January is famously a time when we set out on new fitness journeys, whether that’s joining a gym for the first time, signing up for a new sport or, for many of us, starting to run. But the issue with starting a new running habit is that there can be a tendency to overdo things – and that can cause injury. It’s something I know all too well.

I’ve been running for over two years now, and I’ve picked up my fair share of injuries along the way. I’d love to say that I’m just unlucky, but the majority of the time, it has been entirely my own fault. For example: the time when I didn’t complete my plan for the first eight weeks of a half-marathon training but went hell-for-leather on the last few. While the race itself went surprisingly smoothly, it reignited an old achilles tendonitis injury. When I tried to start training for another half a month later, I made the injury worse (unsurprisingly, I had to back out of this race and take a couple of months to fully recover).

Perhaps the biggest hurdle I’ve faced is overtraining. In the past, my approach to running has been very all or nothing: one moment I’m skipping workouts and running the occasional 3k round the block, and the next I’m attacking my training plan at full force. It’s hardly surprising that I found myself injured.

But how can you make progress in your fitness journey while not overtraining? Here, Ania Gabb, Asics Frontrunner and running coach, explains how.

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