Here it is, week 4 of no running and trying to stay sane. A few weeks back I injured myself at work lifting too heavy of a weight and pulled my groin. Bit of a frustrating injury.  I thought it was slight so I pushed too hard and ran on it after a week off and needless to say I couldn’t walk the next day and had to find myself a pair of crutches.

Every thing in life can be used as a learning curve. As soon as I realized it wasn’t just an ache but a real injury I jumped into the pool. Pool running has been my salvation; Try it! Just grab a water belt and jump into the pool for 1-1.5 hrs and get a great workout with minimal pressure on the injury. I’ve been using a great workout guide http://kemibe.com/distancecoach/labreports/water.shtml which has a 9 week progressive plan to stay in shape during injury time.

What hit me is the memory of last time I was in the pool telling myself “I am going to keep this up so I don’t get injured – as prevention. ” But I didn’t – my own fault. Since hitting a more elite status of running, I’m realizing more and more that running over 100km weeks requires a lot more focus on recovery.  My body doesn’t bounce back like it would at 80k weeks.

I’m using this recovery to do research and learn more about running. Here is my new plan post injury (hey at least if I write it down I’m more likely to do it)
– pool running 1hr minimum 1x/wk
– additional weight training exercises on top of my core exercises
– yoga 1-2x/wk
– foam roll every night (instead of netflix)
– pay attention to aches and pains

It’s easy to get busy and say I can’t but saying “oh I could have been better but I’ll never know….” that’s not an option.  If I want to be the best I can be I need to look after myself and push my limits in more ways than just mileage.

Hopefully this helps you think twice about your routines so you can stay out of forced recovery.

Run on!