Running With Setbacks: Part 2
The correlation with ambition in running and career
This is part 2 of a 2-part series.Part 1 is here.
In part 1 I used an analogy with career, to illustrate why injuries are so devastating to a runner. Then I categorised these injury setbacks into Manageable setbacks, and Unexpected setbacks.
Being injured so many times, I’ve had plenty of time for contemplation, to re-analyse, and to re-gauge what you need to do differently next time. Here are the main things that these setbacks have taught me:
1) You can’t separate body from mind. We all may wish we could replace every injured limb with hyper stemcell replacements on steroids or, be a human head on a robot body, I don’t know. But we’re better if we learn how to deal with things with constraints. Get the right sleep, eat the right food. Train or work productively instead of as a zombie, and you’ll get so much more done.
2) Look to the future, and learn from the past. It sucks when you’re sitting on the couch, readjusting your race calendar, while seeing your friends post on social media about the awesome progress they’re making in their runs. Adjust if you can and cross train, or help out an event. Channel that extra energy into something that will push you forward. When I got injured in July, I bought a month’s pass to a cycle studio and did that 4 days a week instead.
3) Running through it is the cowardly option. There is a convention that running through an injury is courageous. I like to think in terms of the opposite — ignoring the problem and not taking it head on, is actually the easier, less courageous option. You’re better in the long term if you deal with problems early and often.
4) There are no quick fixes. Quality over quantity gets longterm results. When stepping up to the next phase in training, consistent, quality workouts are usually more effective than blindly increasing the milage. If you’re jumping from 5km runs to 20km runs in a week, you’re looking for quick fixes and you’re going to get injured.
5) Think independently rather than follow the herd. Sometimes it’s tempting to run when you shouldn’t if you train with a group, and that group has some awesome and inspiring people in. Somebody might say to you, “oh yeah I have that injury as well, but yesterday I ran 20km”. You might then think to yourself, “I only ran 2km, I should be running 20km”. No, resist the urge to join the pack even if people are shrugging their shoulders at your injury. You’re the only one who knows your body.
6) Stay in tune with the competition but don’t focus on it. You might keep hearing about how person B is now beating person A, and it should’ve been you beating person A because you know that you’re better than person B. You’ll get your time if you keep focusing on your injury. But when you focus on the competition instead you’re going to rush out before your body has finished healing, and then you’re going to be out for twice as long.
Patience could be a final lesson learned, but I’m still pretty bad at that…hopefully this’ll be the last injury for the year, and I can meet some goals, start feeling good, and put my motivation to good use.
