Running Injury

you can get overuse injuries, such as ITBS, if you're not used to running longer distances.

you have to work up to those long runs, then recover properly, or you're going to get injured.

good luck.

The list is long I am sure.

 I can immediately think of stress fracture, muscle tear, back injury, deep stone bruise...

Well, there are aches and pains... and then there is an actual injury.

Aches and pains you can run through and eventually they will work themselves out over time.

Injuries will not work themselves out and cause you great pain.

I know my body pretty well these days I know what I can and can't train through. I know what an injury and what's just aches and pains.

I had an IT band injury that put me down for a month in 2007. In 2009 I was out for 6 weeks because of a stress fracture in my foot.

Otherwise, I've had some tightness and odd pain in my legs I've had to baby off and on for about 4 years.

Here's a list long enough to give any hypochondriac heart palpitations:

http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/sportsmedicine/a/runninginjury.htm

Ramping up - Just the process of adding more mileage. The biggest risk is adding too much too quickly, and not giving your body enough time to recover. All sorts of muscle strains/tears/inflammations can start cropping up, and they can take a lot of time to heal. That takes away from training time. And, if you are too sore from an overly hard workout (Compared to your fitness level) to do the next scheduled workout, then you aren't doing yourself any favors either.

Running base - Just like anything else, your "history" of running is your base. The analogy I used with my team was that every workout they did was a brick. The more bricks, the higher a pyramid you can build, so the higher your "peak" can be. So someone that does their summer workout is already starting with 40 more bricks towards their peak than someone who didn't.

As far as what types of injuries, the three biggies would be plantar fasciitis, ITBS and shin splits. All of these are overuse injuries that severely cut back on the workouts you can do, and they can be a right $#@!! to get rid of.

Twisted ankles etc, those can happen even if you're running 5 miles a month.

John

Yes, well...some people are just blessed with good body mechanics that really reduce the chances of these injuries.  But that doesn't give you the right to abuse your body.

PLUS...sometimes it can take months or years for an overuse injury to surface.  Best bet is to be careful with your training and hope that is enough to keep it from happening to you!