Always on my mind
This year I’ve done more blogging than usual, but one thing I continue to struggle with is being able to put all of my thoughts out there. When I look back at posts over the past few months, I often refer to my injury from last fall/winter, but I fail to fully explain how it has truly impacted me.
Coming back from an injury is the absolute toughest thing I’ve encountered since I started running in 2004. Injuries have come and gone and eventually I stop talking about them, but they’re never far from my mind. I believe that the mental aspect of coming back is far tougher than the physical aspect.
Last year’s ITB injury continues to be a hard thing to shake from my head. I think about it all the time. I talk a lot about it, too. I learned a lot of lessons from the end of summer and early fall about how I screwed up with some things with my form and lack of core work; there’s no doubt that my worst injury ever has actually made me a smarter and better runner.
My fear, though, is that I become overly cautious. As I begin to hit mileage I haven’t seen in a while, I fret about how my ITB will react. I can’t let that hold me back though. I have safely built a base and been as consistent as ever. I’m half marathon ready, meaning that I feel like I could go out and run an awesome half marathon without side effects.
If for some reason I start to feel pain or have to hobble away from training, I can’t have any regrets. And that’s what this post is all about — no matter what happens, I do not regret going for another marathon.
I know it sounds weird saying these things after two PRs this month and an otherwise good year of running with my comeback, but I have to put all this out there. It’s kind of like my little way of getting final closure on the mental aspect of this injury.
Image: smokedsalmon / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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Yup, i have something drafted up right now, similar to this, but more girly of course.
Glad you're able to express it, because I feel the same exact way. The injury traumatized my running world!
Actually, as weird as this sounds, this is my favorite post from you in a while.
My IT band has been on my mind a lot lately too. And it's been 2 years since it has stopped me from running an event.
I call it the axis of evil and something about just calling it out like that seems to help. I can't help it…I'm just wired strange.
Here's wishing both our IT bands behave as they should!
PS agree with Steena…one of m favorite posts here.
Axis of eveil! I love it! I'm taunted by my ITB and my PF. I'm still trying to find that sweet spot between pushing myself and overtraining.