Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Hitting A Brick Wall


It’s been a little quiet over here on my blog.
Do you remember when I ran the #GhettoHalfMara with my run buddies? Do you remember how I said that it felt like I was killing my knees? So as it turns out, I was.

 It wasn’t just the half marathon, I was generally overdoing it.
After about a month of thinking "Oh, it'll just go away!", and it not just going away, I decided to cut down on the running (nope, hadn’t decided to see someone just yet.) I started doing knee strengthening exercises and running shorter distances with less frequency. I told myself that I could have 2 weeks, and if it still hurt – I’d go see someone. Well, I went to see someone.

I found out that I had, indeed, “overused” my knees. I was prescribed some exercises, some SuperFeet insoles and ideally, I need to stop running (for now).

It has been three weeks since I last went for a RUN.
5 reasons why I dislike this fact?:

1. Not being able to go for a run with my run friends just plain SUCKS.
When you're a pretty busy person, running with friends can be an extension the entirety of your social life. Not being able to run with your run friends, usually means you don't see your run friends.

2. Running burned A LOT of calories.
This gave me more wiggle room. Not burning those calories, means no poutine keeping a closer eye on what I'm eating.

3. Being in pain is exhausting.
Pain makes motivating yourself to move your body A MILLION times harder.

4. Not being able to do what you enjoy makes exercising a chore.
Imagine having to watch repeats of a terrible movie instead of watching a new awesome one. That's what exercise can be when you don't enjoy what you're doing. Which, in turn, makes motivating yourself to move your body AN EXTRA MILLION times harder.

5. Numbers are my motivation.
Being motivated by doing "better than the last time" can get you into trouble. (Exhibit KNEE). However, not being able to do as much activity as I was used to also gives me the feeling of “Why even bother?” When you can't get the same intensity or improve from where you were, it's hard to motivate yourself try.

My knees are definitely better than they were 3 weeks ago, (thanks Dr.Stefanie Yao) but I’ve never been very patient with injury recovery. I’m doing everything I can to not F*#$ this up.

I've hesitated updating my blog because I wasn't feeling accomplished - It's hard to share your struggles. But what I've realized, is that overcoming these struggles will be a greater accomplishment than running a bajillion kilometers.

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.” – Randy Pausch

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