Joe C's macro

Joe Crispino

Hi Rich,  i have been nursing an injured calf all winter.  i just started running after 4 months off 2 weeks ago so my weekly mileage is about 10 miles slow and runs are spuratic.  i am trying to get the joints back into it slowly.  i have not been following a plan other than biking which has been strong.  my A race, and at this point only race is IMMT august 21st.   How should I begin training at this point?  how should i begin my plan for the season?   thanks,  Joe Crispino

Coach Rich

Posted By Joe Crispino on 23 Mar 2016 01:20 PM

Hi Rich,  i have been nursing an injured calf all winter.  i just started running after 4 months off 2 weeks ago so my weekly mileage is about 10 miles slow and runs are spuratic.  i am trying to get the joints back into it slowly.  i have not been following a plan other than biking which has been strong.  my A race, and at this point only race is IMMT august 21st.   How should I begin training at this point?  how should i begin my plan for the season?   thanks,  Joe Crispino

Hey Joe,

Sorry to hear about your injury! I recommend you load up the EN*Full training plan now, setting it to end on IMMT. Then you'll obviously need to heavily modify the runs in the plans, but you'll have a guide for the swim and bike, where it sounds like you're good. 

As for the run, I'm also coming back from an injury. The way I've done it is:

• Start with 3-4x runs per week, at whatever volume and intensity feels right for you. For me, it was about 30-40' of very easy running. 
• Gradually dial up each of those runs to about 50' each. 
• Once you're there, then start adding about 10' per week to the Thurs run, as this is your long run.
• You may very well find yourself not doing any FTP-type or hard runs. I'm only just now beginning to venture into hills, and I feel like ass, after having been running very well all summer on hilly routes. I doubt I'll bother with any Z4 interval runs this season. 
• Next, experiment with adding a 5th run, of any volume and intensity, to your week. 

If you're in a run/walk kinda place, where I was for several weeks, I kept loose track of amount of running I was getting in with each run. So the first week I would run about 2' and walk 1', then it was 3'/1', then 5'/1', until I felt confident I could run the entire run...but even then I would do short loops so that if I decided to bail I'd only be a relatively short distance from my house.

Good luck!