Fitness Related Injuries: These Shoes Were Made For Running
By admin
And that’s just what they’ll do…
Yup, I did it!
Yesterday I put on some layers and laced up my Mizunos for a 3.2 mile run. The first time running since the terrible Kiawah Half. I’ve been a good little girl, listening to my body and allowing my foot to heal before trying anything (anything is outlined more below).
My foot isn’t 100% but it’s close to it and I couldn’t pass up the chance to take Dan out for his first training run. On trails no less!
Training run? I know I can hardly believe it myself, but Dan is doing a 12K trail race with me at the end of the month.
This is a guy that hates running, so I am pretty excited that he wanted to do this run. In fact, with my foot there was a time when I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to run at all, and he told me regardless he was going for it.
That’s a man on a mission!
I ran this same race last year but the 17K option… with my foot still healing and due to the lack of training, clearly the wise choice was to move down to the 12K.
Let’s Talk Recovery…
6 Tips To Come Back Strong After A Fitness Related Injury
Unfortunately, injuries happen. Especially if you’re new to exercise and jump in too fast… or if you’re a veteran of exercise and you don’t allow your body to rest/stretch properly. Basically, do too much and you’re risking being stuck on the sidelines.
That’s what happened to me, I pushed myself too hard, kept telling myself that the little pain I was feeling was nothing, and decided to continue on. Continuing on is what hurt me.
So first and foremost, if you feel like something is “off”, get it checked out. If it feels off, then it is off. Something extremely small like a tight muscle can lead to much bigger problems if left ignored (hello, my foot was a result of a tight calf).
I’ve had almost 4-weeks of downtime to devote to recovering…
What has that entailed?
**I am not a medical doctor. If you have an injury, talk with your doc. This is what I’ve been doing with my own personal recovery.
—> No sitting on my butt.
Just because I had an injury doesn’t mean that I had the green light to do absolutely nothing. That’s the worst thing I could do, yet it’s what so many find themselves doing. Getting back into fitness is 10x harder not only because you’re out of shape but because motivation as fallen too. Do what you can! Even if that means planking in the kitchen…
I did the stationary bike and continued with high intensity strength training. The only thing that stopped was running (since that’s what hurt)… well and some plyo exercises.
—> Focusing on the issue.
Like I mentioned, my foot injury was a result of an overtight calf muscle. I’ve been stretching that puppy out like crazy to make sure the injury doesn’t come back as soon as my foot is healed and training picks up. Foam rolling, massages, and yoga have been my go-tos for muscle relaxation. Oh yoga, how I love you. Find out the cause of your pain and treat it!
—> A Recovery Diet.
Nutrition is so important when it comes to body’s natural healing process. If you don’t have the proper nutrition then recovery will be much slower. I’ve been keeping a clean diet high with anti-inflammatory foods and getting plenty of healthy fats, lean protein, iron and tons of vegetables. Salmon, garlic, ginger, brussel sprouts and lentils have been my go-tos!
—> Listen.
I can’t stress it enough. I think it’s because it’s the hardest tip for me to follow. But it’s essential! Listen to your body. It will tell you when you should and shouldn’t do something. For a split second yesterday, I thought about running a mile or two more after we finished the loop. But I could tell that the 3 miles was plenty enough and if I did any more I might regret it after. So I stopped. I felt great about that choice.
—> Start small.
After you’ve gotten the okay to get back to your activity, take small steps. I’m still keeping training to a minimum. Anytime somone comes back from an energy, slow and steady is key. The worst thing I could do is go out and just Forrest Gump my way around town. Recovery doesn’t mean go balls to the wall. It means testing your body and getting back to where you were slow and steady like.
Parts of the race we’ll be running…
—> Be patient.
This is hard! During the first mile I looked down and saw I was running a 9 minute mile. For me, that’s SLOW. I’m used to running low 8’s. For a moment I thought about speeding up, but then decided to ignore the pace on my GPS and just run. My body would speed up if it felt it could. I finished with an 8.44 pace. I’ll take it.
This part sucks, and it can be frustrating but it’s necessary. Don’t expect to be awesome from the get go. Injuries are very humbling!
Trail Running In Charleston
You might be scratching your head, wondering if trails even exist in the flatlands of Charleston? Sure they are far and few in between but they’re there. About 6 months ago, we stumpled upon CawCaw Park about 10 minutes from our house. The trails go through historic plantation areas, old rice patties, and woods… they’re beautiful! The biggest course is a 3.2 mile loop, which is what we did.
Trail running is the best, and I can’t wait to dive deeper into it this year!
Have you ever been injured from working out? How did you handle it?