INJURIES | How to Make Lemonade out of Lemons
Injuries
I don’t care who you are and what sports you participate in, but they are a part of life for ALL of us. Especially runners. Given a long enough timeline (not very long for most) every runner will experience some type of injury.
This Blog is not about how to avoid injuries or rehab from them.
It is about the mental and spiritual aspects of getting injured and how to change your paradigm when (not if) you get injured.
Backstory
I have had an Achilles issue/small tears/lots of pain in my Right foot for almost 22 years now.
The timeline looks like this:
FALL 1999
slight tear and terrible tendinitis leading up to my Ironman race. Did PT and kept running till the pain went away (seriously, it was crazy, the pain was to the point that I thought I would have to cancel my race so I went out and did my final training weekend to see how it would hold up – 110 miles on the bike Saturday and 22-mile run Sunday, both in the pouring rain – and I woke up Monday morning totally healed!)
For a while, after that, I told everyone this was the new rehab regime for Achilles issues, not surgery!
1999 – 2007
On and off pain, many tries to fix it, and finally gave up, and just decided to run with pain
2009
I was running fast downhill in a trail race and landed on a bump and felt a “pop” and a very high level of pain.
I kept running.
2009 – 2014
Tried lots of things to fix it, including taking up to 1 month off running, PT, etc. Sometime in here, I must have torn it again because when I finally got an MRI I had 3 tears.
2015
Tried high-intensity ultrasound and 1 month off running. Convinced this would have worked had I not run a hard 50k the day before the ultrasound (true story) – I figured I would just fully damage it, then heal.
No one except ultrarunners understands this way of thinking.
That plan did not work, I was in severe pain again by that fall when I ran the NY Marathon, actually limping by mile 17. (yes, I finished this as well – in a smoking time of like 5 and ½ hours!)
2017
Went back to the Podiatrist that did an ultrasound and he suggested “AmnioFix” and time off (REAL time off, before and after). If you want more information: https://www.mimedx.com/products/amniofix/
Actually listened this time (I had officially hit “rock bottom” – I could still run but it hurt so much it took almost all of the joy out of the journey) and took a month off BEFORE the treatments, then followed protocol to the LETTER after – total time off running: 5 MONTHS! Guess what?
It worked!
I know what you are thinking, if you had saline-injected (which can actually help injuries, btw) and took 5 months off, you would recover!
Who cares, I was running PAIN-FREE for the first time in 18 years!
Joyful does not begin to explain it.
This lasted 4 glorious years, praise GOD.
Fast forward, late 2020 I’m training for January Mountain Mist 50k and I feel the pain coming back. Nowhere near as bad but I know it when I feel it at this point.
This time I got “smart” – I booked an appt with the Podiatrist that did the injections, he wanted me to try PT (aggressive form), stretching, etc first before we did another set of injections.
I did it, tried it all. Didn’t work so I booked an appt. for another set of injections a full month after a really tough summer 50k (in which, I won’t lie, I probably took a month’s worth of NSAIDS – I know not smart but I tolerate them very well – just to finish).
So here we are, 3 months into not running. And we get to the message of this Blog…..
WHAT HAVE I LEARNED?
Most importantly, I do NOT need running to ameliorate my feelings of anxiety, worry, stress, etc. I was able to stay VERY active (lesson here – never ever let an injury completely stop you – unless it is debilitating of course – just modify and pivot) with lots of Upper body and core strength training, swimming, biking, and then hiking after 4 weeks (2 weeks in boot). This was a big relief, I used to say “If God ever takes running away from me I don’t know how I will survive”.
What I do “need” is time in nature. For 2 weeks I was in a boot, so looking back I suppose I could have just gone to a park in the woods and read a book. When I got back to hiking, I was ecstatic!
I needed a break, so God forced me into it. My last 50k I REALLY suffered and truly questioned why I still do these long efforts (I know, 50k is like a kid’s run to most of my friends, but to me, it is still a long way) and the thought of taking time off was a relief when I finished (barely) that race.
I have a group of friends that I will never see again if I stop trail running! This kind of made me sad, I love these people and really enjoy spending time with them but the minute I had to take time off the fun banter on texts, socials, etc, and – obviously – invites to fun group runs basically stopped. Lucky for me I am blessed with lots of friends who are not exclusively “running friends”. I did take this time as an opportunity to try to hang with “running friends” and their wonderful spouses outside of a run – didn’t land at all with most, but I truly appreciate the ones it did with.
My philosophy of “don’t give it energy” works (at least for me). I try to not complain, in general, and definitely about injuries (only 1 or 2 friends knew that my injury had come back) because it doesn’t serve me (or those around me) well – it tends to make things worse for me. I really hated having the boot on because that became the crux of conversation with everyone I would see. My answer was always: “it’s nothing, I just put this on to get some sympathy”. I was very happy to get it off and move on with recovery without having to explain it.
I wasn’t appreciating my pain-free running enough. I am going back to giving thanks every day when (not if) this works again. Never, ever take things for granted especially those around your health.
I am truly blessed, in so many ways. I didn’t need time off or an injury to emphasize this – but it was a good check-in and reminder. I could do a 20-page blog on how many blessings I have in my life – but to narrow it down a bit to this topic, even when I am in pain I can still run it just hurts. I have had many, many injuries that completely stopped my tracks – so painful I couldn’t run a step: Severe ITB pain, stress fracture in heel, broken bones when racing motocross, etc. so I know and APPRECIATE the difference!
I really, really don’t like swimming. This was not an epiphany, just a reminder. The last time I was in the pool was 4 years ago (last time I was in a boot) and while I know intellectually it is a great activity for me, for recovery, non-impact, and a great way to get away from your phone – it’s just not my thing and never has been. I struggle to get in 30 minutes before I am done – I literally have to “trick” myself into getting into the pool by promising myself I will just do 500 yards and then I get to get into the hot tub! (this “trick” works btw, I do it with running sometimes – if I’m feeling beat up and tired, I will say “today you can just hike”… and, 90% of the time, 15 minutes into the hike I feel great and start running. The same thing happens with swimming I don’t think I have actually ever done a 500-yard workout, usually end up doing at least 1000. Look out, Michael Phelps!
Running doesn’t positively affect my body composition or weight. Again, I already knew this, but it is always a good reminder. I actually got leaner these past few weeks. I tell friends and clients all the time if my only goal was body comp I would focus completely on my diet and weight training and do very minimal cardiovascular exercise. I know, it’s counterintuitive, but trust me this is true for probably 90% of the population – there are some hyper responders to cardio and they get lean without losing a ton of muscle, but they are very, very rare and I am definitely not one of them. Again, a topic for another full blog.
Finally, my running is not about running anymore. It is truly just a vehicle to spend quiet time with the Lord, get me to do fun adventures, have fellowship with a fun “family” that understands me, a way and excuse to spend hours in God’s beautiful nature, and an excuse to eat Halloween candy (true story, just ask my wife and friends).
As always, thanks for reading, and God Bless you all!