But as they say, the greater the risk the greater the reward / satisfaction in successful completion and walking away. Which means that, in effect, these extreme sports purists are perhaps the greatest risk managers going around, having a fine understanding of their own capabilities and weighing up the risk-reward equation in their favour. Most of the time, at least...
It would seem a bit rich and almost disrespectful to also call runners extreme sports people. After all, running is mostly done in fairly benign circumstances on tracks, roads, paths, etc, devoid of any real obstacles to threaten the beautiful rhythm of a joyful run. It certainly seems a long way off the definition of risk as "A factor, thing, element, or course involving uncertain danger; a hazard." or "The possibility of suffering harm or loss; danger."
However, when running the risk of injury is ever present, which increases in direct proportion to the amount of running you actually do...notwithstanding the resilience and durability you develop in actually running a lot. It's the very nature of running that makes it risky - the weight bearing, pounding effect and impact of each step. The cumulative effect of the pounding and fatigue wear you down and expose numerous points of weakness to overload...thus injury.
The easiest way to avoid overloading your body and wearing it down is to keep on the doing the same thing. Maintain the status quo, so your body becomes familiar and accustomed to the routine and workload. Injury usually occurs when you do something different, that your body is not used to. So if you don't change anything you'll run a lower risk of injury.
The problem with the status quo is that you won't improve. Performance improvement comes about through increased fitness and capability, something you train for by stressing your body sufficiently (and then recovering) so it adapts to a higher level than before. By doing this over and over, and varying the stress you put your body under, you achieve long-term gains. And there lies the challenge - how much increase in stress / workload can you absorb before your body can't cope and breaks down...telling you about it in the shape of an injury.
It's a fine line between balancing the risk of doing enough to improve, and too much that you're not coping. Each person has an individual threshold and limit to what they can handle, and the tell-tales signs of overload can often be disguised as fatigue. The workload you can handle also varies from week-to-week depending on other stresses in your life like family, work, etc.
An experienced athlete knows how to tune into what their body is telling them...and it's the same experienced athlete who actually responds to what their body in telling by managing the contributing components of stress (physical, psychological, emotional, etc) to keep the overall level of stress within a manageable range. They take action based on the signals they're listening to/for...inexperienced athletes ignore the same signals, and continue head-long into greater problems.
So when you train, and especially when you run, remain mindful and vigilant of the risk you're putting your body at, and cumulative level of stress your body is feeling. When the risk-reward equation is in your favour the satisfaction of keeping on top of things is greater fitness, performance and results. But if it gets out of balance then, just like extreme sports folks, the crash and burn can be both spectacular and painful. Be your own risk manager.
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