Training Through Injuries

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I recently fell when I was running and I broke a bone in my hand.  I was one week from an ultra marathon that I had been training for.  I had fully intended to still run the marathon until I went to see the orthopedic doctor on Tuesday.  My race was Saturday and I told the doctor I didn’t want a cast so that I could run the race.  I mean I still had healthy legs and feet…..right?  He quickly brought me to reality when he said that the bone I broke in my hand was the worst bone in the body to break.  Apparently it gets very little blood flow and healing is very slow and running 12 hours was a very bad idea.  He said in fact you shouldn’t be running at all for a while.  He said if the bone
The culprit who tripped me Cash!
separated more I was looking at surgery, which for this injury is not very successful.  If he was trying to scare me he certainly did because my career as a massage therapist was more important to me than running.  So for this runner, triathlete I was devastated.  I was put in a cast and told not to run and I clearly couldn’t swim in fact teaching my spin class was even hard at first.  When this happened I was in amazing running shape and felt like I would have had a great race.  I didn’t want to lose my fitness so I decided to do the elliptical everyday.  I kept my arm in a sling so I wasn’t moving it at all.  I had another race planned in several months so I figured 3-4 weeks off of running and doing the elliptical would have to do.  I hated the elliptical but I did it everyday up to 90 minutes some days.  I also did strength training for my lower body only.  I was back to running in 3 weeks and when I started running I felt as if I never stopped.  I was back up to running 50 miles a week in just about 3 weeks. 
Many times when people get injured they get depressed and don’t do anything.  You have to be creative but in many cases there is something you can do.  If you injure your foot then you can probably do deep-water running to maintain your fitness.  I was also able to do the recumbent bike when I injured my hand.  Most importantly don’t get frustrated and be creative. 

Train Hard.  Have Fun.  Recover Well.
Coach Cyndee


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