By As many of you know by now, I’m dealing with an injury. Luckily, this is really the first major injury I’ve ever experienced. And, for someone who’s been an athlete their entire life, that’s a pretty big deal. With that said, the recovery process is a whole new ball game for me. I spent the first two weeks adjusting and discovering the best ways for me to cope. Now that I’m about halfway into my prescribed recovery time, I have a pretty good idea of what’s working….and what’s not.
The biggest takeaway for me over the last three weeks is that I need to stay action oriented. The days when I stay home and completely immobile are the ones where I find myself bored and unhappy (shocker, I know). I’m looking forward and keeping recovery top of mind without trying to get too ahead of myself. So here’s the action oriented recovery plan that I’m focusing my energy on!
Join In
I may not feel like going to the events that I usually participate in because I have to sit on the sidelines, but the reality is that going to outdoor yoga events and connecting with my running community helps me look forward. This is not a permanent injury so being present with the community will only help me ease back in when my body is ready. Join me at Yoga on The Square this Saturday morning…I’ll be the girl sipping a coffee and Instagramming everything!
Sign Up
As fate would have it, Boston Marathon registration happened to line up a few days into (finding out about) my injury. For those who don’t know how Boston works, they take the fastest runners first and have to verify everyone’s qualifying times. The waiting period was pretty agonizing, but when the acceptance email finally came I was ecstatic! Getting into Boston also gave me the opportunity to look forward at what training might look like — and how I can adjust based on what I’ve learned through this injury. Looking forward at Boston vs. back at the races I’ve cancelled has probably been one of the BEST things for my mental stamina during this injury.
Shift
I’m a race ambassador for CIM (California International Marathon), the race I Boston Qualified at last year. I absolutely love the race (and let’s face it, any excuse to go back to Cali), so when it dawned on me that Dec. 3 was going to be way too soon to run a marathon post injury I was not only devastated, but I felt like I was letting the race down. I didn’t let this feeling last too long though — it’s not worth it. So instead, I decided to adjust my plan. Instead of running the full marathon, I asked to switch my entry to the relay. Now I’ll be able to participate in the race, with mileage that’s suitable for that point in my recovery period. Plus, running less mileage will give me more time and energy to be the best cheerleader EVER.
The race has a really cool relay team finder program, so I was quickly able to connect with two other runners and create our team! Now my new friends and teammates Jessy, Leo and I will be team United by Running (since we met online through running…we’re even making shirts!). The extra silver lining here is that I love relay races and have been wanting to do another one since participating on nuun’s Ragnar team two years ago.
Similar to CIM, I’ll likely also switch to the Aramco Houston Half Marathon as opposed to the full Chevron Houston Marathon in January. But I have until December 31 to make that shift or cancel my entry and I don’t want to get too ahead of myself either way.
Adapt
Echoing my sentiments above about joining in, opposed to skipping out on things, I’m adapting the way I teach my yoga classes. It would have been really easy to just say “No, I can’t teach, I’m injured.” But in my opinion, that would have been giving up. I love teaching and I love my students. It’s certainly been a challenge teaching without some of my typical tools, but I can already tell that it’s making me a stronger yoga teacher. It’s also been a great reminder that change isn’t a bad thing. Change can be a catalyst for growth and that’s the perspective I’ve chosen to adopt.
Share
The last action oriented piece of recovery I’ve taken on is to share my journey. Yes, there are really tough days when I fall on my crutches and don’t want to deal with it anymore, but there are also days were I feel so fulfilled by how my community supports me. I want to share both sides, and the things that are working for me. Injuries suck, but if I can share my learnings and grow from it, then it’s worth it.
By keeping myself active, both physically and by planning ahead, I’ve been able to stay really positive. My lifestyle truly revolves around being active and my injury doesn’t have to ruin that for me! Sure, it’s giving me some much needed rest, but it’s also making me even more grateful and excited for the races and events I have ahead. I also want to know what you’d like to hear about my recovery process. Let me know in the comments and I’ll write a blog just for you!
Loving life on the run. 
Thanks for sharing your story here, I too am recovering from bilateral stress fractures and its not easy. Feels like the longest road to recovery but am looking forward to the many things I’ll be able to do in the future! Your blogs are great and I enjoy reading them to pass time 🙂 so, thanks!
So sorry to hear that you’re struggling with stress fractures. Here’s the good news: I’m a year past the injury and have run 3 marathons in 2018, 2 of which were my fastest ever. Keep your head up, this is making you stronger!
Thanks for sharing your story. I am in the very early stages of recovery from a tibia stress fracture and it looks like it will impact my 2019 running season in a major way. I am one week into things and already going crazy. This is going to be rough to say the least. It’s good to know that so many others have gone through this and come out even better than before.