Getting ready for a run? You have mapped it out, taken time to decide what you want the intensity of the run to be, speed work or trail running. Let’s not forget about your running gear, shoes, sunscreen, the correct socks, and temperature agreeable clothing. The question is, have you taken the time to listen to what your body is telling you TODAY? As runners we tend to plan all the external factors that relate to your run however, getting in the habit of evaluating the internal factors that may affect your run is critical for injury prevention and continued running performance.
Getting mentally prepared for a run is an important factor however, getting in touch with our physical body is critical. A great place to start as you prepare for a run is to ask yourself, “On a scale of 1-10 how to I physically feel today?” This should be a guide as to your intensity at the start of the run. This may and most times does change as you move through the workout. One fact is true. We cannot bully our bodies into performing on a long-term basis. Eventually, this will lead to injury, overuse, and decreased performance. The human body is a super intelligent machine. It really knows what it needs or is lacking. When working with runners I like to guide them to listen to the whispers of their body and not wait for the screams. Whispers are the early milder sore, stiff, or inflamed regions of the body. Training through this without some modification will only escalate the condition and lead to time missed from running due to recovery.
One way to get the run in and still honor what your body is telling you is to have several pair of running shoes to accommodate to the different types of recurrent issues you may experience. For example. On a day that your Achilles or calf muscles are sore, help the region out by grabbing a pair of higher profile running shoes. This is a shoe that the sole is higher in the heel region than the forefoot. This will unload the region and allow for training without the impact to the region that you may normally get in a low-profile shoe. If you are having some mid-foot pain or inflammation, consider a shoe with a wider toe-box or a more shock absorbent soled shoe. Again, this will offload the area a bit. Important to say that this is not fixing the condition but, allowing you to train while giving the region a break if the condition is mild.
Another great example is using the rocker mechanism of the shoe to roll the foot through the stance phase of gait. Some shoe brands favor this type of sole for this very reason. This will unload multiple regions of the foot and ankle and is a winner for the day that your ankles or feet feel stiff, or you are feeling some knee pain and soreness.
Additionally, it is important to understand that we are not perfectly symmetrical. Most of us have a side that we tend to put more weight on in the weight acceptance phase of each step of our run. Most of us also have a dominant side that we stride longer on or have a lower arch than the other side. This leads to what I call the kinetic chain effect. Take a pic of the bottom of your feet while laying face down. You may be surprised at the differences you see from the right to the left. As you can see in this picture, the athlete is clearly putting more weight on the left side during each stride. Looking at the athlete this way, we can gather information on the use patterns of each stride. 
In this athlete, we uncovered an occult right hip problem. Being able to read the use patterns of your feet can really dig into why you may be having chronic pain or recurrent injuries. However, it is just a small piece of a larger exam that assists in getting the details of how and why we use our bodies.
So, filling your shoe closet up with a variety of shoes that are right for your feet for TODAY, is one step on the road to listening to the whispers of your body, and help avoid the big hurdles of larger scale injuries. Take some time to reflect on how you are feeing before you train on a 1-10 scale (10 is you feel fantastic) and contemplate starting your training to align with that number. This number most times changes as we begin to workout. Continue to accommodate to that new number (good or bad) during your training is a key in injury prevention. This will give you the opportunity to intrinsically evaluate how you are feeling, make the appropriate adjustments, keep training, and enhance performance.