As a chiropractor that specializes in sports medicine, the first thing that comes up with new runners in my mind is injuries. The best way to prevent getting injured while picking up running is to train smart. No amount of foam rolling or strength training can prevent you from getting injured if your training plan throws too much volume or intensity at your body too soon. You need to help your body get the greatest benefit from the least amount of stress.

In order to train smart, you should look to progress your weekly running time slowly and spread it out throughout the week. If you're running 3x a week, try to space it out on a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule rather than running three days in a row. It's also important to space out the time on your feet between these three days and not have one run be exponentially larger than the other two.

Run the same mileage for 3-4 weeks to make sure your body is handling it and adapting well without injury before adding more. For example, if you're running 10 miles a week, make sure your body feels great doing that for 3 weeks before jumping to 15miles a week. If a week of increased mileage causes any pain besides normal soreness, give yourself a week of lower mileage again before increasing again. Don’t think of it as a set back, it is actually just helping you to create a nice stable foundation to build off of!

Lastly, make sure you're changing up your routes and having fun! Stop and smell the roses, literally, whenever you feel like doing so. If you're not enjoying yourself, your body is likely receiving that same message and may also be more prone to injury. So if running starts to feel stressful instead of fun, pick a beautiful destination to run in weekly to make it more exciting!