A Lesson in Patience and Perspective

Normally around this time I am deep in the heart of race prep--fast track workouts, ferocious bricks and lots of recovery--but since you can't always control what is ahead of you, instead, I am slowly but surely becoming Aqua-jogging State Champ material.  Yes, you guessed it, I've got a little bit of an injury going on.

There are two main reasons I wanted to write this post:

1.  Injury is part of the game--you push too hard, and don't listen to your body then you have no choice but to..."Go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200"...but seriously, you're forced to sit it out
and let your body recover.

So yes, it's part of the game.  Luckily this is my first time dealing with an injury related to triathlon.  I have a mild overuse injury in my hip that will go away soon enough with proper rest and TLC. I did make one big mistake in dealing with injury already, however.  I was on my way to a speedy recovery and figured that since it only hurt a little bit this meant I could go a little harder--this eventually resulted in a piggy-back injury in my foot/ankle.  While this injury is also mild and I will recover "soon enough" I could have entirely avoided this by truly listening to my body.  So I guess the first big reason I wanted to share this experience with you all is--- have PATIENCE! I know it's hard, most of us that compete in this sport love it because it entertains our type A personalities.  The same drive that inspires us to push ourselves to the absolute limit acts as an Achilles Heel when it comes to injury.  I think we sometimes feel that we are superhuman and if our body gives us one sign of recovery, this must mean we are ready to push the limits again--WRONG, be patient!  Because I lacked patience with the initial injury in my hip, I now don't get to compete in the race I was most excited for this year--Chicago.  A large portion of my extended family lives in the Chicago area and this race is a "home away from home" for me and because of my lack of patience I don't get to compete this year.  So let this be a lesson for all of you---patience is key, your body will recover just let it!!


2.  Injury is NOT the end of the world.  There are so many reasons why a small injury can be a good thing.

Believe me, it feels like gloom and doom to find out you are injured (even a minor injury).  Two days feels like two months and a week feels like a year when you are pulled away from your regular training regime (welcome to my life the past couple of weeks!). It can be quite depressing, however, there is a BIG world outside of triathlon and taking a step away can put things in perspective.  It is so easy to put ourselves in this myopic view of the world when training for a big race (or season), but to be honest,

Quick Read w/ lots of Awesome Recipes

there are a lot of activities, people, things that you don't realize you are neglecting until all the training hours are taken away.  For me personally, these past two weeks have been filled with hobbies that used to be a high priority--drawing, music, reading, cooking.  Not to mention having the extra energy to devote to relationships (Lucas, my family) has been really nice. Do I miss the sweaty, mind-testing hours of training? HELL YES! Am I hungrier than ever to get back to training and do all of the little things right? HELL YES! I'm enjoying my time away, stopping to smell the roses, but I'm also counting down the days until I can build back into some beastly training sessions.

So the lesson has be learned and my world has been put in perspective, but it is all part of the journey.  Even though I'm super bummed about the timing of everything, it could be so much worse! I'm lucky that I can make these realizations without having a HUGE career-ending injury and hopefully by sharing this experience with you it will add to your arsenal of lessons that you can draw from in your own training!

So please, enjoy the heck out of your next long run for me!

Until next time :)

@nicoletruxes