When you had a significant offtime from moving, coming back must be very very intelligent. If not, setbacks going to happen. I had a long stretch of running where 110km weeks felt like nothing and was advancing towards a march/april 100mile week regular running. Most people often try to get back where they left off. Sometimes graduality is only in their minds. Week1 60km and week2 100km. Off you go.
No, life is not like that. I did not just loose fitness by de training. I lost capacities because of the sickness too. It is like double detraining. Joint amplitude, tendon strength, lung capacity a breathing muscle capacity, heart strength, blood volume, rbc volume, the ability to bounce back and stay healthy after hard sessions, bone strength, postural control, cervical control, brain muscle connection, digestive system function and so on and on.
First of all, training sessions will be 100% should be running technique oriented. A simple knee lift counts right now as a strength exercise. No need for kettlebell swings and barbell squats. A Pushup on the knees or an assisted pullup is very hard right now, so no need for that. During short 10 20 meter accelerations the arm swings will already work on upper body strength. My daily multi direction 1 or 2 minute plank routine is not necessary. A 10 sec all out plank when squeeze all the muscles is enough. No big jumps needed and I am telling you why.
It is way more functional to do 2 x 1hour of very easy training a day and finnish off the week with 14hours of training in total, than once over do it for an hour and being sore for 4 days afterwards compromising movement quality, motivation and training time.
You can be someone coming from a no sport background and obesity, can be a regular runner or an elite. First of all, focus on time, not volume of training by weights lifted and miles ran. Get a heart rate monitor and use it. You can very effectively apply the MAF formula of 180 – your age. I am 40. I don’t let my HR over 140 for a couple of weeks or probably months. I would go even further to say that most training sessions will be under 130. This doesn’t mean no high intensity. I will do my 7 second hill sprints and my jump rope sessions. However, the closer my HR goes to 140, the longer the recoveries I will take. You must be mentally strong to obey to your heart rate. I do not train by heart rate ever. However when building base or building long long ultra running base, I use HR extensively. What I like about the MAF HR training , that the HR is so low, you don’t really need a belt. Newer optical sensors stay relatively reliable. When I train at like 110 to 125HR, even if it was 10beats off, I am still in the range, so it is fine. I use the 935 garmin. 2 years old. It works perfectly. I also use the MYZONE MZ3 belt, what I find to be one of the best heart rate belts out there. I haven’t try their MZ Switch yet, but for sure it is the same quality. They are all rechargeable and hold up for 3 to 6 months on one charge.
I am still now focusing on full recovery. I am back home 16:00 and I sleep an hour or two. Than at around 21/22pm we go to sleep and I wake up with no alarm. I need and my body needs that down time, maybe even more. Monday I will be back in action, if the body is right !
Boundless Runner 
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