Return to fitness after injury

Hi all,

Just wanted to get some feedback/ideas on returning to fitness after injury. There obvioulsy more than one way to skin a cat but i wondering if theres..... a right/wrong or bad/better way to do things.

I'll give a quick run down of the situaton......

Ive been running for 15+ years and as of late have really been struggling to get a consistant batch of training. Injuries are mainly feet/ankles and a bit knees so i did start mixing it up with multiple terrain as i think the roads were starting to take there toll.

Was running well through november and managed to stick some good training around the xmas/new year period which had me coming out into January pretty much ready to race. 3 weeks in i tweaked my foot whilst running in the snow. Took 1 week off, tried it bit it was a litle niggley so decided to take another 2 just to make sure it was well n truly gone. Started retraining but my foot didnt feel right, i thought it maybe just needed using, loosening off but it only really got worse and after last sundays run i decided i'm going to take a break ( 6 weeks ) and hopefully start again injury free.

Now usually i'll build up mileage and keep the speed right down till i get fitter but i'm wondering if i should maybe curb the mileage a touch and get some faster stuff in there at an earlier date? The mileage is only around 75 through winter and usually 55-60 the rest of the year so it shouldn't be doing me any harm but...... i'm starting to think it might.

Sorry for the long windedness but any suggestions/ideas or even questions if ive left something out.

CheeRS

At what point did you last have a 3 month stretch of training when you were uninjured?

What was your mileage during this period?

What % of your mileage was run at MP or quicker during this period?

What is the actual injury diagnosis?

How much non-running training do you do in an effort to prevent injury?

Did the greater mileage result in better race times?

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As you said you essentially you have two choices:

-  Build up to mileage and intro quality

-  Build up to a preset % of mileage and then add in quality. 

I'd be tempted to do the latter but make up the remaining duration (old mileage minus new mileage) with no-impact cross training.  If you handle all that fine and your race times improve you have found your mileage sweet spot.  If results dictate you need to increase mileage then slowly

Hi Moraghan,

Last 3 months of un-injured training would have been Oct, Nov, Dec 2009.

At the time avgerage weekly mileage was around 65-70. I trained in 4 week blocks then had an easy week where i basicly just halfed my mileage. This was the first time i had bumped up my mileage though, it kinda just came along with the increased frequency.

% at MP or higher........ not sure on MP, i done 6400m's worth on track and 4 mile tempo or 4 mile worth of hills per week so 8 mile ish of "speedwork" in total per week. The rest of my week was easy's and steadys and ofcourse a long one on sunday.

Injury, its tendons on the underside of my foot, pretty much dead centre forefoot area. Initially thought it was just bruising but now i think it may have been a bit more but ive not had this confirmed.

Non running training, yeah i know i could/should do more in this area. Currently do circuit training split into 3 times per week after which a lower limb stretch regime. Hit the bike 5-6 times a week as i feel this helps my knees, nothing strenuous just moving them in a different range without the impact.

Did the mileage help race times, well thats the BIG question. I picked up this injury 2 weeks prior to a 10k i had marked as a tester. I would have to say yes it would/did as i could tell in training that was in decent shape, however with a slightly modified schedule i think knowing what i know now i might be able to get into the same kind of shape of a 50-55 week shed.