So a few months ago, I hurt my knee. Had to stop running on it and give it time to heal, haven't run since March. I am slowly getting back to the point where I can start training again, and I am presented with an interesting opportunity. Since I have been off for so long, most of my conditioning is gone and although I have stayed in decent shape, haven't gained much weight or anything, I am basically going to be starting from the beginning as far as my training goes. Which is actually very exciting, since I can now fully direct the emphasis of my training without any previous limitations (healed up other little injuries, got some flexibility back, build some strength as part of PT).
I have never been a huge mileage guy, but every time I have tried higher mileage (90-100mpw for 6-8 weeks before my season started) I have had good results. I want to eventually work my way back to that and spend a lot of time at higher mileages to concentrate on longer races (I was a 1500-5k kind of guy previously). My question to you guys: what is the best way to return to this mileage? The way I see it, I have three options.
1) Do lower mileage for a while and work back into my old training paces, say 30-40 mpw at 6:45-7:00 pace, and then slowly build up to my peak mileage.
2)Begin building my mileage immediately at a slower-then-normal pace, so start off 30-40 mpw, but built up to higher mileage first, and then worry about pace once I get there.
3) Hybrid of the two, start out at lower mileage and slowly increase both my pace and volume until I hit my peak.
What do you guys think? Assuming I take it easy enough to make sure my knee doesn't bother me anymore, which is the best direction to take?
If it helps my previous training was generally in the 65-75 mpw with some blocks of higher mileage inbetween seasons. Workouts were mostly longer track work (800-1600m repeats at varying paces, mostly at or near 5k race pace) with a few tempo runs tossed in. I have run 3:54, 9:10 steeple, and 14:41 5k(indoors)