Greasing the Grooves For Runners Microdosing Post Injury

March 9, 2026 | By DLake

Microdosing Post Injury

If you’re coming back from a long break off or injury, I have a kind of dope way to navigate running. Most conventional run science wisdom says to ease back in with your normal running. Think 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and even 60 minutes in the first week or two. This is especially true of more experienced runners who get used to the two-hour-long run, and anything less feels “weak”.

That might just be backward, as your lungs and heart get fit fast. But depending on how long off you’ve had and what your injury was, your bones, tendons, and ligaments might need a sequence of activities that are quite different

So, in contrarian nature that I always do, I started doing this thing called microdosing or greasing the grooves when I returned to running, or I’m tiptoeing around a potential injury that might be bubbling up(​shouts to Pavel Tsatsouline, Russian Kettlebell Master and low-key comedian.​)

And… before the run science police call me out – I don’t have scientific studies and data behind this theory, BUT I am basing it all on first principles and it has worked for me and a few runners that I coach. So take this with a grain of pink Himalayan rock salt and try it out or remix it for yourself.

Why Should You Do This?

• You can get cardio back by doing elliptical, swimming, cycling, because that’s no problem
• What you CAN’T get back on an elliptical, though, is the repeated eccentric impact loading your musculoskeletal system as it needs to remember how to run on hard surfaces (and get used to it again)
• With this method, you can focus on the frequency of impact, not the volume or intensity – even a few minutes at a time works.

How To Do It

• Walk/run short workouts or just walk/run to as many destinations as possible instead of driving: work, store, school, whatever
• 5 mins here, 10 mins there, 5-6 times in a week spread out means slow adaptation and the chance of injury is low (while your body is building up the bones/tendons/soft tissue fitness)
• Double sessions in a day? Even better (remember we are only micro-dosing a little bit at a time, so the risk of over doing it is very low)
• The goal is to keep moving. Stay easy, never push, and ​running/walking​ is highly encouraged.

New to run commuting/don’t even know WTF I’m talking about? Cool because I did a full deep dive ​here ​on it, and it should shed some light on it, and it’s such a great hack to get in “free” base aerobic volume.