Running, Anyone...?

[phatty]

That looks dreamy, Stapes!

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[Dantheman]

Not a typical late June morning in the Wasatch.

[stapes]

Gorgeous DtM! Looking green.

[stapes]

Poking around in the park…

[Yukonrider]

Long story short I was in the best shape of my life in May, and took essentially 6 weeks off. I did pepper in a handful of runs, and was walking a ton, but no cardio.

Finally am able to get back on track starting today, went out for a 4 mile road run and got crushed. What used to be my easy 30 minute zone 2 cruise was a 42 minute struggle to keep my HR out of zone 3 and 4. Legs and lungs actually felt fine thankfully.

How long am I looking to get back on track? I'd like to keep adding fitness through training while I'm down in the flatlands this summer so when I get back to the mountains in the fall I can do some longer fun runs up high.

[phatty]

Stapes - Awesome pics! Absolutely gorgeous.

Yukon - I had to be non weight bearing for 6 weeks after I broke my leg. Started running again mid May. Strength and lungs are coming back, but I'm still a ways behind where I was before my injury. That said, I just set a PR on an 8mi, 3700 ft run here in Seattle. Patience will get you back in a month.

Ran Bandera Mountain outside Seattle yesterday. Flowers are popping and got up above the clouds. Legs and lungs are feeling stronger.

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[Dantheman]

Great stuff, boys!

Yukon - Dylan Johnson did a video about this subject at some point. I think the key takeaways were that the fitter you are the farther you'll fall, but you'll also gain it back faster than it took to get it the first time. Probably figure a month.

[Yukonrider]

Thanks for the reassurances, a month is a while but it could be worse! Should have motivated myself to hit the treadmill more but boy are those things awful.

[mcski]

Fantastic pics by Stapes!

[Buke]

This topic is relatable. I strained my calf last October and after six weeks of short rest followed by re-injury over and over, I ended up seeing a PT who recommended a prolonged break from running (mainly to make sure I wasn't injured during a hut trip in late January). My wife was starting to get serious about running this spring so I jumped into the middle of her c25k training plan which was so painfully slow and low volume, but it was good to build back slowly and methodically. Then we did a 12 week Hal Higdon half marathon plan, which concluded with me pacing my wife on her first half, which was super cool. I finally feel like I can start doing some real mileage in the mountains and of course we're taking off for a 3 week euro vacation where I'll be lucky if I get a couple modest runs in a week. I'm still hopeful that I can be ready for a 50k by the first of October but we'll see.

My only advice when getting back into it is that it with a good history of base training it comes back pretty easily but at the same time don't be tempted to push too hard. The risk of injury due to overuse is high. Just because the long run feels good, doesn't mean that your body has the durability to bang out consistent high mileage without injury. Play the long game.