With injury comes opportunity to focus on mental training

Even through injury, writing in my running journal is still part of my daily routine

It’s not news that the body must to be trained in order to be a long distance runner. What’s less obvious is the importance of training the mind. Several weeks ago, I wrote about mental strength and how it’s just as, if not more, important as physical strength.

I now have the opportunity to put my mental strength to the test, and to build on it. At this moment, I’d rather be out running than writing, but that’s not an option. I’m on mandatory rest. Standing, walking, or doing anything that puts weight on my left foot for an extended time has been nixed as I try to heal a suspected stress fracture. The likely cause is too many training miles on pavement in a too minimal shoe. Jason (my coach) always makes sure practices are on softer surfaces but most of my alone training has been on pavement (that will be changing).

I first noticed the pain on Monday during an easy 10K morning run. I felt it again on Tuesday, but didn’t think too much of it. Then, as I warmed up for Wednesday night’s practice, I started out slow in hopes that it would work itself out. I could barely go a full minute without feeling significant pain. Over a 30-minute period, I ran and then walked, ran and then walked, ran and then walked. By the time I got to the track, I couldn’t hold the running part of this cycle for more than 15 seconds. I knew something was wrong.

Jason took a look at it and we talked about next steps. The plan was first to stop running that evening and then see my physiotherapist the next day if I still felt pain. Thursday morning came and the pain persisted, so I went in. Signs pointed to a stress fracture, with a chance that it may be a flared up tendon, or ligament. My physiotherapist advised me to see my doctor for X-rays and an ultrasound. Off I went Friday.

Doctors suspect that it’s a stress fracture. I will get the results next week but for now, we’re treating it as such. Since my physical training is on hiatus, there comes an opportunity to mentally train. I train my body with a lot of intention, with very active and purposeful engagement. So if the mental is just as important as the physical — which I believe it is — it’s important that I train my mind as actively and as my body. In many ways I do, but there’s always room to get stronger.

I have a choice. I can get frustrated and lose patience, or I can stay focused and put my energy towards healing. That means ice, heat, stretch, yoga, write, read, learn and hopefully within a couple weeks, I’ll be back at it cross-training. This is a mental exercise in processing and dealing with the unexpected — it’s not the first and it won’t be the last.