If you have been following me for a while, you know
that I just took a six-week break from running. Sometimes you
might take a break from necessity, and sometimes from choice, but you
will always have the same issue: how to get back into a running
program without injury. You might be interested to know how I am
doing it.
Last Monday, I started out by walking 10 minutes,
jogging 10 minutes and walking another 10 minutes. This gave me a
chance to warm up slowly, get back into the feeling of moving again
(!) and then cooling down. I did some gentle stretching exercises
(Achilles, quads and hamstrings) before my workout, and then did the
full five stretches and weights after my cooldown walk.
On Wednesday, I took another “easy run”.
This followed a similar pattern: warmup, jog, cooldown, stretch and
weights. This time, however, I walked 10, jogged 15 and walked 5
minutes.
On Friday, I again followed the stretch and weights
pattern, but walked 5, jogged 20 minutes and walked 5 minutes at the
end. Saturday I jogged 25 minutes and walked 5 (no weights at the
end) and I took Sunday off. I ran again Monday.
This time, I took my first “long
run”. It was not very long, but I am still staging my
return to running to avoid injuries. I jogged for 30 minutes
and walked 5 minutes at the end. I skipped the weights as I was
pressed for time.
I have four pairs of running shoes, so I
took advantage of this to use a different pair for each run. Today
(for my “long run”) I wore my New
Balance 763s, which I have found comfortable for all distances up
to 15 miles (the longest I have run in training).
The important thing for you to notice is that I am
easing back into training very slowly. You may have your own
procedure for getting back to running after a layoff – there
is no reason to suppose that what works for me will work for you!
But any successful procedure needs to take into account that the body
needs time to adjust back into training mode: it does not pay to rush
this process.
Happy running!
PS - Yes, the contest is still on! To be a winner register now!!!
A runner, undistinguished but persevering, I am more concerned with keeping fit and healthy than with setting records (even PRs).
So I plod on, enjoying the journey with not too much concern about the destination. But I must admit to getting excited when I run faster or longer than the previous time!
