2 Part Question about Running and Weight Loss

CMS_3049

I suffered a hand injury at work and was advised by my workman’s comp DR to not run because of the injury. Just yesterday, I was told I can run but only on the treadmill because of tripping hazards outside. He says he sees a lot of injuries from people tripping and falling. I don’t agree but he is the DR and I am on workman’s comp so treadmill it is. Until about October, I was running a typical 5/3/5/0/5/8/0 schedule for the winter season. Now I am well into January with a 5K planned in April. I ran it last year in 22:30. I did a 5 mile run yesterday (first run since Oct) at a 9:42 pace. What is my best approach to “ease” back into it but also get myself back to a decent sub 8:00 mile pace? I used to run 10Ks in the 50-51 range.

Also, I gained about 13 lbs because of forced laziness and boredom. I am still not cleared back to my physically demanding job and won’t be until mid February so I’m struggling between losing both work activiy and running when it comes to calorie expenditure. In reference, while in the 120 range, I was burning roughly 17,500 calories per week. At the 135 range now, I am lucky to see a weekly burn of 13,500. This is using a Fitbit Charge HR which may not be 100% accurate but it is still showing a 4,000 calorie per week difference. I understand the math and science aspect of gaining and losing but am struggling with developing a plan. How much and often to run and how much of a deficit that won’t hinder my running but will result in weight loss. I am also doing some weights on my non-injured side and legs. But cannot lift using my right hand at this point still.

Thank you!

Azdak

Once you have built up your base a little, you can do some interval training or tempo work on a treadmill. I would recommend longer "tempo" paced intervals rather than shorter, sprint-style intervals.

You might not be able to sustain 5 days a week right away, but you should be able to do 3-4. Stay with your proportion of shorter runs to longer endurance runs.

At your weight you can't sustain a super high deficit, but you should be able to sustain at least 500 cal/day. That shouldn't hinder your running, but you'll have to play it by ear.

The "fear of tripping" advice is a little odd--for you at least. For me, it would be absolutely necessary because I can't tell you how many times that has happened.

UltraVegAthlete

I blew my knee from running 15 miles 3 days in a row after not running more than 8 for a couple months, and I couldn’t run for 2 weeks. I ate a ton of food, but it was all fruits and vegetables, and I didn’t gain any weight. I’d say to just switch some foods, like instead of pasta have spaghetti squash, or instead of rice have oatmeal or cauliflower rice.
Running wise, wake up early and get a 3-4 Mile run done with. Switch it up with doing a day of hills and then another day where you do a tempo run.

CMS_3049

Thank you for the tips. Over the late winter and spring and summer last year, my mileage was 6/4/6/0/6/9-12/0 range as I was in the midst of races and was aiming for 35ish per week. My first 6 was either some intervals, or my attempt at a fartlek (run easy for a song, run a little bit harder for a song, etc). The 4 and 6 were then easy runs, the 3rd 6 was more of a harder 6 (which was always a 10K), and then a nice slow long run at about a 9:30 pace so I was running a variety of distances and speeds until my injury. My normal running paths in the park resulted in about 200 ft of elevation change (100 up, 100 down) each mile on average. Over the fall, I just decreased my distance a bit so I had time to add in a bit of bike riding instead (still can't ride a bike with the injury now obviously). I'll aim for maybe running at 50-60% of my load before I was injured so maybe a 4/2/0/0/4/5/0 schedule to start off with and go from there, increasing as I feel more fit and as my hand continues to get better. I will aim for a 500 calorie/day deficit. Thank you again for the sounds advice.