23 year old here. I became an avid runner during my sophomore year of high school (hit ~60pmw), with a focus on the mile. Simply loved the sport and felt I had much improvement ahead of me. During the first race of my junior indoor track season, I ran 4:58 in the 1600m, feeling great and like I had left something in the tank (plus I hadn't even started any major workouts that season, and had a huge aerobic base to draw on). Shortly afterwards, however, I developed a pretty devastating case of laryngospasms which all but ended my running career. I could barely get through a 10 minute mile from there on out without gasping for breath, even after months of rest. I've hardly run since and am 35-40 pounds heavier than I was at that time.
Fast forward 7.5 years, and I have finally found the right doctors and sorted out my vocal cord/breathing problems. I resumed running a few weeks ago and ran for 20 minutes each day last week, feeling a bit winded but not at all short of breath.
How quickly can I expect to regain my former level of fitness? Am I completely starting from scratch, after all these years? Or will my lifetime miles and continued physical maturation be of some help? I of course am already daydreaming about setting a PR in the 1600 on my birthday in 3.5 months, but that might be both unrealistic and foolhardy. Any thoughts are welcome. I figure I have a few years left of peak 1600m potential before I ought to move on to longer distances.
Obviously the first step is to shed the excess weight. I plan to get up to 30 minutes per day, hold there for a while, and then slowly build up to 50mpw or so this summer.