Strict WTF adherent
Since we have a whole forum at our disposal instead of a single thread, I figure weeklies are the way to go. Anyone can start them from here on out. I'm not about to play TD.
Question for the group: When coming back from a layoff of about two months, do you think it's necessary to increase mileage gradually as if you were starting from scratch? Or is it okay to be more aggressive (within reason). Yes, I listen to my body. But it only speaks gibberish.
Recovery Phenom
I think it depends on the injury and reason for layoff. I had a 12-week layoff with mono, and my mileage increase was pretty aggressive. But if you have something like a stress fracture, you'd probably want to be more careful.
Looking back on my log, here was my mono comeback. No speedwork for the first five weeks, and then gradually introduced it.
26.2 x 31 (3:15:34 PR)
13.1 x 35 (1:30:58 PR)
Author of the book Boston Bound
Resident Millennial
I posed a training question yesterday on RW, but then I apparently shut the site down, so I didn't get answers and I want to hijack here Copy-pasted...
ckeen used the term "dumpster fire", and i'm going to apply it to the last week+. we got back from vaca on 9/14 and after that it was Time To Get To Work. i did a very meh long run (14.5mi on 9/16), then i started to feel a cold coming on, then i did a track workout that was surprisingly decent (9/19), then the cold became full blown, then i tried to do a long run on 9/22 and quit after 6 miserable miles during which i could move no faster than 9:15min/mi, then we went camping this past weekend. so mileage remains abysmal, i still have slight vestiges of sickness, and i suddenly feel behind schedule for CIM. meh.so question: we have 5x2000m on tap for tuesday evening. would it be dumb of me to run a very easy 6mi before practice? the workout will add up to ~10mi, and that would give me the long run distance i missed this past weekend. i would plan to run the track intervals with a slower group than usual, to account for being more tired. i feel like my endurance/volume are nowhere near where they should be right now, and this might be a good way to make up for this past weekend's lack of long run.
mcB: agree with eliz, it depends on the reason for the layoff. if it's an injury or prolonged sickness, i would be more careful. but if it was just Life and Not Feeling Like Running, an accelerated comeback would be fine. you were not running at all, right? I'd start with a few days a week of no more than an hour running (and yeah it'll be slower), maybe fill in one of those off days with XT if you want to accelerate the aerobic comeback without overloading the impact on your body. definitely give it a good month of slowish and shortish distances before getting back to "normal" volume. and the foam rolling and prehab stuff would be good. as for the first bit of intensity, i usually do a few runs (alternating) w/ strides at the end, and then the first "workout" something like 5x(1min on/1min off). it's good to stay away from prescribed paces or track while you are slower than you're used to.
_________________________________________________mile, 5:26 /5k, 19:34 /10k, 41:00 /13.1, 1:31:49 /26.2, 3:12:58
McB: I think as with most things, the question of how quickly to build the mileage back up is a big YMMV. For me, the first half of this year has been mostly 0-10 mile weeks (most of them actual zeros). I had a quick burst of 3 weeks at 20/30/15 miles back in May (I think travel / having time was involved), then fell back down to zero. I picked things up more seriously starting July, with 3 weeks around 15 mpw, then 2 weeks at 35 mpw, and since then I've been 50 - 60 mpw. So that was a pretty quick build up, though it was pretty much exclusively easy miles (and rather slow miles at that.) My body seems rather resilient in terms of adding mileage, that is, other than some tight calves for a couple of days, I haven't really had any running related injuries (yet...). I think others need to be quite a bit more careful, unfortunately.
Mother of Cats
Mileage build-up - it's OK to be more aggressive in total mileage when coming back then when starting anew. I do like running every other day when coming back - it gives the body a bit more time to get reaccustomed to the pounding. For example, I think 6 every other day is better than 3 every day.
RLK - I would NOT add a 6 mile warm-up to that workout, no matter how slowly you run it. One of the big rules in my book - don't try to compensate for missed workouts by doing extra later. If the long run is that important, do it instead of the track workout.
Everyone's gotta running blog; I'm the only one with a POOL-RUNNING blog.
And...if you want a running Instagram where all the pictures are of cats, I've got you covered.
+1
Pace Prophet
I have gone by the rough rule that I can quickly increase to half my average mpw prior to the layoff; after that, take it more slowly.
eliz, dwave: soliciting your advice has complicated things! i asked one of our coaches, a few days ago, and he gave me his blessing. though he did say it could go either way- i could just miss that LR and be fine, or i could do this long warmup and the only downside would be some extra fatigue later this week. yes, each workout has its purpose, but this workout is written for our general CIM group, and not for me, who is a bit behind the rest of those girls in terms of LRs. i may disobey you guys. not sure yet.
RLK - your coach trumps me. If he OK'd it, then go for it.
and now it's 83 degrees outside (in a place where it is 58-62 degrees 95% of the time). lolz. here we go.
Hey kids!
Thanks for the feedback. More or less what I was expecting and it all sounds reasonable.
Just for a frame of reference: After a long period of inconsistency due to not caring (mileage over a month would be like 30, 15, 20, 45, I started building up in May and June. Then I had the worst PF flare-up of my life and basically didn't run from the beginning of July to mid-August. From there, I got back up from 25 mpw but kept getting derailed by non-running matters (food poisoning, home-improvement nonsense, you name it). Now that I'm getting back into a groove, all reasonable schedules seem to take me to a minimum of 40 mpw. That feels like a big jump. But in the context of what I've done in the past, it isn't that much -- especially without meaningful speedwork. Guess I'll just go with it, which is what I've always done.
RLK - of course you should listen to your coach. As an old person, I'd be cautious. Good thing you aren't old.
Kai - Welcome (back?)
8.2 easy tonight in some deceptively humid weather. Seems we got September weather in June, July and August, with the entire summer packed into this week. Was planning to lift too, but work got in the way.
Elizabeth - I am a techno dummy. How do you post a graph from your log like that?
mcb - I had a somewhat similar experience - a couple of months off mostly due to laziness, then I got back to some sporadic running, then did 18, 18, 26, 36, 46, 46, 20, 43, 45, 55. Just when I thought things were getting back to normal I had an achilles thing. PF is my normal ramp-up issue, but I think this was effectively the same thing - being lazy about stretching and getting super-tight down the back of my legs. Anyway, after an even slower build up with lots of foam rolling and some stretching, I did get back to 56, 40, 56, 40 as my peak marathon training - not stellar, but injury free.
Go to the "reports" section on the left and create a graph for the timeframe of your choosing. You do this by selecting "+ New Graph."
You can select if you want it by day, week or month. Make sure you select "running" instead of all activities. Create the graph. Right click and download the image to your computer. And then upload here. Or you can also right click and copy image address and paste it here.