Hi guys,

I'm fairly new to running (about three months) and suffered my first real injury a week last Monday. I had done a fairly average 4.5 k or so, and was working on a warm down when I felt a sharp pain in my left foot. I thought it'd be a niggle that would work itself out, but I found that I couldn't walk more than 200 m or so without pain shooting through the outside of the soul of my foot. To cut a long (and tedious!) story short, while things got better over the week, I was still in pain whilst walking. Ended up going to my GP today, who told me I'd probably damaged a tendon in the foot.

I'm off running for at least another week, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to gradually rebuild my training schedule? I've been swimming to maintain cardiovascular fitness, so I'm not quite so worried about that angle - what I am worried about doing is going back too soon, pushing too hard and doing myself some serious damage. I want to get back to running ASAP, but don't want to be stupid. Any advice appreciated!

Thing that would bother me most is that your GP said you have probably damaged a tendon. So basically you still don't know for sure what injury you are recovering from.

As to your next step I am too inexperienced to advise, but don't be tempted to do to much to fast.

Good luck

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Start weight: 18 st 4. Current weight: 15 st 6. Avg pace 8.54 /mi. Fastest 10K 54:06 Current goal: To reach 15st

after having just been to a sports physio for similar i'd say, take couple weeks off running, still do cycling and swimming cross trainer at gym etc. in evenings after acute period, a day or two, alternate between ice pack and hot water bottle, 2 min at a time, to aid blood flow. when get back to running, not more than twice a week, ideally on grass and on the flat. or a beach.

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm not sure about cycling - won't that agrevate the injury?

Running on the flat won't be hard (I live Manchester!) but grass might be harded. I can always run awound the green areas of a park I guess! How long do you think I should keep it at two days a week for, before I start to up my schedule?

When I injured my foot, I was told that an exercise bike would be OK, in moderation, but not to go out on a real bike. That was after I'd gone out on a real bike and, yes, aggravated the injury! An exercise bike is better because you can keep the resistance relatively low (so you'd have it lower than normal), which would reduce the stress on your foot.

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Cautiously potter-along puddy

probably the best advice is see a good sports physio, as every injury is different and cant tell without being examined. i asked at my local running shop and the person they recommended was brilliant, and i'm a born sceptic. so ask around as i've been to some rubbish ones just picking names out of yellow pages. i got full diagnosis, tratment and a build up training schedule, all for £20. best money spent.

Thanks Gav - I'm going to see a physio, as it hasn't really improved at all this week - probably over use through walking around too much