Today on the Doc On The Run podcast we’re talking about the two rules from Warren Buffet that can help injured runners.
There are two rules from Warren Buffet that could actually help all injured runners get back to running sooner, if they would just understand how these same rules can be applied to them, and not deviate from those rules under any circumstances.
I think almost everybody knows who Warren Buffet is, but if you don’t know, he’s a guy who started out with about $10,000 as an initial investment, and he has since turned into $84 billion.
Whether you like math or not, whether you’re an accountant or not, and whether you’re a financial advisor or not, you have to agree that this guy knows how to not lose any money and how to make money grow.
The same principles apply to you when you’re an athlete. You have to take your fitness and build on it over and over and over, without losing any ground. It’s the same as financial investments, in that respect.
You have to make forward progress without having any huge losses. And as we all know, when you’re trying to build your running fitness, it takes a very long time to make significant gains in your running fitness.
When you get injured, you have a problem, and you can lose ground very, very fast. One of the most famous quotes from Warren Buffett and the one that is probably quoted the most,
“Rule number one, never lose money. Rule number two, don’t forget rule number one.”
And the way that this applies to athletes is that we have to remember we cannot lose our fitness. It’s just too difficult to rebuild. It takes too long as an athlete to recover from long periods of inactivity. You cannot afford a setback when you are in training for a marathon or an Ironman.
Rule number one is, “Don’t get injured.”
Rule number two is, “Don’t lose your fitness.”
If you do get injured, you will lose your fitness, and you just can’t afford to do that.
The normal treatment routines doctors give injured runners most of the time is to simply stop exercising, rest, recover and heal. But it’s not that simple.
You don’t have to lose all of your fitness just because you’re in the recovery process.
Don’t throw in the towel.
Don’t give up.
Do something.
Stay fit through the injury recover process.
Strengthen everything else that isn’t injured in your system.
If you work on maintaining your fitness now, when you do heal that one injured metatarsal bone or your Achilles tendon or whatever that one injured piece of tissue is, that actually has sustained an injury, you will be better equipped to return to running and support that injured part and protect it as you ramp up to regain all of your running fitness.
That is the key to recovering and returning to running as quickly as possible.
Don’t ever forget, you can control the fitness losses when you are injured.
To do that, you have to have a goal. You need to work daily to achieve that goal, even if you’re injured.
Don’t think you just have to sit by passively watching all of your fitness gains dwindle away, realizing it’s going to take many multiples of time to get it back. It doesn’t have to be that way.
You can stay fit. You can maintain your running fitness even if you are injured.
Remember, Rule #1: Don’t lose your fitness.
Rule #2: Don’t forget rule number one.
If you have a question that you would like answered as a future addition of the Doc On The Run Podcast, send it to me PodcastQuestion@docontherun.com. And then make sure you join me for the next edition of the Doc On The Run Podcast!