Getting back into running after illness - help

[Ohnotheydidnt]

I've been very unwell for the past month and I'm very weak and fatigued.

I'm 36 and a runner. I haven't been for a run since being ill and now I need to nap 3 times a day and tire after walking 4000 steps on the beach.

My mental health is beginning to suffer due to lack of exercise and I'm putting weight on. My clothes are uncomfortable and I just feel miserable.

Does anyone have any tips about getting back into running after illness? I think I'd like to start with 3km - but how often?

Do I need vitamins? Energy gels? (I'm eating OK but my appetite is still minimal!)

I need new running leggings due to the weight gain 😌

Thanks :)

You have my sympathy, but don't push things - listen to your body. Post-viral problems can be caused by too much too soon.

I am kind of in the same boat - injury plus one illness after another since the summer - and I'm (now) just making sure I do SOMETHING. Walk, cycle, swim. Weights soon. Keep plugging on and eventually I will be up for a short jog at the end of a walk. Then maybe walk/run instead of walk.

My local parkrun is not short of other injured or recovering runners to walk round with!

Hey @Fenella123 - thank you for your reply. My local park run is in a beautiful National Trust area but its more like a fell running course. I don't think I'll ever be able to run it again :(

Cycling is a good idea! I absolutely adore cycling - I didnt even think about it! x

Do not even think about running atm.

9 years ago I was you. Been fatigued from a virus for a few months. Woke up feeling a bit like myself. I was so overjoyed that I did a 20 minute hiit workout. I woke up the next day feeling awful again and never recovered.

My life has changed inexplicably. I can no longer work and use a wheelchair if I need to be out for anything longer than a short trip. The last three months I've had about 10 full days out of bed.

Be patient and you'll be back up to full fitness. Rush back to it and you may regret it for the rest of your life.

If you feel like you need to do something, try some gentle seated stretches.

I have been where you are, more than once. And I know well the frustration when you've been trotting 10ks or HMs (or more) without a second thought, to be unable to manage a parkrun.

I think the trick is to make a training plan. Some people start again with C25k, which isn't a terrible idea. I usually go for walks and assess how I feel after each one, and up the pace/distance if all is copacetic.

But as other posters have said, listen to your body (really listen!) and don't go out hammer and tongs until you know you're OK.

Good luck!

I would suggest starting with Pilates and weights, perhaps on an app.

I’m very similar, 36 and haven’t exercised for two months due to injury, and very gently before that due to injury. I was thinking of starting couch to 5k in January once I get the all clear from my surgeon as I had surgery at the beginning of the month.

Sorry to hear you've been unwell. I think you would be best taking things very easy to begin with (both in terms of intensity and distance) and just see how you feel. Build the mileage up very gradually. Rather than having a fixed plan, be guided by how you're feeling.
I'm also a runner and need to get back to full fitness. Ran a great marathon time in October but since then have had Covid and my DDAd has been seriously ill unfortunately so feel like I'm really out of shape and far from where I was fitness-wise.

Oh gosh! @MissisBoote thank you for sharing your story. Yes, I'll definitely be careful.

I've just had a look on YouTube and seen some fitness videos for older people "seniors" - I may start with gentle stretching and walking 4000 steps & then gently increase from there.

Couch to 5k is a great idea! I'll work towards being able to do that.

I've been so ill and now I'm going to be on amitriptyline for the rest of my life - it makes me feel even more sluggish. All from a virus!

I need to find some stretchy running gear - I usually buy Nike but I'm tempted by M&S. I just need extra comfort now.

Thank you everyone for replying. Merry Christmas xx

Can you take nortriptyline instead of amitriptyline? It's the same drug family but has fewer side effects. Ask your GP. I take it for nerve pain from ME/CFS.
Take it no later than about 7pm.

Sturdy By Design do lovely leggings, if you want to treat yourself to some nice ones! Or Rainbows & Sprinkles (terrible name but great kit).

I think start with walking. And don't beat yourself up. I tell myself that running is a habit for life, it's fine to have periods of not running due to illness, injury, other reasons, and I know I'll get back to it when the time is right. I've done more restarting running that actually running this year!

Fellow ex-runner here who misses it dreadfully. I used to do parkrun without a care in the world trained every winter for a HM, then picked up a niggle and peri-menopausal plus usual weeks winter lurgy and I’ve not ran parkrun for a year and gained 20lbs. Really determined to get it back. I do cycle and walk half hour with the dog to build fitness again but I download C25K app again this week my problem will be sticking to it and not going to far fast on a ‘good’ day and then get injured / ill again! Good luck I hope you can build it back again.

I echo others - please don't run yet. I'd build up your walking as long as that doesn't make you feel worse, and if you want to and can, address the weight gain with small, sustainable diet changes. And try maybe swimming/Pilates, again as long as they don't set you back.

If walking feels good, then start doing it in comfy trainers and gym kit or similar, with no bag, and walk briskly, walk up hills, increase distance. Build up gradually. Walking fast outside is great exercise in its own right.

Good luck.

I agree with the others, build up really gradually. But do treat yourself to some new exercise gear in the sales. The M&S stuff is good.

C25k is generally great but can be too big a starting step.

I had an achilles injury a year ago and ended up on a running ban. 6 weeks in, I was getting very twitchy, frustrated and heavier. Even walking the 2.5k of C25k was still too uncomfortable at that point so I started with a 500m run little and often and gradually added a minute or so on. It was about 6 weeks before I was ready for the C25k milage.

Fatigue is a difficult one as you need rest, but loosing fitness by resting also doesn't help, so if the need to feel like you're doing something is important for your sanity, do something tiny for a few minutes to tick that feeling in your head, but be managable to recover from.

I had SPD in pregnancies and literally had to start at walking 100m to the end of the road level of fitness to build up from gradually.

I had a few months off running when I had cancer. The chemo and radio made me feel so tired.

To start back I actually just started going for long walks. An hour at first and built up to 4 hour walks. It really seemed to help and made the shorts run seem easier.

I would also caution that coming back after a virus is different from after injury (post-exertional malaise for example, changing views on GET for people with ME, etc.)

Thanks everyone!

I pressed enter too soon!

@MsMartini Thank you for your post, that lead DH and I down a rabbit hole reading up on those things! I had no idea.

I walked 4500 steps today and crashed out afterwards. It was so sunny and blue outside, I just wanted to stay out and have fun on the beach. The children had energy to burn. But inevitably - I didn't pace myself and could barely sort dinner! 😔

Early night tonight and a rest day tomorrow! Xx

Oh dear, I've spoiled your Boxing Day 😀.

I hope you feel better soon. And that you can find what suits you and doesn't set you back and enjoy that, for now.

I would build up very gradually, focus on walking and then when you start to feel a bit stronger add a couple of short running intervals (just a few mins slow jog) to the walks.
Keep a log and note down how you felt, try and resist the temptation to overdo it, little & often is prob best

I know I'm a little late to this thread but 3k straight off is far far too much.

As you wrote, C25K is much better as it gives you a structure and you can repeat the weeks.

Also, why not volunteer at Parkrun?