A month till I can run again

Water running.

I did 3 times a week, 15 minutes each session, when I was injured.

Others do more.

You will be surprised when you start running again just how fast you are for any distance up to 5K.

Also, weights.

Do you have access to a handbike? Here, some of the parks have them - the public equipment. You can also buy one for quite a cheap price.

I don't know if an exercise bike would make your stress fracture worse but the hand bike won't.

Just think of how excited you will be when you can run again :)

All suggestions posted thus far have been excellent.

I'd like to throw in my own too: Think deeply about how $hitty you feel and identify why and how you've gotten yourself a stress fracture. Then, propose a plan on how you can avoid a similar situation in the future.

I’m using an assault bike - am OK to stationary bike, walk, and do upper body lifting. Water running no go due to current lockdown.

Bruther, I've dealt with injuries since 2017/2018. Put some racing together this past year after a year or so off but dug myself into an overtraining hole, and had to take the summer off. I feel great now finally after years of struggling, knock on wood. Hopefully after 12 weeks you'll be able to get back into things, wishing you the best.

If I can offer any advice, it would be:

1) Get outside as much as your injury will allow. I'll say doesn't even matter if it's "doing anything" for your fitness. Go hike. Go open-water swim if you're strong. Hell, go fish. Go do whatever out in the world that you can with your free time. I personally find the structure of training helps me keep my life on track, so I did that -- I picked up road cycling with a tibial stress injury and preserved both a massive chunk of my aerobic strength and my mental health. I also built some muscle mass (which needs to come off now). We as runners love the outdoors and watching nature and people pass and we lose all of that when we get in the pool or in front of a TV while on a machine. Not saying there's a time and place for that, but I'm much more of the thought that injuries can quickly become much more of an emotional and mental battle than a physical one once we take away the human aspects of training for too long.

2) Get strong. Others have said this. Focus on hip strength, core strength, and lower leg strength as well as flexibility and mobility in those areas. I noticed a massive difference just in how my form felt by paying significant attention to these areas. It's made me love running again, when before I was in constant fear of doing damage. I look forward to runs and what the future holds for training.

3) Be smart with your return. Patience is key. You're older than I am, but not old enough to have thrown it all away. Take 6 weeks or so to just walk/jog and feel your feet beneath you again. Build slowly at a comfortable rate after that. Adjust to the mileage level again. Make sure everything feels easy. Once you start formal workouts again, you'll know it was worth it. Trust me.

You have some good years ahead of you, you’ll be fine. Just try not to put on weight while you have to be sedentary like I did

Thanks all. I just feel a lot of regret and shame

injuredfool1 wrote:

am OK to stationary bike, walk, and do upper body lifting.

What about a real bike?

Take lots of hills, and standing up. If you can hike, climb hills that way too. And stairs.

Not allowed to do real bike yet...

For the regret and shame, you should probably get some professional help. I know that is kinda a cliche answer, but if you can find a good psychologist or even sport psychologist, they could really help you deal with those very real and understandable feelings. A trusted friend, mentor, and/or pastor may also be a good option if you are uncomfortable with seeing a psychologist. I was out last fall with a 4th metatarsal stress fracture, and it really sucked. But I got the help I needed (both in the physical recovery process and psychological fallout) and came back in the spring to see some of my best running ever before everything got shut down.

Whether or not you choose to get help, remember that your value as a person is not defined by how fast you are or how many miles a week you put in (or anything related to running for that matter). You're an important member of your family and/or friends, you can and probably do contribute to making some small corner of the world a better place, and there are a lot of people who care for you (even all the anonymous responders on this thread!). Anyway, try to enjoy the process even when it sucks, and get some help from someone to deal with the regret and shame.

Water running. Cycling. Core - tons of crunches

Dude, it might feel like this is a big deal, but this is gonna pass, and before you know it you'll be running again and back in shape.

In 2012 I was in my mid 20s, running great, feeling like the possibilities were endless. My knee started hurting, went to the doc, found out I had a cartilage lession and underlying bone damage that would never heal. Four surgeries later and the most it can handle is 30-40 miles of easy jogging per week. I consider myself lucky even to get that.

It's a weird thing to be in your mid 20s and suddenly find out that your body won't ever recover from something. But it happens. And honestly, way worse things than what happened to me happen to people every day.

All this is to say, I would give anything to be in your position. An injury that's going to heal and (at least) 5-10 years of time to keep improving as a runner is a prime spot to be in.

Take a month to relax. Watch some tv, find another hobby to explore, invest in your work or your relationships or whatever a little more than you would if you were training hard, and when you can start running again, enjoy each step.

Thank you.

injuredfool wrote:

I’m 8 weeks into stress fracture recovery and the docs will probably let me run again in a month. Feeling like a loser and stupid for missing this much time and worried about how long it’ll take to get fit. I feel old now at 28. Feel like I wasted a lot of good running time.

The mistake a lot of injured runners will make is pretending like their life didn't revolve around running. Of course, this is not in fact true. When you are injured you just have a void in your life that needs to be filled, even if it is temporary. This is to say: get a hobby. Take up biking, swimming, something that will fill that void for a bit in your life. Do this new hobby daily and find yourself happy once more. Time flies...

I had T problems before the fracture and I’ve managed to get them back to normal levels while I’ve been off so I hope that means my fitness will be better in the long term once I’m running again. I dunno though