I quit running before college and haven't trained in 2 years, aside from the odd steady 4-5 miler and some soccer. I'm not completely out of shape as far as general fitness goes, but I've put on quite a lot of muscle (and fat) which is not ideal for distance running. Still, I'm probably much healthier than when I quit due to being completely burnt out and weighing 125lbs at 5ft 10 (now 156lbs) because of an eating disorder.
Since I decided to come back to running on Thursday, my runs have been:
Thurs: 8mi at 7:50s / Fri: 5mi at 8:00s / Sat: 4mi at 7:30s + 10 x 60m strides / Sun: 11mi at 7:50s
My legs don't feel too bad, but I'm cautious about doing too much too soon. Should I just keep trying to ramp up the mileage to 40 this week or be more conservative? Has anyone else successfully come back to competitive running after this kind of break?