Changing Training Zones After Injury

Swanie

I was injured in late April during a Marathon and had to take 7 weeks off from running and had to limit my bike training (stress fracture). Well I am back to running almost all the run workouts and have found that my paces are no where close to where I was pre-injury. I have been running for 3 weeks and what used to be a 7:00-7:30 pace for a mid week run has been replaced with a 8:45 pace run at a much higher RPE. I ran a half marathon on saturday to test my fitness and to decide what my IM Canada training should look like. My pre-injury self would have coasted to a sub 1:30 half and then come home and mowed the lawn and worked in the shop for a few hours. This race produced a hard earned 1:48 and I was shelled the rest of the day.

My Question is- should I recalculate my Vdot based on this latest half marathon and get new training paces for the IM Canada build or just keep plugging along at whatever pace I can muster on that day? My previous Vdot was 52 and if I base a new Vdot on saturdays race it gives me a Vdot of 41. It's a tough pill to swallow but if it will be better for Canada then so be it.

steveperx

My $0.02 is that I would use your HM to calculate the appropriate VDOT for now and train using those paces. You may find that much of the fitness comes back fairly quickly and you can bump up the VDOT. You should have another testing day in a month or so to see where you stand. However, I would not push it, or you're likely to end up injured again.

Peter Greagg

x 2 what Steve said

Joe Matchette

@Steve - Gotta agree w/ Steve S. "Run what you've earned" is what Coach P always tells us. 7 weeks, while a long time, isn't really that long given your prior level of fitness. I would be very surprised if you don't see some quick gains during training with your new paces. Sort of like how our bike FTPs come back quickly after a Hard Reset post-IM.

But, even if they don't, I think you risk re-injuring yourself if you push to hard to do the paces you used to do. And then I think THE LINE at IMC will come much sooner than mile 18.....

Swanie

One more thing...There is another half marathon on August 4th that I plan to use as my final "test" before settling on my race pace for Canada. Whatever happens there is where I set my Vdot.

steveperx

Steve: I think that's your answer. Train for the HM on Aug. 4 using your current fitness. When it starts to seem too easy, bump up your VDot paces. Hit the HM hard and use those results for your IM pacing. I really think that after a few weeks of training even with a lower VDot, you'll see your performance move back closer to the 1:30 HM range.

MattAaronson

Sorry, new VDOT for you. If you reach for your old paces your chance of injury skyrockets. I think you will find that if you train at the new slower paces you will see very rapid fitness improvements and your VDOT will improve quickly. You can do some regular testing to keep aneye on your progress.

Al Truscott

A stress fracture scares me. You're young enough () that you can give yourself the time you need to heal, or else you'll be on a fast track to an artifical knee. Do what you can, not what you want to or used to.