COACH’S CORNER: HOW TO TROUBLESHOOT NIGGLES AFTER A RUN

Kate Dzienis • January 27, 2021

Peter Colagiuri is a Sports Physiotherapist, Level 3 Running Coach and ultra runner. He works clinically at Bioathletic in Sydney and is developing the first mobile app (https://injury.app) to diagnose running injuries and prescribe rehab programs.

No matter what your goal is with ultra running, whether it’s to go further or faster or to just make it feel easier, the key is consistent training. Consistent training comes from sustained motivation, effective methods of recovery and avoiding injury. And it’s that last point that really exemplifies the paradox of ultrarunning.

Avoiding injury requires you to adjust your training at the first sign of injury. But the first sign of injury is often pain.|

So how do you know which pain leads to injury in a sport that’s not meant to be pain free? We’re not saying that ultra running must cause pain but in a sport where you are pushing your limits, it’s not always going to be comfortable either.

So here’s our top five tips on troubleshooting common niggles, before they become injuries.

Tip 1: Beware of any niggle that forces a change in your running style

A niggle that changes your running style doesn’t necessarily mean the niggle itself is concerning. The real risk here is that an altered running style will redistribute the load on your body to areas that aren’t accustomed to taking that pressure.

This is where one niggle can quickly turn into three injuries, meaning that the battle to get back on track just got a whole lot more challenging.

Tip 2: Watch out for one-sided symptoms, sharp pain, worsening pain or pain that takes more than 24 hours to resolve

Niggles will happen with normal training as you push yourself that little bit further. But if a niggle is only affecting one side, causing stabbing pains or it’s getting worse with every run, it’s typically a sign that it’s more than just regular training soreness.

If a pain is taking more than 24 hours to ease, there’s a chance you have a bone or cartilage injury brewing. It may be nothing but we recommend catching up with your trusty health professional to get a clear idea of what’s going on. Because the earlier we catch some injuries, the shorter the recovery time.

Tip 3: Adjust your training rather than stopping completely

Once you’ve identified that your niggle might be an injury, your first instinct is often to stop training. This can make things a whole lot harder in the long run (pun intended). Injuries are often the result of a lack of muscle endurance, joint stiffness or a lack of adequate fitness for your current run volume/intensity.

Having two or three weeks off training when you feel a niggle usually worsens the underlying cause. We’re not saying that you just ignore it and keep charging on. Your best bet is to adjust your training towards less aggravating activities while keeping in as much of the good stuff as you can.

If your calf has been tightening up with fast road runs and hills, give your calf a chance to recover by switching to some less intense running sessions. You can even replace hill sessions with some appropriate strength training and bike sessions. This will help maintain your climbing performance while resting the impacted areas.

Tip 4: Be mindful that acute injuries, like sprained ankles, don’t always require immediate medical assessment or complete rest from training

When you sprain your ankle, the injured soft tissue responds with inflammation and pain for around 2-3 days. This means that it’s going to be painful to load the injury regardless of whether there is structural damage like ligament tears or just an inflammatory reaction.

This acute inflammatory response can also mask subtle injuries to adjacent structures, like the ankle joint, that may take longer to recover than the more obvious injury. It’s part of the reason that a diagnosis made 5 to 7 days after an ankle sprain is significantly more accurate than a diagnosis made on the day of the injury.

So your best plan after an acute injury is:

If you can’t walk or weight bear on the leg, or if the area looks significantly deformed, get checked out straight away
If you can walk, keep active within your comfort levels and see how it progresses over the first few days
If it’s swollen, apply some firm (not tight) compression with an elastic bandage or elastic brace. If they’re unavailable, wear a compression garment over the area (e.g. Skins)
If it’s settling after a few days and you can walk reasonably comfortably, try an easy shuffle and see how it responds. You may need to start with a 100m shuffle, have a short walking break and then try jogging again with increasing distances on each interval
If it’s not up to running after 3 or 4 days or it reacts poorly to running with more swelling and/or pain, it’s worth booking in for an assessment with your physio or health professional to see what’s going on

