out of shape... (Read 1056 times)

I am coming back from injury and I am now really out of shape. For the whole time I wasn't running, I was on a stationary bike and lifting weights, so I didn't think that I would be that out of shape when I returned to running. After running for a week and a half, I still feel very out of shape. How long will it take until my running is the same as it was before my injury?

What was your injury --- this could be important to the answer??

It was a hip injury (they don't know what it was, but they think it was ITBS) and I was out for about 1 1/2 months (1 month I was on the bike and rested two weeks). Before the injury, I was running 30-40 miles in the fall into the winter (cross country into track) and 20-30 miles in the winter and into the beginning of spring (track), and I was running 6 days a week during both seasons.

It was a hip injury (they don't know what it was, but they think it was ITBS) and I was out for about 1 1/2 months ...

Who are the "they" you refer to here? Did you get referred to a good physiotherapist who works with athletes and runners? Just asking because I had a disabling hip problem not quite 3 years ago... and thought maybe it was arthritis or ???. It turned out to be the "Tensor Fascia Lata" muscle at the top end of the IT band, and it was diagnosed in under 5 minutes by a really great physiotherapist who worked with athletes. There are lots of very specific stretches and strengthening exercises used to treat this sort of thing.

The fact that you where lifting and on a stationary, during your running hiatus, is definitely much better than not being active at all. Your cardio is probably still in great shape. The lifting if it was done correctly probably made well balanced in terms of strength. Running however uses different muscle groups, in different ways, that work together differently then lifting or cycling. So here is where you need to make up the ground and why you feel sluggish. The beauty is that as long as it took you to build up to that level of conditioning before, your body can somehow remember the kind of shape it was in, and should bounce back quickly; as long as you do it carefully.