highly recommend getting a good pair of running shoes instead of using the old sneakers that you have already laying around. Having good shoes is important for several reasons. First, your shoes absorb a lot of the shock from your foot striking the ground during each stride that you take. Your joints that would normally absorb this shock are your ankles, knees, hip, and back. To save yourself from discomfort later in life with these body parts pickup a good pair of shoes that will take some of the shock out of each step. From my point of view it’s a much less expensive to buy a good pair of shoes now and then it is to pay for medical costs to address the injuries you’ve obtained later from running. If you can afford it you might even consider buying two pairs of running shoes and rotating them. I’ve heard that when you run in a pair of shoes it can temporarily squish the padding down. Think of a wet sponge that you swish down and it slowly regains its shape. Running a long distance in a pair of shoes can swish down the padding and by rotating your shoes it can allow more time for your shoes to regain the full cushion. I haven’t scientifically tested this theory but it makes sense to me. For my running shoes I have a pair of trail running shoes and a regular pair of running shoes and I try to rotate the when I work out.

The second tip is to make sure to ease into running. If you’re new to running or if you’ve been thinking about getting back into running make sure to start slow and build up the mileage and difficulty levels over time. There have been a few times in my life where I was running on a regular basis and I felt really confident in my running abilities. It was easy during these times to go out and do pretty challenging running workouts. Having this capability gave me a confidence that can be a little dangerous. This is because, on the other hand, there have also been many times that I had not been running very much and my body was not in as good of shape. Whenever I get back into running, like when I decide to start training for an upcoming event, I have to remember to start back into it slowly in order to avoid injuries like pulling a muscle. If I try to try to jump back into doing the interval workouts that I was doing when I was in excellent shape after not running for a long period of time, I will expose myself to a higher level of possible injury. Doing too much running at a high difficult level too fast will get you injured. Ease into it and build up over time.

Another tip for avoiding injuries is to cross train. If you’re someone who is training to do a 5k or 10k or something even longer and you are just getting back into running or haven’t ever really been a runner before then cross training can help you to develop the repertory system and endurance without as much pounding that running alone inflicts on your joints. A couple of things that you can do to cross traini...