Denouement

I stretch when I read, watch tv, pump gas, or just staning around. You can always find time if you multitask.

. . . and if you are willing to look silly in public! I did some stretching in public on our Zion trip and Paul would laugh at me but I said it wasn't as bad as the stretching he does on airplanes.

It looks like you're making a smart comeback, Michelle. I wouldn't try to do too many long runs even at easy pace. Try to keep things under 10 miles for starters, and just play smart. But really get the stretches in. I've found that it has really helped me and even though I'd rather be out there doing long runs, I think stretching is a way to make sure we recover steadily and smartly. I agree with Josse.

Something that I do at night when I'm watching a tv show is that I stretch my legs during a commercial break, then the next commercial break I play a game and see how many crunches I can do. Then the next one, do stretching again. And the fourth commercial break, I see how many situps I can do. (This usually equates to about 10 minutes of stretching/ab work in an hour). And who needs commercials anyways!

Hey Michelle - from what I can ascertain from my log the first day back was March 11th with a .25 mile "shuffle" @ 15:00 pace (actually the current pace that I do my warmups and cooldowns at now). I luckily haven't had any pains so far since I started incorporating the jogging after my Dr.'s appointment about 5 wks ago, but I've been very slowly building back up. I'd say for the last time I felt pain would be about the same time. I had a little tenderness the week that I went to the Dr.'s when I was on my feet for the 8+ hours at work, but I kept the heel lift in which really helped. Also I've found that something that I was arguably lacking in the couple months leading up to my injury was religious stretching. I used to be very good with 5-10 minutes before each run and 15 or so after each run. My mistake was that by eliminating track workouts and just doing 6-8 mile runs and a long run of 12-14 miles, I thought that I didn't necessarily need as much stretching and that I would "warmup " on the fly. Now I am back to how I was before I injured myself. I stretch about 5 mins after the warmup and then 10-15 after the conclusion of every run/walk/shuffle/hike. Yeah it might seem dumb to some people, but I have a new respect for stretching.

So, I guess it's been 6wks since all major pain was gone now. Sorry for the winded answer.

Benn

I stretch watching the daily news in the evening, that's a 30min routine whilst being entertained. I'm not particularly flexible, I have difficulty with my pilates exercises because of this and I don't remember ever in my life being able to touch my toes. I just don't want to get any worse and I do notice it if I skip my stretches. I always stretch and walk up and down on aeroplanes to the amusement of other passengers and the annoyance of the flight attendants. Lufthansa now are providing on the monitors an "in your seat stretch routine" to follow on long haul flights. I would just like more leg room in cattle class.