Matt Fitzgerald —a guy who’s been training for 43 years and written 36 books —reminds us that endurance problems are messy, unclear, and rarely have a single solution.
.
Which is why the first—and perhaps most surprising—thing you actually need when you’re dealing with a running-related injury isn’t a magic stretch or new shoe… it’s Self-Compassion.
.
That’s not what the internet will tell you. Scroll through social media and you’ll be served up endless simplistic fixes: “Just strengthen your glutes ,” “Buy this shoe ,” “Do this magic stretch.” It’s neat, it’s catchy, and it’s… mostly nonsense.
.
Training problems are rarely that clean. They’re messy, complicated, and don’t come with a user manual. And honestly? That’s refreshing to hear in a world obsessed with oversimplification.
.
Your body is not broken. It’s full of wisdom, built over hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. Every signal—every ache, every niggle, every flat day—is feedback. Not something to fight, but something to listen to.
.
Instead of forcing a fix, sometimes the most therapeutic thing you can do is simply sit with and fully embrace all of the uncertainty and complexity.
.
Endurance training is not about finding the fix. It’s about being open, curious, and creative enough to keep figuring it out. That’s true whether you’ve been running for 40 years or you’re just starting out.
.
Maybe that’s the real lesson: we’re not following a perfect plan. We’re always in the process of learning how to train—one imperfect, human step at a time.