Today on the Doc On The Run podcast, we’re talking about how doubt does the most damage to a recovering runner.
Doubt comes from confusion and confusion leads to paralysis when you’ve been injured and you don’t know what to do to maintain your running fitness. Here’s the thing. If you’re going to doubt anything, when it comes to your running, what you should doubt is not whether or not you should eat this, whether or not you should take this pill, whether or not you should do anything.
What you should doubt is the timeline that you have been given that was actually designed for lesser patients. When doctors give standardized protocols for recovery from a standard injury, they’re always built for standard average patients and let’s face it. Runners are not average. You’re healthier. You’re more motivated. You pay closer attention to what you need to do to get stronger. And that is not what average patients do.
So when you get a timeline, that’s not really designed specifically for runners, it will hold you back predictably. Now think about what you do in training. You get clear on your goals. You get clear on the work you have to do to achieve those goals and then you start getting stronger by getting into action. That’s what you have to do when you’re an injured runner. You really need to think about where you are right now. Is your pain going down? Is it feeling better? Is there anything you’re doing to maintain your running fitness? And if you’ve been told to just rest, the answer to that is probably no, but you have to get into action right away.
The way to do that is to get clear on your goals. You need to pick a timeline that is actually based on goals of activity, not waiting, not waiting for an x-ray, not waiting for some blood test, not waiting for your next appointment with a doctor, but figuring out what are the things that you can do right now that will not put stress on the injured tissue that will help you maintain your running fitness right now, if you do not do that, you will not get back to running faster.
When you do get back to running, what’s going to happen is you’re going to be running a whole lot slower predictably, because you’re losing all your fitness while you’re just sitting around waiting. All of that waiting is a result of doubting what you can do. You have to focus on the stuff that you know works. You need to focus on your sleep, focus on your nutrition, and focus on getting stronger, not waiting while everything gets weaker.
Now, if you enjoyed this episode, please like and please subscribe. Please share with somebody who’s a runner who needs to hear it, and I’ll see you in the next training.
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