Getting Back in Shape After Injury

Getting Back in Shape After Injury

Some helpful hints to get you back in shape and stay healthy and motivated:

Start off short and easy, do not resume where you left off with your previous training program. For example, if you were previously running 6 days per week and 40 miles per week, start back by running 4 days per week and around 15 miles per week. Then if you feel good after that week, consider increasing to 18 miles per week. Continue slowly adding both more runs per week, weekly mileage and training intensity as your body adapts to the current load of training and to you eventually reach the level you left off with your previous training program.

Increase your running volume slowly, approximately 5-15% per week or every other week. For example, run 15 miles per week for two weeks, and if you feel good after those two weeks, try running 18 miles per week for two weeks, and then assess how you handled the increase. If you are seeing signs of overfatigue or injury, cut back, if not try and stay at that level of training or increase a little more.

Avoid doing speedwork until you have established a solid base of easy aerobic running. You need a solid base of easy aerobic running to handle the stress of speedwork (i.e. intervals, tempos, etc.). I would say a minimum of six weeks of consistent easy aerobic running before incorporating any speedwork into your schedule. Once you have established a solid aerobic base, begin incorporating 1 speedwork session per week. If after several weeks you are feeling strong with 1 speedwork session per week, then consider adding another speedwork session into your program, but allow for adequate time for recovery between speedwork sessions (i.e. 2 days).

Work out between 4-5 days per week if possible to start, the added benefits of running 6-7 days per week are marginally smaller. After several weeks of consistently running 4-5 days per week, consider adding another day or two to your program. If you are coming off a long layoff or are a beginner, then begin with only 2-3 runs per week.

Develop a training plan and program that is tailored to your goals, ability, motivation, and experience. Figure out what you need to do in your training to reach your goals, but considering your past experiences, ability, and motivation.. Going out for a 20-miler one day because one of your friends is going to may not be the best thing for you if you have only been running 15 miles per week. Adjusting your schedule so that you can run with a running partner is fine, but do such within reason and not everyday. Training with someone who is 5 minutes faster then you in a 10k race may be okay for a day or two, but trying to hold onto their faster training pace day after day will eventually just serve to make you worse.

Listen to your body and be flexible. Training plans are important to have, but inflexible training programs can lead to injury. If your schedule calls for you to increase your mileage 5 miles this upcoming week and your shin is hurting already from the current volume of training, a increase in training load is not a wise decision. Consider taking off a day or two to give your body the extra rest it is telling you that it needs.

When returning to running after a layoff, be sure to include supplemental forms of training such as strength training and stretching. Including some total body strength training into your training program will give your body the strength and stability to handle the stresses running daily. When you run, you use your whole body not just your legs, so it is important to strengthen not only the leg muscles but also the upper body muscles. One of the most important parts of the body to strengthen is your trunk (abdominals, lower back, gluteals, psoas, etc) which holds you upright and in the correct running posture. Including stretching into your daily training program will help keep you injury free and improve running performance due to increased flexibility and range of motion.

Lastly, train hard but smart, and have fun. In order to become a better runner, you need to practice running. So the more you are able to train, the better you will get. But the key is the word ‘able’, not everyone can run 50 miles per week, so the key is to find out what works best for you. Some people will do best by running 6 days per week and 40 miles per week, while others may do better running 4 days per week and 25 miles per week because they always get injured when they try and run more then 5 days and 35 miles per week. It is always better to be a healthy runner who trained at 90% then a injured runner who trained at 105%. If something hurts, take a few days off, in the long run those few days may actually translate more total running days if you avoid a major injury that sets you back 6-10 weeks.