Returning from injury

poconnor16

hi all,

first off - I am not looking for any medical advice on my injury.

To generalise, I've hurt my back enough to be out of running for a month. (physio's orders!). This week, I cannot do any exercise whatsoever, but from next week on I might be able to do some gentle cycling.

My question is, once I get the green light from my physio, how do I get back to where I was? Prior to injury, I was doing a half marathon training plan for the first time, and had reached the 20 mile a week mark, so I'm a beginner. (long slow run was 8 miles, have never gone further).

Are there any plans out there for those recovering from injury? I know a month off will kill my fitness, so I'm expecting that. BUt I dont want to go mad either and hurt myself again.

Any advice (without breach of charter) would be much appreciated.

Sklarker

I feel your pain...literally!! I've been about 5 weeks outa action with a back injury (I had been running 10km races) and I've been given the thumbs up by my physio to start back gentle running in a week or so. My plan is easy walking, gradually increasing distance and pace, and then some very easy beach runs over a couple of weeks before I'd consider going for a 'real' run.

poconnor16 wrote: »

hi all,

first off - I am not looking for any medical advice on my injury.

To generalise, I've hurt my back enough to be out of running for a month. (physio's orders!). This week, I cannot do any exercise whatsoever, but from next week on I might be able to do some gentle cycling.

My question is, once I get the green light from my physio, how do I get back to where I was? Prior to injury, I was doing a half marathon training plan for the first time, and had reached the 20 mile a week mark, so I'm a beginner. (long slow run was 8 miles, have never gone further).

Are there any plans out there for those recovering from injury? I know a month off will kill my fitness, so I'm expecting that. BUt I dont want to go mad either and hurt myself again.

Any advice (without breach of charter) would be much appreciated.

shazkea

Not to be smart but best advice I can give you is to ask your Physio! If your physio is a runner themselves, (s)he can give you some good advice and a schedule to return to your previous fitness level. They know your injury history best and therefore what to watch out for.
Best of luck with it and take it easy on returning (not that I ever listen to my own advice!)

poconnor16

shazkea wrote: »

Not to be smart but best advice I can give you is to ask your Physio! If your physio is a runner themselves, (s)he can give you some good advice and a schedule to return to your previous fitness level. They know your injury history best and therefore what to watch out for.
Best of luck with it and take it easy on returning (not that I ever listen to my own advice!)

Thanks - she's great for giving advice for the next month, but as to how to get back into actual running I dont think she will know much. She's only started running herself in recent months (I met her this way) and has just completed her first 4 miles.

'Take it easy' - yeah, defo....but as you seem to know already that will be so hard!:)

dna_leri

poconnor16 wrote: »

hi all,

first off - I am not looking for any medical advice on my injury.

To generalise, I've hurt my back enough to be out of running for a month. (physio's orders!). This week, I cannot do any exercise whatsoever, but from next week on I might be able to do some gentle cycling.

My question is, once I get the green light from my physio, how do I get back to where I was? Prior to injury, I was doing a half marathon training plan for the first time, and had reached the 20 mile a week mark, so I'm a beginner. (long slow run was 8 miles, have never gone further).

Are there any plans out there for those recovering from injury? I know a month off will kill my fitness, so I'm expecting that. BUt I dont want to go mad either and hurt myself again.

Any advice (without breach of charter) would be much appreciated.

A month off is nothing. I had a 5 month break last year (Mar to August) with knee injury, best I did during that time was 3K easy run. This year I have had 3 races and 3 PBs (5K & 10K). There are plenty of others who have had worse.

I started back with a 3K walk, then 3K easy run, then 2 x 4K the next week, then a 4K & a 5K, etc, etc building up slowly as I went along. You need to figure out your own progression yourself and be prepared to step back when it does not work out.

Set a long term goal e.g. half marathon by this time next year and a shorter term one, maybe a 10K in X months. If you do it right you will come back stronger.

No one can tell you what will work for you, so you need to figure it out yourself, slowly.

shazkea

poconnor16 wrote: »

Thanks - she's great for giving advice for the next month, but as to how to get back into actual running I dont think she will know much. She's only started running herself in recent months (I met her this way) and has just completed her first 4 miles.

'Take it easy' - yeah, defo....but as you seem to know already that will be so hard!:)

Fair enough. Pete Pfitzinger has a plan for returning after injury which I plan on using myself.

http://pfitzinger.com/labreports/stressfracture.shtml

As the previous poster mentioned and P Pfitz mentions, every runner is different so you may need to tweak it to suit your circumstances

Cartman78

You could use the time off to work on other bits and bobs of your fitness that are normally overlooked if you're rigidly following a plan or focusing solely on mileage.

Depending on what exact injury you have you could possibly do some lunges, squats etc. to improve strength in your legs, and you could also probably look at doing some core work. I would recommend trying Pilates too, I haven't had a running related injury since i started doing it.

Swimming will keep your cardio fitness up as well

token56

I know the feeling about not wanting to loose your fitness but trust me its worth not having to be out longer. I used to hate getting injuries and would try rush myself back to keep up as much of my fitness as I could but its not worth it. As a result I never listened to my body it all accumulated and now out of the past 3 years I've managed maybe 5 months running and I'm still not back so I'd echo the taking it easy approach even if it means it takes a bit longer to get your full fitness back. When you get back fit you'll have all the time in the world to run, I know it might seem like ages away but it can always be a lot worse.

Also do you know exactly how you injured your back? Was it from running etc? Just wondering in case there is an underlying problem that you could be working on while you are out, like your core etc, its something to probably ask your physio.

I'd advise when you are getting back just listen to your body, if something is hurting again just ease back on the activities but take it slow in any case. I'd say focus on easy run for the first week or two and leave any fast runs until you see how your back reacts.

Best of luck with the injury.

Sklarker

Sklarker wrote: »

I feel your pain...literally!! I've been about 5 weeks outa action with a back injury (I had been running 10km races) and I've been given the thumbs up by my physio to start back gentle running in a week or so. My plan is easy walking, gradually increasing distance and pace, and then some very easy beach runs over a couple of weeks before I'd consider going for a 'real' run.

Managed to do 6x400m at 8/9 min mile pace with walking in between 6 weeks after injury. Amazing how good such a lame running session feels after you've experienced not being able to walk for several days

poconnor16

Sklarker wrote: »

Managed to do 6x400m at 8/9 min mile pace with walking in between 6 weeks after injury. Amazing how good such a lame running session feels after you've experienced not being able to walk for several days

Ah class, well done! I'm still sitting on my ass so that sounds like heaven to me! I'm looking forward to my first 2 mile jog at this stage.