What I tried this week: Looking at psychological effects of a runner not running

Jessica Kuepfer was hit by a car in September. It put an end to her season and as she recovered, she had to face the psychological effects of not being able to do the sport she loves. She tells us what she faced mentally in the journey to regain strength.

In my last post, I shared my story of getting hit by a car while riding my bike this past September. Not only did it total my bike but it also put an immediate stop to my fall races. Any runner that has been sidelined by injuries knows that there are psychological effects of not being able to train or compete. For the first couple weeks, I felt ill from my injuries and lack of endorphins. I felt like a vital part of me was missing.

I have dealt with running injuries before but this time, there were more unknowns. I didn’t know when I would return to my regular training nor did I know the extent that my injuries would have on future performance. There were a number of things I needed to work through psychologically as I healed. Here are some of the big ones:

Denial: I most certainly could not deny that I was injured, but part of me truly believed it wasn’t as bad as it was. I continued to participate in a few events because I simply could not wrap my head around the fact that my fall season was over. Not only did I perform poorly, but it undoubtedly set back my healing time.

RELATED: What I tried this week: Returning to running after an accident

Fear of missing out: Just as the leaves were getting crunchy, the air was getting crisp and the perfect running weather was surfacing, I needed to bow out for the season. At first, I welcomed the extra time in my schedule because I has to sort out accident aftermath and get caught up at work. As I started to feel better though, I began to feel increasingly frustrated that I was not able to be out training and racing with everyone else. To deal with this, I firmly established in my mind that I just had begun my off-season early. I focused my attention on rehabilitating my injuries, rebuilding my muscles and getting adequate rest.

Feelings of failure: Despite the fact that the accident was out of my control, it didn’t stop me from feeling like I had failed in some way. As runners, we are often in motion so the idea of resting and recovering, especially when everyone else is out moving, can weigh heavy on our psyche. I tried to listen to my body and only returned to training when I began feeling strong enough. It meant being out of commission for over a month, but I am slowly returning as a stronger and wiser athlete.

Fear: I needed to deal with a bit of fear too. For starters, I was worried that the accident had caused irreversible damage on my running performance. Secondly, I was injured while out training and I often use cycling as a means to cross-train. I needed to critically think about whether I wanted to get back on a bike. I tried not to dwell on it and just allowed time to pass which slowly brought back my confidence and mental edge to allow me to get back out on the roads again.

You can find me on Twitter @lacesandlattes and my personal blog.