So I feel extremely blessed to have made it almost a year into my fitness journey and I have not had an injury until Sunday! So I have this bucket list per se and I have things that I really want to accomplish in my lifetime. One of the things on my list is to run a 5k! Not a very big goal and totally doable but for a person who HATES to run and looks absolutely ridiculous doing it, it’s a big DEAL! So some fellow Pittsburgh coaches asked me to run the relay in the Pittsburgh Marathon. I accepted because I knew that if I didn’t have a goal in mind I would wuss out and not do it. So I signed up and of course I am waiting until the last minute to start training. I really feel like I am in pretty good cardio shape and won’t have a problem training and running. So on Sunday it was a beautiful morning and I got up and decided today was the day that I start! I got my iPhone out, downloaded my music, got my running program set up and off I went! By the time I was done running I was literally dragging my dog along beside me. She couldn’t even keep up! I was rather impressed that I could run about 2 1/2 miles without stopping. I am pretty confident that I can do the 5 miles by the time we do the race in May.
Now, I get home take a shower and about 30 minutes later my knee and leg start throbbing. By noon I cannot even walk on it! This happened to me last time I ran and I just thought that I had bad shoes. In a day or 2 it started to feel better and I was back to normal. But I hadn’t ran since then! So when it happened again a red flag went up and I questioned whether or not I was running the right way. So I have been putting ice on my knee and today I hit up my PT for an evaluation. I have a messed up IT band and the start of shin splints. GRRRR! So he gave me some exercises to do and I’m going to work super hard at getting myself back in tip top shape for the race!
So this brings me to the point of the story! When you have an injury you can do 1 of 2 things! You can either let it defeat you or you can say to yourself that you are not going to let it DEFINE who you ARE! So in my case, I am going to listen to my body and not injure myself more by forcing it. I am in Phase 3 of P90X2 and PAP Lower is my workout tomorrow. Which means a lot of plyometrics and jumping. Instead I am going back to phase 2 and doing some shoulders and arms and taking a walk or riding my bike if I feel good. I am going to follow the PT exercises I have and take care of myself. I am going to eat clean and watch my calories. I will not lose ground I will just refocus. I am NEVER going back to my old ways and I’m certainly not taking time off! Exercising is not only a way to keep me in shape but it makes me feel good and relieves my stress! So if I were to stop I would not be my happy chipper self! Instead, with anything in life when you are thrown a curve ball you make adjustments to your swing! You don’t hit the deck and give up, you do what needs to be done to hit that home run!
That’s the difference between those that hit the home run and those that strike out! What are you going to do today?!?! Are you suffering from an injury or a curve ball in life? Are you gonig to let it define you or make you STRONGER?!??!
