How to return from injury

I'll be honest, in my 6 years of running I've been fortunate enough to only have 3 injuries that have kept me out for any length of time. I'm the runner who permanently whinges that something hurts!!! My last 2 injuries have been my left IT Band and my right ankle. I approached rehab in very different ways and made many mistakes the first time around which I rectified the second time around. Getting rehab wrong the first time led to a 6 month recovery and me pulling out of my first ever scheduled marathon. The second rehab took me from crutches to marathon in less than 5 months. As always, I'm no expert and this is just my opinion - however, if you read what the "experts" say they tend to contradict each other anyway! So here's my tips:

1. Whenever you think you're ready to return, you're not! I don't know if you're like me but if anything happens to my body my instant thought is not "am I okay" but "how long will this put me out of running for." I'm massively impatient when it comes to recovery and always want to start back sooner than I probably should. You need to resist the temptation to come back too soon. There's always another race and as hard as it is to do and easy as it is to say you need to take a long-term view.
   
2. Don't Google it! Every niggle is usually followed by a google search which invariably leads to advice telling you that you've probably ruptured something and you need to sit out for 2 years or someone saying they had the same thing and ran 100km the following day! Every injury is different. With my IT Band I just looked at what others said and needed up with 3 failed returns to running. With my ankle, I saw my osteopath who I see for some back issues anyway and she was able to fully assess the injury and the damage, give me a rehab plan and tell me when I could look at returning, how much to do and when to stop again. I spent 7 weeks not running which was almost impossible and ended with a zero mileage month which severely dented my runners pride! However, by getting someone unattached to my goals and mindset to say what the right thing to do was really paid off. Just over 5 months after badly spraining ligaments I completed Beachy Head Marathon which is a beast of a course however fit you are.
   
3. You'll be slow and frustrate yourself! And that's okay. When I did my first run after my ankle it was 10 minutes and about 10 minute a mile pace and I struggled. Just over 2 months prior I had run a marathon. Rarely will you come back to where you were straight away but it will come back if you don't rush it. Most of my rehab running which was a 6 week programme was slow and hard work and nowhere near what I'm capable of but always keep the goal in mind. The goal of rehab is rehab! Once you're the other side of it you can push yourself again but don't push it too soon trying to instantly get back to where you were.

Injuries. We all hate them. But by doing the right things you can return and ultimately return stronger.