[kandy]

Suggestion on getting myself able to run again?

Hi bees,

I hurt my knee about 5 or 6 years ago, which ultimately took me 3 months to be able to walk, go up and downstairs without feeling pain.

Since then I had given a try at running for I couldn't remember how many times but maybe 5 or 6 (a few times of each of these 5 or 6). I was never able to run more than 800 meters (2 laps). It usually started to pain at about 1.5 lap and if I kept going I couldn't take it by the time I reached 2 laps.

I had tried strength training my lower body but that didn't help. My therapist said running wasn't for me but I still wanted to. Could you give me some suggestions?

 

[Nox]

This really seems like something to discuss with a doctor or physical therapist :/
But I would suggest focusing on walking first and -very slowly - building back up to a jog that way.
Pain after such a serious injury is a very clear sign you're going too hard

 

[SevenDeadlyExes]

I sympathise, I miss running too - it's a lot of fun and great exercise - but it is super hard on the knees and if your doctor says not to then you probably should listen to them

Maybe something low impact like cycling or swimming instead?

 

[kandy]

Thanks fellows,

It has been a vague wish that I make every now and then. When I was in primary school I spent almost a year training to a 7 something km run which took about 50 mins. That was a big achievement for me because I was pretty bad at sports.

Problem is I don't know how to swim and cycle. I wish I had the skills.

I saw two therapists and both said I should strengthen my legs until I could do XYZ before I got back to running. I probably just have never gotten to that level of strength...

 

[NancyTree]

I think the strength in your muscles supporting your knees is necessary to start running without knee problems, especially if your knees have a history. Also core stability will help with form and prevent injury. For your knees you need also shoes with good cushioning; and be sure your shoes are not worn out. If you have the opportunity running on soft paths like forest also helps with cushioning, although the uneven ground is putting more stress on the bands.
And most of all: start really really slow, with enough resting days. When I was recovering from an injury the only way to get past a certain point was by starting with 4x30 sec runs. Slow pace, not pushing to do more faster. Minimum of 2 resting days in between. Only adding a max of 25% of the load every week. If you're interested I can see if I can find the plan I made.

 

[kandy]

@NancyTree thank you for your input. Yes it will be cool if you can share your plan.

The shoe part is a good point. It's not horrible but I should probably pay more attention to my gears because of having a history of injury.

 

[Nox]

With regards to the shoes, try to find a specialised store that does measurements with special equipment, mine has a pressure mat, some have treadmills with cameras.
Especially if you have overpronation or supination, the right shoes will make a huge difference!
It's not a low budget option unfortunately :/

 

[Sebastian_Greil]

With regards to the shoes, try to find a specialised store that does measurements with special equipment, mine has a pressure mat, some have treadmills with cameras.
Especially if you have overpronation or supination, the right shoes will make a huge difference!
It's not a low budget option unfortunately :/

Strength training is super important.
I had one friend, who was aspiring runner, and he told me "I don't need strength training, I need to run!"

But I was convincing him:
-You use your muscles to run. You do strength training= you have better muscles. You have better muscles = you run better. Go do some Crossfit

In the end he did and told me that he hates me for being right

So yeah, several months of Crossfit (with a good coach, of course) will definitely help with running too

 

[NancyTree]

@NancyTree thank you for your input. Yes it will be cool if you can share your plan.

The shoe part is a good point. It's not horrible but I should probably pay more attention to my gears because of having a history of injury.

I can't find how to share a word document, so I made screenshots.

The basis of the plan was starting slower than the running plan I used before (12 wks to 5k, intervals), because that obviously didn't work after an injury but the structure of it used to work perfectly well when I started non injured.
It is based on running twice a week, to have enough recovery days in between.

The factor you see in the table is from a formula I got from a physiotherapist. The increase in load per week, compared to the average of the previous 3 weeks plus the current week. So:

[total of week 4 / (total of week 1-4 / 4) = factor].​

The factor should be below 1.3 to prevent (re-)injury.
I measured with the total of minutes running, but you can also take distance.

It looks really slow, and it is. But I had tried already 3 times I think to get into running again and failed. In this way I worked in a year to 30 min of running in 1 go. Which is sort of 5 km in 1 go.

If anything looks unclear, just let me know!