Overcoming Injury Blues

Guest Blogger Jerry Allison

Three weeks before my third marathon and after my 18-miler, I had shooting pain in my foot. I thought I had tweaked something, so I took a couple days off.

But the pain stayed for a week and I finally went to urgent care. After scolding from the doctor about not taking calcium, I got an X-ray. Sadly, it said I had a stress fracture. The doctor said no more running.

And that meant no third marathon.

I wanted to scream which is normal after finding out you have an injury. So here are some tips if your going through an injury:

Scream and holler: Being injured is no fun, and if you want to scream do it the first day. Then move on, wallowing about the injury isn’t going to make you feel better.

Find out what you can do: When I broke my foot, my doctor told me I could swim, bike and do yoga. So I spent a month doing a lot of yoga.  A friend who recently broke her foot spent a lot of time in pilates classes because if she couldn’t run, she’d get killer abs.

Rest: I know most runners hate it, I most certainly do. But rest is the best medicine with an injury.

Visit your local running store for advice: I’ve had really bad IT band pain since August and have made a lot suggestions to local DC runners with the same issue. A coworker of mine knows a lot about achilles pain. So go in and ask, a lot of the specialists will be able to give you advice.

Don’t do too much too soon: The first thing you want to do after given a clear bill of health is to run and run. But be careful. Too much too soon, may aggravate the injury. So go back into running slowly, you’ll be back to full speed in no time.

A lot of the ambassadors suggested swimming and pool running. Charlie suggested spending downtime focusing on learning from the mistake that caused the injury and how to prevent it.

But no matter what you do, you’ll come back from the injury smarter.

Jerry Allison lives in the DC area. She can be found working the Pacers running store floor, fitting runners for shoes. If she’s not there you can find her running the trails, writing for her blog, Eat to Run Run to Eat, or watching the newest Bravo marathon. She ran her first marathon for her twenty-first birthday and has completed six halfs and two fills since then. If your looking for new shoes or gear, IT band advice, or just want to talk, find her on Twitter.