Injuries! They're suppose to be a lesson; a point of reference; a painful reminder of our fallibility. They remind us that our bodies aren't quite as strong and indestructible as we'd like to think they are.
One minute your striding out feeling good, mind wandering to that up coming race, the chance of a PB, then twang! As if you've just been shot, like a cyclist in the tour de france, you pull up in agony. Your body stinging your senses with signals of distress.
The injury occurrence may be painful but is by no means the most painful aspect of being injured. It's the slow burning recovery which is the real stinger. If injury is like an obstacle in the road then the recovery is a series of climbs. The hardest climb being rest. The nemesis of many an over enthusiastic runner. Rest is the last thing you want. You want to be out eating up the road, clocking up the miles, pushing towards your goals. Not splayed out on the settee resting!
But what if you don't rest enough? You think you've done enough, you think your sorted, the pain's subsided, you'll be fine. Your use to pushing through the pain barrier. Ignoring nagging thoughts while out on a run. tricking yourself in to thinking your feeling good, just one more mile, one more stretch of road. This should be easy! Oh how wrong can you be!
You've ventured back on to the road. A nice easy, sedate five miler to get back into the swing. Nothing strenuous nothing taxing, a mere recovery run. You start off ok, feeling good, even thinking about striding out. Then just after a mile or so you make a turn step on the gas a little and bang! Like a satellite guided tomahawk into the back of your leg. You explode in a scream of pain and despair. Why didn't you listen, why didn't you learn? Because you think you know better, you think you can kid your body, but you can't!
Listen to your body. Listen to the pain. Otherwise you'll be resting for a long, long time!
