Injury Update

I've been injured since the middle of May. I was running along a trail when these ninja rabbits came out of the woods, started chasing me and throwing carrots at me. One carrot hit my calf really hard and caused it to cramp up. Those rabbits can throw those carrots really hard! Well...ok. So that's not really how it happened. It does sound a lot better than getting a massive cramp in your calf from rolling over in your sleep though, right?

I guess lucky (or unlucky) for me, I'm familiar with how to treat calf injuries. I had to change my training plan. There needed to be more focus on stretching and riding the bike and no running until I could walk without limping and without pain. I also made good use of my Tiger Tail stick to help roll out my calf to help it loosen up. The Tiger Tail stick was used by my physical therapist the last time I had a calf injury. Gotta keep using what works!

A couple weeks went by and I was starting to feel better. Definitely not 100%, but I was able to walk without limping and without pain. Here's where things went downhill though. I had the Bayshore half marathon coming up. This was a race I was really looking forward to, and I thought I'd be ok. Boy, was I wrong! The race didn't go as planned. Around mile 6 my calf started acting up again, so I wised up and didn't try to run through it. I knew there wasn't a way I could run through it for the next 7 miles. But I didn't want to quit the race and DNF though. I began the long 7 mile walk to the finish line. Eventually I did cross the finish line and got my finisher's medal.

After the race, I went into hardcore recovery and rehab mode for my calf. I knew I had to give it more time and more attention if I wanted it to heal and get back to running again. I got some calf sleeves from my local running store to help with the recovery. Instead of going to the gym and running on the treadmill before work, I started focusing on the bike again and was including more time for stretching, core work, balance work, and strength training. I would ease my way into including those activities during each morning at the gym.

I gave myself 3 weeks of dedicated time to focus on working my way back to walking without pain and without limping again. I had a few races planned during this time I didn't run. I had to do this the right way so I didn't re-injure myself again.

I'm feeling really confident at my approach for rehabbing my calf this time around. This is the last week of riding the bike at the gym instead of running. I will finish this week on the bike at the gym and try running again on Monday. It will be a slow process to get back into the swing of things with running. I just need to have patience and know with hard work I will be able to get back to kicking out those miles again.

Quick Thought - Races and Phone Calendars

Quick Running Thought #1

With almost everybody having smartphones these days, I'm surprised more races haven't added links to add the race information to a runner's phone calendar. Many runners use their phones as their only calendar and can look at the calendar more often than having it written on a paper calendar. Having to add the race information manually can be a pain. There is information that could get mixed up or not even entered at all. The last thing a runner wants is to show up for a race late or completely forget about a race!

I would think a race would have a link to 'Add to Calendar' with the following information:

• Date
• Time (for the first race scheduled if there are many races scheduled for the day)
• Location address
• Link to the race website (if one exists)
• Information for where parking is available
• Option for alerts or notifications for when race is a week out or a few days away. This would help runners remember the race is coming up.

Having all this information added to a runner's phone calendar will help make their training and planning for race day much easier.

Injuries happen. What can you do when you are injured?

Injuries suck! The simple fact of not being able to run is sometimes more painful than the injury itself. It doesn't have to be that bad though. You have some opportunities to focus on other areas within the 'running environment'.

Opportunity to volunteer at a race

So you can't run your next race. That shouldn't stop you from still being part of it. Races need volunteers! Races wouldn't be as awesome as they are without them. There are a lot of different ways you can help out. You can help by:

• Help setup and break down the course before and after the race
• Hand out race packets before the race
• Monitor the course to help runners follow the correct route and make sure spectators and traffic stay out of the way of runners
• Hand out water during the race
• Hand out finisher medals at the finish line.

Great opportunity for cross training

There are many injuries where you can still ride a bike, use an elliptical machine, work on strength training or even just getting out there and walking. Just because you're injured doesn't mean you have to sit around and wait for the injury to go away.

Able to evaluate your training plan

Take a look at your past runs. Maybe there is something there that will help identify why you got injured (increasing daily or weekly mileage too fast or running through some slight pain that turned into your injury). Looking at your past runs can also help keep motivation going. You can look back and see the hard work you've put in and what you've been able to accomplish.

Time to learn about your injury and how to prevent it from happening again.

Take the time to research your injury. Maybe the injury happened because of a muscle imbalance or because you were running in shoes that need better support or were needing to be replaced. Talk with your doctor or if you know the exact injury, read up about it in books or online. Use available resources to learn how to get yourself back on the road again and not have this injury return again in the future.

Being injured doesn't mean sitting around and do nothing. The more you're able to keep active in the 'running environment', the better you will be both physically and mentally.