On the Relentless Pursuit of Pain-Free Flight
Training Journal: When physical therapy feels like it’s falling short
For the past month, I’ve been injured without fully admitting to myself that I’m injured. Have you ever been there before? It’s that cumbrous state when things aren’t quite feeling right, but you push on for just one more mile, or two…or maybe three. For me, it’s been the left hip flexors. Plotting about at an 8-minute per mile pace is fair game, but opening up the stride and getting into race pace feels awkward and limpy.
The flow state I seek while running at tempo or threshold paces isn’t flowing quite as naturally these days. As a consequence, running has felt forced, unproductive, and less enjoyable. I’m surviving, but it isn’t all that pretty.
After several weeks of pretending things would disappear if I just kept ‘running it off’, I finally took some time off to focus more on physical rehab and cross-training. This was a humbling experience as I’m used to being the one dishing out the exercise prescriptions and rehab plans. Being on the other side of the chair isn’t fun, but it’s necessary sometimes.
This was a much-needed reminder that physical therapy works like a dream. As I manage to stay relatively healthy, it’s easy to forget just how powerful simple exercises can…
