First RUN at 6 months...

[jb46]

Following Dr. Gross's protocol, I waited till 6 months before running (well, about a week shy to be totally honest). Ran on Friday, I felt fine while jogging, pretty normal/slow pace (about 9 min miles) and tried to take it easier/walk when on big downhills or around uneven ground.
Ran as part of my daily a.m. walk, probably ran about 2 of the 3 miles. Felt okay that day, little more sore than normal the next day but nothing after that. Still felling sporadic pain in/around hip, try to believe it is just muscular due to doing things I haven't done in soooo long.

Plan on running two to three times a week to start, replacing the usual a.m. walks. Won't be more than 3 miles for awhile. Running was major part of while I had the HR done, so I'm really hoping it works out.

Any advice/input for this stage of recovery would be appreciated...unless you're going to tell me not to do it. Champing at the bit to get back and be more active. Hope everyone is well and recovering nicely...jb

[Dannywayoflife]

Congrats hope your return to running is succesful!
Danny

[Arrojo]

Congratulations and welcome to our virtual Surfacehippy Running Club!  My advice is to consider the 16-week resurfacing to 5K program:

http://surfacehippy.info/hiptalk/index.php?topic=3941.0

I am on week 12 myself.  This program gives you the best chance to succeed without injuries.  Your hip device should be fine at this point, since your Dr gave you the go-ahead.  The issue is all of the soft tissue (hip flexors, ITB, etc) that may or may not be ready for this level of activity.

[IslandCatt]

Congratulations and welcome to our virtual Surfacehippy Running Club!  My advice is to consider the 16-week resurfacing to 5K program:

http://surfacehippy.info/hiptalk/running-ironman-marathoner/resurfacing-to-5k-program/

I am on week 12 myself.  This program gives you the best chance to succeed without injuries.  Your hip device should be fine at this point, since your Dr gave you the go-ahead.  The issue is all of the soft tissue (hip flexors, ITB, etc) that may or may not be ready for this level of activity.

I think that's a great gradual progression program.

I was a running coach for a number of years, during which time I coached a variety of runners who were coming back from injuries or surgeries. My protocol wasn't that much different than the above listed program.

Here are the basic guidelines I used (I posted these in another thread- I hope it's not against the rules to do a re-post).

• No running without a physician's clearance to run.
• The pace should be barely faster than a walk.
• No running more than 10 minutes max the first time out for overuse or minor to moderate acute injuries and no more than 5 minutes max after serious trauma or surgery.
• The pace should be barely faster than a walk.
• Stop if any pain is felt. Never run through pain.
• If a run is stopped because of pain, on the next run go to the point before pain was felt and stop there.
• If a run causes residual pain afterward, decrease the distance by 10% next time.
• No running 2 days in a row.
• No running until any residual pain from the previous run is completely gone.
• Increase each run distance or time by no more than 10% (for a 10 minute run, this would be 1 minute longer and 30 seconds for a 5 minute run), assuming there is no residual discomfort.
• Don't increase speed until the goal distance is achieved.
• Never increase both speed and distance at the same time.
• Follow the same protocol from above when starting to increase speed.

I don't think I ever had a single runner that followed this protocol who had problems with their return to running.

I did, however, have many runners who were impatient with this conservative approach and violated the guidelines who had various issues from minor temporary setbacks all the way to never being able to run again.

When getting back into running after injury or surgery, my belief is that you can never be too conservative, but you can definitely be too aggressive.

[happy hippy]

Mr Mcminn advises no running until a year post op then start on a treadmill..........they are all so different !

[phillwad]

I just passed the 1 year so I started to run - did not look at the protocol until now - Mmmmm now I better understand and will back down a little

[Dannywayoflife]

Next year when I start working up to some running again I'll use that programe