How should I ramp up my mileage after I have been injured but I am returning to running? Should it be by percentage? Should it be by miles? What is it? Well, good question and that is what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
I have a great question from an injured runner who is actually not really injured but recovering. She is getting better, she is back to running, she is advancing her mileage, she is increasing her strength, her stability, everything. And she asked me during a call that we were on whether or not she should have some specific formula to follow to get back to running. She asked me about things like the 10% rule, whereby you increase your weekly mileage by 10% per week.
Well, first of all, there is no real science backing that whole idea up about the 10% week. So, her question was really, should I do it based on the percentage of miles a week, or the total miles per week, or some other method? What is the best way to do it? This strategy is one that I use with runners, but the only experienced runners who know their bodies well, know what their history of miles, pace, speed, and discomfort, perceived exertion, you are really aware of all the stuff that you measure and keep track of when you are running.
So, you have a good idea of what you’re capable of and what you’re not capable of, and you should be able to figure out what you should be capable of if you’ve been injured and haven’t been running for a while. Now, with that said, what I think with most runners is that most of the time, they’re better off using their intuition, really making valid assessments on your fitness, and very closely monitoring your symptoms based on pain and swelling and soreness after your runs.
The way to do it is really simple. You go out and you try something that you know for sure couldn’t mess you up. It is so short, it is so slow that you don’t think there’s any way it could mess you up. And I’m not thinking about, maybe I could get away with it. No, you’re thinking, oh, I could definitely do this for sure and not have any risk.
If you do that, you’ve got to do a very short run, like one mile, maybe at a slow pace. You’re trying to see, do I have any pain during that activity? Do I have any pain at night? Do I have any pain the next day? Do I have any swelling or soreness that comes on afterwards and kind of hangs out for a while? If you have any of those, then it wasn’t actually safe. But the run that you do at first, you want to do very slow, preferably at even lower levels of gravity.
But within all of those things, whether you’re running on an anti-gravity treadmill, or you are running outside for the first time, or you’ve been running for a little while, like this runner who was on the call, and you know that you actually can start increasing mileage, you want to basically use your intuition and carefully monitor for any trouble. That’s really how I do it.
There is no one formula that works for everybody. If there was, everyone would do it, and there wouldn’t be thousands of videos on YouTube showing you what to do when you’ve been injured and you’re trying to get back to running. So, be sensible about it, but do not just use your intuition. Use your intuition to decide what to try, and use tracking of all of your pain, swelling, and soreness afterward to monitor and make sure that it is safe for you.
If you like this episode, or you know a runner who needs to hear about it, send it to them. Please like, subscribe, and I’ll see you in the next training.
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