Studies of marathon training cohorts report injury rates between 50 and 90% across a single training block. Most of those injuries trace back to a small set of preventable errors, not bad luck or genetics. The seven mistakes below show up in study after study, and each one has a corrective fix that is well-known to coaches and sports medicine clinicians. Avoiding even three of these errors typically separates a smooth training block from a derailed one. 1. Excessive Weekly Mileage Increases The single biggest cause of running injury is a sudden jump in training volume. Recent research on running-related injuries suggests that the danger often comes from one outsized session rather than from steady weekly increases, with single-run spikes above 110% of the longest run from the prior month producing a 64% rise in overuse injury risk. The standard advice to cap weekly mileage growth at around 10% works as a soft target, but the more important rule is to avoid one-day surges that the body has not seen before. A safer approach is to add 10 to 15% per week to total mileage and avoid pushing any single long run more than two miles past the previous longest run. Stress fractures and tendinopathies cluster in athletes who break both rules at once. 2. Skipping Strength Work Running alone does not build the muscle strength needed to absorb impact and maintain form across late-race miles. Hip, glute, and core weakness produce the compensatory patterns that trigger knee pain, Achilles tendon issues, and IT band problems. Two short strength sessions per week, focused on single-leg work, hip abduction, and core stability, reduce injury rates in trial data by 30 to 50%. The standard objection is time. The standard answer is that strength work pays back its time cost through fewer […]

Cannabis is showing up in more athlete recovery conversations. Partly because hemp-derived products are now widely accessible, partly because the “no hangover” pitch appeals to people who train and actually care what they put in their bodies. But accessibility isn’t the same as compatibility – and the timing question matters more than most people realize. One thing is worth mentioning first: do not take a  delta 9 gummy before your workout. Not because of some blanket anti-cannabis stance, but because the physiology genuinely works against you. THC raises resting heart rate – typically 20–50 BPM within minutes of onset. Exercise already pushes your cardiovascular system hard. Stack those two, and you’re putting unnecessary strain on your heart before you’ve touched a barbell. Add in compromised coordination and a dulled perception of exertion (so you miss the signals that tell you when you’re pushing too hard), and the risk profile isn’t theoretical. It’s just bad timing. The more interesting question is where cannabis might actually make sense. And the answer is more specific than most articles admit. Sleep Is the Strongest Case Slow-wave sleep – the deep, restorative phase – is when muscle repair happens. Growth hormone peaks. Inflammation from training clears. If you’re sleeping poorly, your recovery ceiling drops, regardless of how well you eat or how much you foam roll. THC does reduce sleep onset time, meaning people fall asleep faster. That part is reasonably well-documented. The complication is that it also suppresses REM sleep, which handles memory consolidation and cognitive recovery. So for athletes whose sport involves skill acquisition or pattern recognition – most sports – trading REM for faster sleep onset isn’t obviously a win. It might help you feel rested without fully recovering your decision-making. The practical takeaway: if sleep onset is genuinely your problem (you […]