Advice needed on starting again after a brief break....

[SadieMac81]

Hi 🙂 I recently finished the plan, and loved it. Before starting I walked loads but didn’t do any other exercise, so wanted to improve my fitness. After finishing I did a few more runs managing to do 5k within 30 minutes. Then one run triggered a bout of horrendous heartburn, nearly making me sick and leaving me feeling unwell for about 2 weeks and nervous about running again . Monday will be 3 weeks since that happened and I’ve not run since. I’m desperate to start running again but not sure how to go about it. Should I go out and do 30 minutes, taking it slow? Or should a go back to earlier weeks in the plan? I’m hugely grateful for any advice anyone has. Thanks 🙂

[wyersmith Graduate]

I read a post recently by iannodatruffe saying that you shouldn’t lose much if any of your new ‘runner conditioning’ with only a 2-3 week lay off. (I’m sure he’ll correct me if I’m wrong). So why not just go for a run. Plan it to last about 30 mins and see how you get on? What’s to lose?

[SadieMac81 in reply to wyersmith]

That’s great, I was worried it would set me back by weeks. Think that sounds like the best plan. Thanks.

[davelinks Graduate]

Head out on a run and see how you feel, then go for 30mins but you don't have to try and reach 5k, you should be fine with regards to performance.

Having a mint or Rennie's before running can help, if you get bad heartburn often there's a very good medication available from the GP...

[SadieMac81 in reply to davelinks]

I think that’s it, I don’t need to stress about the distance, just get back out and get the 30 minutes done. Thank you.

[O505k Graduate]

If you like the support and structure of the app or podcasts I'd suggest you pick a run and re do it. Try W5R3 - it's a 20 min run. If that goes well W6R3 - I think that is 23 min run. Then weeks 7, 8 and 9. I've done this before as I like having a specific target for each run. Take it nice and steady.

[SadieMac81 in reply to O505k]

I love the podcasts, don’t know what I’d do without Michael 😂 thanks for the advice.

[Elfe5 Graduate]

Go out, run gently and listen to your body - it will tell you what is comfortable. 😃

I find Gaviscon very good for heartburn, but if it happens again I would check with your GP. 😃

[SadieMac81 in reply to Elfe5]

I think that’s where I went wrong last time, started to feel awful but didn’t want to stop or reduce my pace and made myself feel worse. If I’d listened to my body then I’d probably not have ended up in this situation! Thank you.

[SadieMac81]

Thanks everyone! Think you’re all right, I just need to get back out there and see how it goes and stop worrying about it! Gaviscon is my best friend! It’s a longstanding problem but I could put up with it till it interfered with my new hobby! 😃

[davelinks Graduate]

Don't let the heart burn go on, especially if getting reflux, which is horrible when it wakes you up at night, GP can prescribe a good medication to stop it completely.. as it has for me..

[SadieMac81 in reply to davelinks]

I’ve been putting up with it for years, but won’t now if it’s going to interfere with this. I’ve been to the GP and been referred. Thanks for the advice.