Returning to running after 3 weeks off

I disagree with your post.. I think you double it to regain the fitness you once had. This is from personal experiences as I have been injured most of my career, and noticed that it takes a lot longer to get back into shape the way you were before the injury. You probably had a stress reaction.

WOW!! 6 weeks to get back to my old volume, that seems steep. Even with the cross training I did? What is a stress reaction? I know the pain was locolized directly on the bone and the orthopedic tends to believe it is a stress fracture but I'm starting to think shin splints. In the two weeks off I did strength exercises for my shins and when I started running I wore a lift on my short leg(what I believe caused the injury). I'm not getting my hopes up but the little running i did last week didn't hurt at all, not when running or after. Is it possible this can in fact be a stress fracture? The doctor said absolutly no running for at least another 6 weeks. Do stress fractures go away and come back?

i've had stress fractures before and there will come a time around week 3 when the pain is gone, but it doesnt mean that it is fully healed. fractures take 6-8 (and maybe even longer depending on how bad they are) weeks to heal up before you can start running again. if you dont let them heal all the way they will come back and you will have to go through all of this again. x rays 60% of the time dont show stress fractures but bone scans do. when you do return to running, the progression should be very little and working your way up to higher milage SLOWLY. talk to a trainer or sports meds doctor for a mileage plan. 10% a week is usually the rule, and that goes for lifts on your legs too such as lunges. as for cross training, anything as far as swimming, water running, biking, and ellipticals are good and just go at a level that will get your heart rate up and you may need to stay on there longer but it will maintain your fitness just fine. that shouldnt be a huge problem.

the pain from a stress fracture will go away before it's healed? Maybe I should stay off it completely than. I find it weird all the sudden I can't even locate the spot that it used to hurt.

It was probably a stress reaction (a precursor to a stress fracture). I've had several of both. In my experience, I needed to wait about two weeks from the time that there was no pain to the touch. Definitely don't run if you have any pain in the leg when doing single leg hops. If it was a stress reaction, you're probably fine to start a gradual return to running. It should take 4 or 5 weeks of running to get back to decent volume.