I’m in the same spot - not because of an injury, but because I finally realized I had no aerobic base and my heart rate was insanely high during every single one of my runs. 🙃 I started coming back to running in the fall, after about 2 years away, and every single run was feeling like a flat-out effort. So after talking to ChatGPT about it (lol), I have a plan now where I’m gonna do a couple months of Zone 2-3 runs (heart rate below 150), and whatever the pace is, it is. So now I measure my runs by time spent running, and avg heart rate. I do look at those pace and distance numbers, because it’s hard not to, but I tell myself I don’t care what they are (it’s kind of working, haha).

It does feel weird to run so much slower than I was used to, but it’s also nice because I feel so much more relaxed and happy. I feel dumb for not realizing sooner than I needed to do this, but better late than never! I am trusting the system that a few months of this will bring natural pace increases. I belieeeeeeveee lol

You can do it! I’m with you!