Coming back too fast reinjures you. Coming back too slowly costs months. Here's how to judge it.
The hardest part of most injuries isn't the first week. It's deciding when to start loading it again, and by how much.
Pain during isn't automatically bad
A mild ache that settles within a day is usually acceptable and often part of recovery. Pain that climbs during the session, or that's still elevated the next morning, means the dose was too high.
Change one thing at a time
Volume, intensity, and frequency all load tissue differently. Increasing two at once makes it impossible to tell what caused a flare-up. Move one, hold the others, and watch how you respond.
Rebuild the thing you actually stopped doing
Time off costs strength in the specific pattern you avoided, and general fitness doesn't replace it. If you stopped running hills, hills need their own gradual reintroduction.
Expect the last ten percent to be slow
Getting to eighty percent is usually quick. Closing the gap to full confidence takes longer, and is where most people either rush or quit. That stretch is worth planning for rather than being surprised by.
