Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we’re talking about how you can use your running success to plan your injury recovery.
The most difficult thing about being injured is not having a plan to follow.
As Mark Spitz once said, “If you fail to prepare, you’re prepared to fail.”
So if you’re an injured runner and you’re trying to figure out how to get back on track and get back to running the most important thing you can do right now is to plan your injury recovery.
Here is a simple straightforward exercise that will help you through that process. It’s actually one of the steps I’ve laid out for you in the Runners Rapid Recovery Journal.
No one becomes a champion without believing success is achievable.
The good news is that you are a runner. You already became a runner. You know you can do it. The bad news is right now, you probably feel down. You may even be wallowing in a little puddle of injury-induced self pity. Your confidence tank is running on empty. But you can fix that by just remembering and identifying with that healthy accomplished runner inside.
Prepare for your journey ahead, by looking back at past successes.
Think back to when you first decided to start running. When was it?
Why did you decide to start running? Did you watch the Boston Marathon? Did you have a family friend who was an inspiring runner? What was it? Write down your original motivation and your reason for starting to run.
Think back to your first 5K or 10K or marathon, one that felt like your first “real run” that went well, when you first felt like you had put in the work, and completed and an event which defined you as a “real runner.”
If you have trouble with this part of the exercise there’s an easy way to get past it. Just write down how your normal non-runner friends would describe you as a runner. How would your friends describe you, as different from them?
If you write these things down you’re going to realize that you actually have all of the tools you need to train for a marathon. You also have all the tools you need to overcome this overtraining injury right now. Do You have to have a plan. Start figuring out what your goal is. Figure out what you need to do right now to change direction and get back on course.
Just don’t forget…you are a runner! You can do this!
Go check it out!
Get the Runner’s Rapid Recovery Journal…
