The Road to Recovery
It’s now been 9+ weeks since I stopped running due to my cuboid stress fracture. I consulted with an online running mate (Kristen F., on DailyMile) and with a Pfitzinger plan for recovering from stress fractures and have come up with a 7-week plan to get my foot back into shape. Having been on the bike so much during my recovery, I’m not fearful that I’ve lost much cardio fitness. I may have lost a little running-specific muscle, but that’ll come back very quickly.
My plan looks something like this:
Seven-Week Schedule for Returning from Injury
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Week
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Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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Saturday
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Sunday
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1
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Walk 10 min, Run 5 min, Walk 5 min, Run 5 min | Run in water or other training | Run in water or other training | Walk 5 min,Run 5 min,Walk 5 min,Run 5 min,Walk 5 min,Run 5 min | Run in water or other training | Run in water or other training | Walk 3 min, Run 7 min, Walk 3 min, Run 7 min, Walk 3 min, Run 7 min |
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2
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Run in water or other training | Walk 2 min, Run 8 min, Walk 2 min, Run 8 min, Walk 2 min, Run 8 min | Run in water or other training | Run 10 min, Walk 2 min,Run 10 min, Walk 2 min,Run 10 min | Run in water or other training | Run 12 min, Walk 2 min, Run 12 min, Walk 2 min, Run 10 min | Run in water or other training |
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3
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Run 15 min, Walk 2 min, Run 15 min | Run in water or other training | Run 20 min, Walk 2 min, Run 10 min | Run in water or other training | Run 25 min | Run in water or other training | Run 30 min |
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4
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Run in water or other training | Run 25 min | Run 30 min | Run in water or other training | Run 25 min | Run 35 min | Run in water or other training |
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5
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Run 30 min | Run 35 min | Run in water or other training | Run 30 min plus 6 x 100 meter stridouts | Run 30 min | Run 40 min | Run in water or other training |
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6
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Tempo Run (15 min warm-up, 15 min @ 15 km race pace) | Run 30 min | Run 45 min | Run in water or other training | Run 40 min plus 6 x 100 meter strideouts | Run 30 min | Run 50 min |
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7
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Run in water or other training | Run 35 min | Tempo Run (15 min warm-up, 20 min @ 15 km race pace) | Run 35 min | Run in water or other training | Run 40 min plus 6 x 100 meter strideouts | Run 55 min |
I’ve done two workouts so far, which I’m just making as 800-meter repeats. The foot had some pain the first day, and that concerned me because I couldn’t tell if it was bone or soft tissue pain. I was hoping that it was just muscle aches from not having run for 9+ weeks, and from having worn a boot for 5 weeks.
This morning was my second run, and it was pretty clear that the pain was muscle and not bone (whew). I have to make sure to take it slowly so as not to re-injure anything. I have 6 weeks to go, which should be perfect. All my friends are doing the NYC or Philadelphia Marathons (or both). After they’re done, they won’t be doing any hardcore miles for a few weeks and that will be roughly when I’m back to normal.