I am beginning to get a sense that returning well from minor injuries or illness is a skill (and a discipline) that is very useful to learn as a runner. It will happen hopefully not too many more times, but it IS likely to happen in my hopefully long running future. So returning well and mentally strong is important, right?
I’ve been fairly fortunate to not have had many injuries in my 3 years of running. And most were probably related to weaknesses in my body as I grew stronger in other parts of my body. It is a constant process of balancing the strength and flexibility of various parts, as my exercise activities take me further and deeper into my own, very personal fitness journey.
In the past three years I had in the average one stint on the injury couch per year. These were due to
- Minor knee niggles during my post C25k consolidation period, addressed by some targeted strengthening ( see healthunlocked.com/strength... )
- A rather longer metatarsal issue during my 10k consolidation period, addressed mainly by retraining to use zero-drop, wide toe-box shoes (see healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... )
- A recent stint on the IC due to Covid illness, from which I likely came back to running too fast, leading to the below listed calf muscle-strain. See my detective work on this one healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...
- and thus currently I’m coming back from a pulled calf muscle
During my time on the injury couch, I made sure I used it wisely.
WEEK 1 was taken up by resting, icing and only upper body dumbbell workouts (by MVMT with Cailin healthunlocked.com/strength... ) . By the end of this week, I could slowly walk without any pain.
WEEK 2 I started gentle indoor rowing and daily yoga ( YWA healthunlocked.com/strength... ). I could still feel the area of pain, especially when calf stretching (gently).
WEEK 3 I continued to indoor row, continued daily (almost) yoga - added calf/leg strengthening routines ( James Dunne healthunlocked.com/strength... )
WEEK 4 so I am about to head into the fourth week, and I’ve programmed my Runkeeper custom interval runs to provide me with the jeffing walk-run-walk session. Jeffing will give me the sense of continuing (rather than starting anew) and also exploring something new for future longer runs, as I’ve not seriously jeffed since the C25k program itself. So my first run of this will be either Sat or Sunday. The plan is taken from the James Dunne Return from Injury Plan (link kinetic-revolution.com/retu... )
So I think I’ll be following this beginning this weekend.
★ Week 1: 3 sessions of: (Run 1min : Walk 1min) x 10
★ Week 2: 3 sessions of: (Run 1min 30sec : Walk 30sec) x 8
★ Week 3: 3 sessions of: (Run 2min : Walk 30sec) x 8
★ Week 4: 3 sessions of: (Run 3min : Walk 1min) x 8
★ Week 5: 3 sessions of: (Run 4min : Walk 1min) x 8
★ Week 6: 3 sessions of: (Run 5min : Walk 1min) x 6
★ Week 7: 3 sessions of: (Run 10min : Walk 1min) x 3
★ Week 8: 3 sessions of: (Run 15min : Walk 1min) x 2
★ Week 9: 3 sessions of: Run 20min non-stop
★ Week 10: 3 sessions of: Run 25min non-stop
★ Week 11: 3 sessions of: Run 30min non-stop
★ Week 12: 3 sessions of: Run 35min non-stop
JD IMPORTANT RULES TO FOLLOW
1) All running to be completed at an easy pace.
2) No speed work until you complete this ‘return to running’ phase!
3) Don’t run on consecutive days – give your body time to recover.
4) Make sure you focus on form throughout each run, especially as the durations increase.
5) During each run, stop at the first sign of any discomfort.
6) CBDB’s additional rule: Run at least 3 times a week. If you do not manage 3 times per week, repeat the week.
7) CBDB’s additional rule: Stretch after every run and row
8) CBDB’s additional rule: Cross Train per Week at least 3 sessions of gentle yoga and at least 3 sessions of gentle rowing (or targeted workouts)
Although I played with the idea of downloading specifically the Jeff Galloway app, I’ve decided just to use the Runkeeper app I’m already using. So I’ve programmed these into Runkeeper.
Wishing myself and everyone else sunny winter days, mental strength, great routes and happy runs!
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THE WHOLE SERIES:
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How to return from a calf strain well?
- Part 1 healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...
- Part 2 healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...
- Part 3 healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...
- Part 4 healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...
- Part 5 Mulling over this year’s running stats healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...
- Part 6 Ice Breaks healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...
- Part 7 Reaching my fairy house on Christmas healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...
- Part 8 running with a cold and … speaking of walking … healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...
- Part 9 Familiar routes and new habits healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...
- Part 10 By now, who’s counting? healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...
- Part 11 I’ll call it a finish! healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...
