The Truth about Injury

This May I skipped short term for several reasons, one of which was to be healthier and get a head start on my training. This was the year things would go right. This was the year I wouldn’t get injured. This was going to be my year. Instead, I came home to an immediate injury to my poor mouth with my wisdom teeth extraction, a persistent cough that lasted a month, and my second bout of IT band syndrome.

Injury is something most of us have experienced. It sucks. It feels unfair. Most of the time it comes out of the blue. It took one run after a week of recovering from my teeth to send my knee over the edge. As with every injury I’ve had, I considered quitting.

Injuries are what athletes fear. We fear not making our goals because we have become “compensated”. The real truth about injury is that it is an opportunity for a fresh perspective. The truth is that through PT, twenty five needles being stuck in my leg, and time off, I learned something valuable.

My first step was recognizing that I wanted to continue. Injuries happen to everyone and they don’t mean that your season is over. Instead, they are an opportunity to expose and work on your weaknesses. I have spent a lot more time rollerskiing this spring and in the Fiddler gym (i.e. my garage) picking stuff up and putting it down. Strength has always been my least favorite part of training, but as I’ve gotten stronger, I have realized the value in it.

During this process, I’ve also learned a lot (maybe more than I wanted to) about my body. Through acupuncture, I learned that the gal bladder channel is linked to the IT band and to the shoulders. It is also linked to the liver channel, which is related to stress and anxiety. Now, I was a little superstitious about Chinese medicine, but somehow all of these channels make sense. I have tight shoulders, IT bands, and am an avid worrier. So now I’m a believer in acupuncture, bring on the needles!

I also had to come to the recognition that my body is bizarre. I have a turned pelvis due to slight scoliosis (how fun!) and my knees don’t align with my shins. So, like everyone else, I’m not perfect. Through PT and a more refined strength plan, I’ve improved my hip strength and overall body strength to help support my weird body.

There have been a lot of things I didn’t expect that have come out of this injury. I’ve gotten to spend a lot more time with my really cool physical therapist and quirky deep tissue masseuse. I have recognized the importance of strength training and stretching. Most importantly, I am more grateful of the things I can do.

When I was in Sun Valley with my parents in early May, I was so disappointed that I couldn’t run the miles of trails that I trained on senior year of high school. That ended up being the first time I realized that I could hike. So I hiked around, with some nagging pain, but one day I said, “if all I could do was walk, I think I’d be a happy person.” It turns out I ended up seeing a lot more of the scenery than I ever did while running those same trails.

I volunteered at our local half marathon this past weekend and watched hundreds of runners with all kinds of weird gates. I wondered how the heck these people could run thirteen miles when I could barely run ten in a week. Then, I backed up and remembered when I couldn’t even run two steps several weeks earlier. Today I enjoyed my first run with little to no pain, progress is being made.

So injury, although feeling like a hindrance, can be an amazing opportunity to slow down. It can remind you of your values, make you learn something about yourself, and spark your determination. Injury is just another challenge where you have to make the decision get up and take the small steps forward. Like my girl KC says, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

Exploring SV

There are always sitting activities...

Grateful to be able to hike with the awesome group of teenagers I'm coaching for the summer

Until next time,

Snorel