TFL recovery/rehab

Question
Hi Nick,

I asked you a few questions beginning last month after a TFL tear.  I followed all your advice and sought out other support as well.  Had three visits with a sports injury doctor and have had a few deep tissue massages. Before my TFL tear, the week before Thanksgiving, I was running 13 miles every Saturday (and about 16 miles spread over the weekdays).  I had my 5k time down to 7:07 min miles and 13 mile pace down to 7:27 mile pace.  My rehab has been right on track for what was probably a grade I tear.  I began running a distance of 1 mile three weeks post tear and increasing time and speed in steps.  I'm now going into week 7.  I just completed a 6.5 mile run yesterday at a 7:55 min. mile pace without any pain.  I plan on increasing to 7.5 to 8 miles this coming Saturday.  I want to increase my strength.  What do you think about weight training at this point in my rehab?  I used to get on the stair master and bike and push out some squats on a resistance machine once a week (I wasn't doing this in the months before I had the tear.  Think my lack of cross-training may have contributed, along with other bad training habits, to my TFL tear).  I'm afraid of the squats, but think I need to build some strength.  Opinion? (BTW, thanks for all your advice!  It's great to be back to running again!)

Answer
Great job on rehabbing so quickly and intensely Cecilia! You are very welcome for the help I was able to provide.

I do believe that resistance training is important. Start out with reps of 30 on squats and slowly decrease to reps of 5 within 6 weeks. As you decrease the reps increase the sets. I like squats. Also make sure to incorporate a lot of hip exercises. 1 leg squats of 1 leg sit to stands are an excellent way of doing this. 1 leg balance activities and 2 leg balance activities on an unsteady surface are also excellent.

Don't hesitate to ask more questions. Good luck getting even faster than you were before the injury!