Jonny Mellor
Rehabbed from two sacral stress fractures earlier in his career. Cross trained his way through both and came out the other side to run 2:08 for the marathon and represent Great Britain.
Choose which cookies you allow us to use. You can update this at any time via the cookie settings link in the footer.
Strictly Necessary
Required for the site to function correctly. Cannot be disabled.
Analytics
Helps us understand how visitors use the site (Google Analytics 4). No personal data is sold.
Marketing & Advertising
Used for Google Ads and to serve relevant advertising. Requires your consent under UK PECR.
Injured Runner Plans
Being told you cannot run is one of the most frustrating things a runner faces. It does not have to mean starting from scratch. These are fully structured cross training plans for injured runners, built to hold the fitness you have worked years for, keep you sane, and walk you back into running at the end of it.
Every session is prescribed by effort and time, so you can do it on a spin or turbo bike, a cross trainer, aqua jogging in the pool, or swimming. Five sessions a week, fully structured, synced straight to your watch or bike computer. Written by 2:08 marathoner Jonny Mellor with clinical input from our resident physiotherapist Mollie Williams.
Jonny Mellor
Head coach, 2:08 marathoner, GB international
Coaching runners since 2013. Rehabbed back from two sacral stress fractures in his own career. Read his bio.
Mollie Williams
Resident physiotherapist and coach
Fully qualified practicing physiotherapist. Provides the clinical lens behind every injured runner plan.
Choose your length
If your physio has given you a return date, take the plan that covers it. If you have not got one yet, start with eight weeks. Every plan runs the same four blocks and finishes with a graded return to run.
Every plan is bought and delivered securely through TrainingPeaks, a US based company, which is why the plans are priced in $ rather than £. Use the code JM25 at checkout to save 25%. Need the week structured differently, around pool availability or a particular rest day? Email [email protected] and we will adjust it for you.
How it works
The same progression every good build has, applied to the kit you can actually use right now. Nothing in here is filler until you are fit again.
Get used to the new modality without digging a hole. Volume stays honest while your body learns to work on a bike, a cross trainer or in the pool.
Aerobic work at the efforts that hold on to the fitness you already had. This is the block that stops an injury costing you a season.
Harder intervals and longer sessions once you are moving well, so you come back with something to train off rather than a base to rebuild from.
A graded return, walk run through to continuous running, layered on top of the cross training you have been doing. Every plan finishes here.
What you get
Before you start. This plan is general training guidance for injured runners who have been cleared to cross train. It is not medical advice, a diagnosis, or a rehabilitation programme for your specific injury. Always speak to a doctor or a physiotherapist first (you can find a chartered physio near you via the CSP directory), keep doing the rehab exercises they have given you, and stop any session that causes pain in the injured area. If you are unsure whether a plan is right for your injury, email [email protected] before you begin.
Kit
Every session is prescribed by effort and time, so it will run on whatever equipment you can get to. Some tools suit some injuries better than others. This is the rough guide, but if you are unsure, email us before you buy and we will point you at the right one.
Best for: most lower limb injuries once weight bearing is comfortable. The workhorse of injured runner training.
Watch out for: knee or hip flexor niggles that flare in a saddled position, and saddle discomfort on longer sessions.
Best for: Achilles, calf and plantar issues where you want a running-like leg cycle without the impact.
Watch out for: chasing heart rate rather than sticking to prescribed effort. It is easy to overreach.
Best for: stress reactions, stress fractures and any injury where zero impact is non-negotiable. It also happens to be the most running-specific alternative there is.
Watch out for: boredom. Interval sessions and a waterproof watch help.
Best for: keeping the aerobic engine ticking over when nothing weight bearing works.
Watch out for: upper body fatigue if you are not a strong swimmer. Better as a supplement than a sole option.
What it covers
Not a rehab prescription for any specific injury, but the plans are designed with the injuries runners actually get. If your physio has cleared you to cross train, these plans will hold you fit for a comeback.
Return to run
The plan tells you when to slot in the first walk-run block. These are the signals that back that up.
We have been here too
Injuries are part of the sport. That does not make them any easier, but it does mean the people writing your plan know what the mental and physical grind of a comeback actually feels like. We are runners first, and we have all had our fair share of setbacks.
Rehabbed from two sacral stress fractures earlier in his career. Cross trained his way through both and came out the other side to run 2:08 for the marathon and represent Great Britain.
One of the hardest working and most diligent cross training runners I have coached with. Turned injury spells into fitness he could compete off, including the 10,000m at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Rehabbed back from knee surgery and returned to consistent running and racing. Knows the frustration of an operating theatre timeline, and the discipline of working around it.
Fully qualified practicing physiotherapist. Every plan on this page is written with her clinical input, so the sessions respect what an injured body can and cannot do.
If you are staring at a boot, a scan or a physio timeline right now, we understand. A structured plan gives you something to control while your body heals. And if the injury has been going on a while, or you keep ending up back here, one to one coaching gives you the same expertise built around your rehab, your kit and your return date.
Questions
Far less than most runners fear, as long as you keep training aerobically. The research on detraining shows that VO2 max is well preserved for the first two to three weeks and only starts to drop meaningfully after that, provided you replace running with structured aerobic work at the right efforts. Running specific strength and top-end sharpness fade first, but the aerobic engine you have spent years building holds up well. That is exactly what these plans are built to do.
It depends on the injury, how quickly you were cleared to cross train, and how disciplined the return to run block is. As a rough guide, expect two to four weeks of walk-run before you are back to continuous easy running, and another four to eight weeks before you are back to full training. The plans build that timeline in, so you are not guessing.
If your physio has given you a return date, take the plan that covers it. If you do not have one, start with the 8 week plan. It sits in the middle of the range and gives you room either side.
Whatever you can get access to. Every session is prescribed by effort and time rather than pace, so it works on a spin or turbo bike, a cross trainer, aqua jogging in the pool, or swimming. You do not need all four.
Bike and cross trainer suit most lower limb niggles once you can weight bear comfortably. Aqua jogging is the go-to for stress reactions, stress fractures and anything where zero impact is non-negotiable, and it is the most running-specific alternative there is. Swimming keeps the aerobic engine ticking over when nothing weight bearing works. If you are unsure, email us and we will point you at the right one.
Yes. The workouts are fully structured in TrainingPeaks and sync to compatible GPS watches and bike computers, so the session guides you through each interval.
No. This is general training guidance for injured runners who have been cleared to cross train. It is not a diagnosis or a rehabilitation prescription for your specific injury. Our resident physiotherapist Mollie Williams sits behind the design of the plans, but you still need your own physio to guide the rehab for your specific injury. Keep doing the exercises they have given you, and stop any session that causes pain in the injured area.
Every plan finishes with a graded return to run block, built on top of the cross training you have been doing. It moves from walk run to continuous running rather than dropping you straight back into your old mileage.
The plan tells you when to slot in the first walk-run block. The signals that back that up are: pain-free during cross training for at least a fortnight, able to hop on the injured leg without pain (where the injury allows), consistent with your rehab exercises, and cleared by your physio. If any of those is a no, stay in the maintain or build block for another week. Rushing the return is the single most common way runners re-injure.
Yes. We can adjust the structure of your week, for example around pool availability or a particular rest day. Email [email protected] and we will sort it.
Want more than a plan
If the injury has been going on a while, or you keep ending up back here, one to one coaching gives you a week built around your rehab, your kit and your return date, adjusted as things change.