Running Chick

I started running again last week, after a 2.5 month layoff thanks to posterior tibial tendonitis. I spent a lot of time thinking about how to approach my return in an attempt to stay healthy, and I've come up with a plan which I feel pretty good about.

1. 10% rule. The golden rule of running for beginners or those recovering from an injury is to never increase your mileage by more than 10% per week. Does it make sense? Yes. Is it a smart approach? Yes. Have I ever followed it? Hell no. 10% per week, are you kidding me? Have I been injured more times that I like to admit? HELL YES. I've tried almost everything but applying the 10% rule, so this time around, I'm going to follow that rule like my life depends on it. No more than 10% per week, people.

2. 3 running days. All my other plans had me running four times per week, then when I bumped up my mileage too much and started flirting with injuries, I'd end up dropping back to three times per week in an effort to maintain my health. I'm a bit concerned about not being able to get enough out of training on three days per week, so that's where step 3 comes into play.

3. Cross-train. Once per week, do some sort of hard cross training that gets my heart level up. I'm currently shopping around for a bike trainer and I've got my eye on the Spinnervals DVD set. In the meantime, I borrowed Josh's bike rollers (*scary*) and I'm going to attempt to not kill myself on them starting this week.  If the rollers don’t work out, I’ll bust out the skis.

4. Stretch, stretch, stretch. This is a big one for me, and one that I've been fairly lax about in the past but I need to get back into the habit of stretching. Not only does it improve flexibility and reduce the risk of injury but it also feels so good after a hard run. I used to stretch all the time, but got out of the habit for some reason. I also incorporate the use of a slant board (similar to this, but I have a hillbilly version using my foam roller and a piece of wood) in my stretches. When I was in PT several years ago, the therapist told me I had chronically tight calves which was probably the reason for several lower-leg injuries I was suffering from. He had me doing the slant board thing twice daily for five minutes and I think it really helped.

5. Ice, ice, ice. When it hurts, or even when I feel like something might be happening that could turn into something bigger, it's time for an ice treatment. One bonus of running in the winter is that you can ice on the fly. Tonight I was feeling a little something in my ankle so I pulled over, smashed some snow in my sock and tights and continued on. I did get a really strange look from the people in the minivan that drove by.

6. No race commitments. I don’t know what’s going to happen with my injury, and I don’t want to put any pressure on myself by having a deadline looming over my head that will encourage me to make bad decisions on when to run or rest.  My goal is to make it to April feeling strong and do Journeys HM in May, but if it doesn’t happen, then it doesn’t happen. I’ll find something else to do later in the year. Or maybe I won’t.

Well, I think that’s about it.  Last week went pretty well.  My mileage was low and my speeds were shamefully slow, but it sure does feel good to be back.