Tip 5: Be proactive about managing your niggles by varying your training

We’ve covered the difficulty in sorting out the training aches from the injury niggles. And that difficulty often makes ultra runnners very “tough and stoic” (read: “prone to using denial”). With training consistency as your primary goal, always have tips #1 and #2 in mind with any self-assessment of soreness. “Are you moving differently? Is it one-sided?” And so on…

Being proactive doesn’t mean reducing your training at the first sign of a niggle. Instead you should aim to maintain your training volume while finding a way around the issue. But you need to get ahead of the game on this one. Don’t wait until you CAN’T do hills to avoid them in your training. Trim them early and replace them with the nearest equivalent that doesn’t aggravate your injury (e.g. stairs).

When you feel ready to try them again, don’t flick a switch and chase max hills on day one. Test them with just enough to know you’re better but avoid the temptation to keep pushing until you feel the pain again just to explore your upper limit. If you’re not sure about what specific training can substitute for the painful stuff, get the advice of a decent coach or running-specific physio.

Take home messages

Remember that training consistency is the best defence against injury and the fastest path to improvement.
Pay attention to your niggles – don’t ignore them but don’t be scared of them either.
To recover from a niggle, adjust your training if possible. If that’s not possible, reduce your volume. And if that’s still not working, switch to strength and non-running cardio for a period. But complete rest, without any training whatsoever, is only making it harder AND RISKIER to get back on the horse.

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AUTRA News Report 19-02-2025

By Kate Dzienis • February 19, 2025

The latest in race results, covering Cradle Mountain Run, City Run, Oscars 100 Hut 2 Hut and Yaberoo Trail Ultra.

