Today the Doc On The Run Podcast, we’re talking with Barbara Edelston Peterson about what she did to go from two broken heel bones becoming a Whole Champion.
Just for a moment I want you to imagine something. You made a decision to become a champion. And after years of continual effort and constant training you have won a World Championship.
Today you are packing and getting ready to travel to Switzerland to defend your European title. And then you fall and break both heel bones. In that painful moment everything changes.
You aren’t getting on a plane to go to defend your European title. Instead you’re going to the emergency room.
The question is what would you do to rebuild your life and your own self-perception as an is athlete immediately after that kind of injury.
This episode features a recording from the Live Runners Rapid Recovery Summit in which we were talking with Barbara Edelsten Peterson. If you are injured, you feel like the past several weeks, the last few months or even this whole year has been demoralizing, you have to hear her story.
These show notes just outline the questions I asked Barabara during the event. Listen to the podcast to get the full answers and complete discussion.
Barbara Edelston Peterson is an author, motivational speaker, sports psychologist, and multiple time world-champion triathlete.
No matter what your circumstances, whether you have been injured, you’re stuck in fracture boot right now, or if you have been trying to get back to running but feeling like you lost your mojo, Barbara is going to show you what is possible if you just accept where you are, identify the ways you can do to start getting active and taking action and doc the work to get out the rut.
No matter where you are right now, Barbara has 2 books which will help. book “A Whole Person Makes The Whole World Better” and “Making the Most of Bedrest.”
While you may think those topics have nothing to do with one another, but wait until you hear her story!
Life can change in one instant
One of the reasons I wanted to have you on an in front of our audience here today is because you have one of the most incredible and inspiring stories. One moment getting ready to pack your suitcase to go to Europe to defend your European Xterra title, the next minute, you were on the on the floor in pain with two broken heel bones. The simple fact is that your injury was way worse than the overwhelming majority of people who are going to actually listen to this and my hope is that they will put their injury into the proper perspective so they can realize that, like you, they two can put their own injury into the proper perspective, make a decision to get to work and move forward to come out stronger on the other side.
Why don’t you begin by telling us where you were at that moment you fell and how everything changed in an instant.
Depths of despair
When we met it’s an understatement to say you’re bummed out. And you really seem to be in a terrible place emotionally, psychologically and mentally. But, a wheelchair can have that effect on an athlete.
Loss of identity
How quickly do you feel like you really went from being injured physically, does sinking into this place of despair it was probably associated, at least temporarily with your loss of identity as a healthy athlete.
Taking inventory
The simplest sense when any athlete gets injured they really have to do three things: ANALYZE. ENERGIZE. MOBILIZE.
The first part of that is to analyze. You have to take inventory and you have to accurately assess your situation to get a grip on your circumstances to begin the journey of recovery. How did you do that?
Taking Action
What help you make that shift from realizing you’re injured and waiting to heal to launching into a course of action that would help you rebuild your fitness while you were healing the injury?
Rebuilding one day at a time
I know that as a triathlete with two broken feet, you’re not able to do most of the things you would normally be doing as a component of your training. But you did other stuff. You were swimming with fracture walking boots, you’re cycling in the air Lane on your back on the deck and you certainly were putting World champion effort into maintaining your fitness without disrupting healing process.
So my question is for those people who are injured right now or her in her trying to figure out what they can do to maintain their fitness and get back to running as fast as you did what would you tell them about that process of rebuilding on a daily basis?
Redefining your reality through deliberate decision, personal responsibility and daily action.
Obviously much of your success after that injury came from your deliberate efforts. But all of that stems from decision and redefining your reality. What advice would you get to somebody who is injured as having a hard time getting back activity right now, just because they feel like they’re in this terrible place and they seem stuck, stagnant and unable to climb out of this hole that they found themselves in after getting an injury?
Tell us about your Whole Champion Foundation and the work in front not you now.
I know you presently have been putting a lot of energy and effort into your foundation, where did you get the idea and what are your goals for the foundation?
Last Words
Right now somebody is listening to this who knows that if you were able to do it it might be possible for them, too. So for that athlete he was sitting there right now who thinks that you can’t run because some doctor told her she wouldn’t be able to run, for someone whose family member said maybe you should just cut back and give up running, if you’re sitting there next to that athlete, right now what advice would you offer?
Barbara is an incredible individual and not your normal average runner. But what she does do is the same thing you should be doing if you have an overtraining injury.
You need to figure out what your goal is.
You need to figure out how you can get on the right path today.
You have to start taking action today!
If you only take one small step to move forward every day for the next 10 days, it could save you weeks of time in getting back to running, as a stronger more balanced runner.
If you want access to all 12 speakers who presented at the Runners Rapid Recovery Summit, right now, there’s only one way you can get them… and that is to join the One Run Away Challenge.
During the One Run Away Challenge I will personally lead you through a 10 day step-by-step process of figuring out what your goal is, choose the path it’s going to get you there and help you make the right decision to take the right action every single day.
You get Full access to all of the recordings of the sessions from the LIVE 2-Day Runners Rapid Recovery Summit, just for joining. You can watch your own pace and learn on your schedule.
In addtion, I will check in with you personally to make sure that you stay on track so you can get back to running.
We only have 25 slots available.
Go grab your seat now! DocOnTheRun.com/CHALLENGE
Registration is closing in just a couple of days…so go grab your seat right now!
I would like to invite you to join what maybe the best and most most cost-effective way for you to get back on track any overtraining injury. One of the secrets feeling like one of the secrets to recovering like an elite athlete more professional is to take a step-by-step evaluation and step-by-step actions every single day.
So what I created is the One Run Away Challenge
You are only one step away from the next phase of progress.
You are only one run away from your next long run.
So the run one runaway challenge is going to give you step-by-step instructions for a 10 day transformation. Figure out why you were stuck, what you’re doing wrong missing and what you have not doing it’s keeping you stuck in this right.
Not only will I give you the step-by-step instructions on how to make those determinations all on your own I will actually support you and lead you by the hand through that process conducting six WebCams calls every week, where you can come and check in with me and asked specific questions and get very specific directions live from me throughout the entire process.
Join the One Run Away Challenge!
Open enrollment is starting soon. But it closes right after it opens because we only let 25 people in at a time. If you want to grab one of those 25 slots go to DocOnTheRun.com/CHALLENGE
I’ll see you there!