I was a stop-start runner for 15 years and the hardest part was always starting. I had hundreds of reasons for stopping. That was easy. But, getting back to running after a break was the hardest thing to do.
Even now, after over 5 years of daily running, I still find post-injury running the hardest. I understand it better, and the fact I never fully stopped definitely helps.
Why is starting running after a break the hardest thing?
After years, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not fitness. Yes, that’s a factor. You lose your fitness when you are injured and it can feel daunting to have to build it all over again. Motivation definitely comes into play.
But, I think the real issue is something else. Before you got injured you were running, perhaps you were following a plan, training for a race. Whatever, you had some consistency. It’s fair to say you felt like a runner, or at least felt like you were transforming into a runner.
When you stop, that feeling goes. You no longer feel like a runner. How can you be? You aren’t running. Everything comes with a caveat or a qualifier. It’s frustrating and the easiest solution is to stop trying. That way its easy to think and talk about yourself as anything other than a runner.
So, when you get back to running after a break, you aren’t just building fitness. You are rebuilding your identity. That’s not the same thing.
How to build your identity like your fitness
According to James Clear, every time you do a habit it is a vote for the person you want to be. So, each time you run, however far, at any speed, you are casting a vote for being a runner. That’s it. There’s no qualifier.
As you rebuild your fitness you rebuild your identity. But, fitness is more trackable, more visible and more measurable. So, instead of questioning your identity as a runner or considering how you feel, set yourself a fitness goal and work towards it a day at a time.
Start small and remember that behaviour builds identity, not the other way round.
The complication
Switching our brain or emotional response off isn’t that easy. It’s not simply a case of running consistently and everything else will follow. Especially when you are returning to running after a break. This brings a whole host of additional thoughts and feelings. Most of the unhelpful. But not all.
When I return from an injury, I struggle with fear of doing too much too soon and aggravating my injury. I might feel healed, but surely if I come back too soon the area is still vulnerable to a set back?
True. Knowing how quickly to progress, how hard to push, what type of training to do. It’s a minefield. And, often I’m coming back to follow a training plan for something I’ve signed up for. That’s the worst, because I don’t know if I’m ready to run or it’s just the date on the calendar suggests it’s a good idea and I feel like I might be ready.
Getting back to running after an injury break
The trick is to come back to running from a break slowly, not push too hard and listen to your body. Recently coming back from injury I was struggling to build back up, I was worried I would become injured again. All my injuries are self-inflicted and caused by doing something I would tell others not to do. So, I know I don’t always listen to my body, which is the most common advice you’ll hear for coming back from injury.
In February I went back to a slow flat mile, it still hurt but I found the treadmill helped. I got to a point where I was running pain free (not fully healed) and so I started to build mileage. I forced myself to increase by small amounts and take stock every week before increasing again. This went well until I got to a day on the calendar where I had a plan to run a specific route. It was slightly longer than I’d planned that day, but I went and did the distance anyway. Luckily I could feel that I’d hit my limit, so I stuck at that distance for a few weeks.
Two things kept me going. Firstly, my daily run streak kept going. I hit 1900 days and kept going. This is important to me. The second was that I consider myself to be a runner and running reinforces that feeling. I don’t attach any caveats, pace or distance to my thinking, so just being outdoors and running is enough for me.
Is streaking the answer?
If you’ve never streaked then coming back from injury is not the time to give it a go. But, if you struggle with consistency, and your problem is stop-start running, then streaking could be the answer for you. A mile a day builds the habit of getting out and running. It helped me transition from always stopping to never stopping. But you still need to take it easy, you aren’t aiming to run your fastest mile each day. You are building a habit of running, taking the decision making out of the equation and showing yourself that you can be consistent.
Don’t wait
If you are returning to running for any reason, don’t rely on how you feel. Commit to running consistently. If not every day, then set a goal of 3 times a week, or every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Whatever works for you. The more you pre-plan the more likely you’ll do it. The feeling of being a runner comes from running so don’t wait to feel like a runner or you’ll never start.
You’re not starting over; you’re starting from somewhere.
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