Final 2024 Points Competition Results

By Alexis Oosterhoff • January 30, 2025

Results for the 2024 AUTRA Points Competition have been finalised, and are available on our Points Competition page. Full details of the top 10 (as shared on Facebook during January) are detailed below, and results for all participating AUTRA members can be found in the documents at the above link. It was a real battle throughout the year between our top two finishers, Phil Gore & Kevin "BK" Matthews, with both giving it their it their all at events, and through contributions to the community - volunteering at multiple events, and submitting articles to our monthly newsletter, Ultramag. They finished within 2km of total distance for the year (Phil on 1203.087km, and Kevin on 1205.510km), and it was only Phil's final volunteering effort on 6 Inch Trail Marathon in December that gave him the that very narrow victory. As you'd be aware from previous communications, this marks the end of the Points Competition. With trail running (of all distances) now incorporated into AU T RA's constitution, and after careful consideration of the costs of the competition payouts in it's current form, the committee felt it was time for it's retirement. This marks my seventh and final year of delivering the points competition to membership (2018-2024), after taking on the role from Cheryl Symons. It has brought me great joy in doing so, and I feel like I've had an opportunity to get to know so many of our members through seeing their race (and volunteering) performances over the years! I'm continuing in my role as the AUS/NZL statistician for DUV (from whom we shared the data for the points comp), and you can expect to continue to find your ultra-race result on their site. 1st Place - Phil Gore (WA) - 86 points Phil's achievements this year have included a massive 265.653km (and 2nd place) at the IAU 24h Asia & Oceania Championships, wins at the Red Dirt Backyard Ultra (33 laps), the Australian leg of Big Dog's Backyard World Team Championship (96 laps), and the Soochow/Taipei 24h Ultramarathon (270.826km). He also knocked out an easy (!) 72km at the Light Horse Ultra 24h in between supporting his amazing wife Gemma. Those two 24h wins netted Phil new Oceania 24h Open Male records, IAU Level 1 qualifiers, and pushed him to the top of Australia's 24h trophy board (with only the great Yiannis Kouros having run further). Phil topped-up his points by contributing one article to Ultramag, worked as an Event Director at Herdy's Frontyard Ultra, and volunteered at a further five events through the year. He finished on 86 points. 2nd Place - Kevin Matthews (WA) - 84 points Finishing in 2nd place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Kevin Matthews. He monstered his way through the year with finishes at Australia Day Ultra 100km, Delirious WEST 200mi, 24 laps at Herdy's Frontyard Ultra, 190km at Light Horse Ultra 24h, 23 laps at Birdy's Backyard Ultra, and also completed Feral Pig 100 miler, Sandman 50km and Six Inch 47km. And to top things off, he contributed five articles to Ultramag, and volunteered at five events. BK ran 1205km in Ultramarathon races this year, all of them AUTRA-listed, and surpassed 100 marathon finishes (including 51 Ultramarathons!) Kevin finished the year on 84 points, a massive 34 points ahead of our 3rd place finisher Sue Robertson. 3rd Place - Sue Robertson (WA) - 50 points Finishing in 3rd place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Sue Robertson. Sue completed the Ultra Series 100 miler trilogy of Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST, and rounded out her year with the Sandman 50km and Six Inch 47km races. She received 30 points from the racing at AUTRA-listed events, and was awarded a further 20 points by volunteering across eight events and contributing two articles to Ultramag, for a total of 50 points for the year. Thank you Sue! 4th Place - Margie Hadley (WA) - 47 points Finishing in 4th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Margie Hadley . She was the top-female finisher at both the No Time to Die Frontyard Ultra & Wild Dog Backyard Ultra, 2nd at Birdy's Backyard Ultra, ran 182km at the Australian 24h Track Invitational and placed 3rd at Coast to Kosci. Margie received 47 points in the competition 5th Place - Melissa Robertson (NSW) - 44 points Finishing in 5th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is NSW's Melissa Robertson. Melissa took out 1st place at Irrational SOUTH 200 miler, 2nd place at Lakes Trail Festival 100km, 1st place at Hume & Hovell 100 miler, 3rd place at Rumble in the Jungle and 6th place at Ultra-Trail Kosciuszko 100 miler! She also volunteered at the GNW 50km event, receiving 44 points in the competition! 6th Place - Aaron Young (WA) - 42 points Finishing in 6th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Aaron Young . Aaron finished in 1st place at each of the Ultra Series "Triple Crown" of 200 milers (Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST), 55 laps at Big Dog's Backyard World Team Championship, and rounded his year out with Feral Pig 100 miler. Aaron receives 42 points, just nudging ahead of Maree Connor (who also finished on 42 points) on a count-back 7th Place - Maree Connor (NSW) - 42 points Finishing in 7th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is NSW's Maree Connor. Maree had an outstanding year, achieving 2nd place with 221km (and an IAU Level 1 qualifier) at the IAU 24th Asian and Oceania Championships, 1st place at the Lakes Trail Festival 100km, 1st place with 67km at the Southern Sydney 6h race, and 1st place with 116km at the Narrabeen Allnighter 12h. Maree also competed at Spartathlon race this year (for which she contributed an article to the September Ultramag on her experience), receiving 42 points in the competition. 8th Place - Darren Linney (SA) - 41 points Finishing in 8th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is SA's Darren Linney . Darren completed 34 laps at No Time to Die BYU, 199km at the Adelaide 24h race, and 814km at the Australian 6 Day race, for a total of 1241km raced and 41 points . 9th Place - Tristan Cameron (WA) - 40 points Finishing in 9th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Tristan Cameron. Tristan completed the Ultra Series Triple Crown of 200 mile races (Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST), along with Feral Pig 100 miler, for a total of 1154km raced and 40 points. 10th Place - Jen Millum (WA) - 39 points Finishing in 10th place in the AUTRA 2024 Points Competition is WA's Jen Millum . Jen finished 1st at all three of the Ultra Series Trilogy of 100 milers (Delirious WEST, Irrational SOUTH and Unreasonable EAST), and was 2nd female with 35 laps at the Wild Dog Backyard Ultra. With a volunteer stint at the Yaberoo Trail Ultra, Jen finished the year with 39 points in the competition. To view the complete list of members who secured points in 2024 click here and then follow through to Points Summary under the 2024 tab. All winners have already been contacted, with cash prizes distributed for 1st - 7th places, and AUTRA Store vouchers sent for 8th, 9th & 10th.