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August 18, 2004
Seeking advice
Before this knee injury, I ran through everything. But now that I've been forced to take time off, I am facing a new situation: returning to running and rebuilding mileage. As I've written about before, I think I increased too much, too fast when coming back initially from this knee thing and set myself back. So now I'm seeking advice on the right way to do it. My PT and a fast but smart running friend of mine both recommended running every other day for awhile (3-4 weeks?) and interspersing running with walking for awhile. I'm interested in methods that worked for other people. Thanks!
Posted by becky at August 18, 2004 8:40 PM
Comments
I'm an expert in coming back from injuries, because I've done it so many times. I only know what works for me, though. And that is... there's no secret formula. Sometimes you can build back quickly, sometimes you can't. The most important thing is that if you're out running and you get a twinge, you promise yourself that you'll stop right away and walk home. I spent a lot of time running around a 3/4 of a mile dirt loop when I was coming back from one injury, so I wouldn't be far from home if something started hurting. I don't set mileage goals, I just do what I feel like I can handle. After my last injury, I built back up with the following weekly mileage totals: 5, 12, 17, 28, and from there I was able to increase quickly. If you ever get the sinking feeling that something you're doing might be setting you back, STOP! I think the advice you already got sounds good, but combine that with listening to your body. If it's a running day but you're not feeling great, don't run. If it's a non running day and you haven't hurt at all on any of your recent runs, you can probably increase the frequency.
That's my two cents, I hope it helps a little.
Posted by: Alison at August 18, 2004 9:09 PM
Hey Becky, So sorry to hear about your injury and associated problems. And that the problems continue. I've only had to recover from 1 major injury, which just happened this spring. The first thing that I would say is that I totally second Alison's thought that you really do have to promise yourself to stop when/if you feel something that is not right. If it hurts/feels wrong, there's a reason for it. Listen and react to your body (I understand that it's so much easier to say than do this).
I didn't do this and it came back to haunt me. I was injured during a race, and didn't go to a sports medicine doctor for 2 weeks. I thought that it was no big deal and that my injury would heal on its own. During those 2 weeks, I ran something like 25 miles a week, really painfully and right through an injury I knew nothing about. So stupid. When I finally got in to the doctor, he told me I was lucky that I hadn't made my injury worse. And that by running on it, I was just prolonging the injury's duration.
After the doctor's appointment, I spent 2 full weeks with no running. Not a single mile. During those weeks, I biked every day (the same length of time I was used to running) because it was aerobic and the doc said it would allow the ligament I'd torn to heal without the pounding of running. The doctor said to bike hills and to stand up on the pedals on the hills because this mimics the running motion. (He also said I could use the elliptical in the same way, but I didn't have access to one) I also walked, but no set times/distances.
Then on the 3rd week, I integrated running with the walking, knowing that if I felt any twinges, I had to stop. For 3 days, I walked 5 miles each day and interspersed 5 minutes of running 3 times over the course of the walking. I also contiunued biking.
Wouldn't you know it, but the twinges came on the 3rd day. So, no more running for another week, per the doctor. At that point I was frustrated as all getout, and so I got 5 days straight of electrical steroid zappage (which the doctor had recommended earlier, but I had refused). During those 5 days, I walked only (5 miles a day). After those 5 days, I returned to interspersing the 5 minutes of running with the walking. Made it through 1 week, then 2 weeks, of this with no pain.
Since this was about 10 miles a week of actual running, the doc said try 15 miles, but keep walking too. I ran a 2 days on, 1 day off schedule. Then after 15 miles, it was several weeks in the 20 mpw range, also 2 days on/1 day off. Then (I usually don't follow the 10% rule), I increased 10% each week until I got to 40 mpw and called myself normal. And, then I did 6 days/week for a few months. Only about 4 weeks ago did I return to 7 days/week running (and my injury was in February!).
There were many moments when I thought that the whole process sucked, that I hated it. I felt so out of shape and pokey. I hated seeing my running friends go off running. I hated missing out on running in the springtime. The only thing that kept me going was keeping the long-term in focus.
Remembering that what you do/don't do on a particular day can affect the future of your running. Good luck and please keep us posted!
Posted by: Meghan at August 18, 2004 9:39 PM
Thank you SO much for these helpful suggestions. I know I need to listen to my body, and I know you both know how hard it is! I also made an appointment with a sports chiro around here who does ART, since that worked for me before. I of course will keep you posted!
Posted by: becky at August 18, 2004 10:38 PM
Depending on how long it's been... the best advice I've ever had is to start up like you've never run before. Haul out some beginners' run/walk program and follow it up to 20 mpw or so; by then you'll have a handle on how well you're recovering (or not).
Posted by: pjm at August 19, 2004 9:23 AM
Becky ... I like having a plan, so when I was coming back from my stress fracture last year I was so happy to find this:
http://www.runningtimes.com/issues/99nov/comeback.htm
It worked well for me. Good luck.
Posted by: jenandmats at August 20, 2004 10:16 AM