Starting Over…Again!
Do you ever sit down after a long training stint, whether you've reflected or not, and thought to yourself, “How did I get here again?” Well, I've been there all too many times. Sometimes it's obvious why the setback occurred and sometimes it just hits you like a ton of bricks. Either way, training setbacks of any kind just kind of suck.
It can feel like it wasn't worth it or that you just simply failed in some way. I've lived most of my life trying to do my best and knowing that if I didn't, I'd regret it in some way. Whether I felt like I failed or not.
Either way, I think it's worth the grind to see what you're made of. Nothing in life seems to come very easy and I'm glad I wasn't a kid that had everything growing up. I had a good life and I guess what you'd call a “normal” one. It helped create a depth inside of me that I honestly don't think just happens because you're here on earth. I believe most people are in this category, but they just may not have the same perspective or even have thought about it long enough to come to a helpful or at least discerning conclusion. Much less have the right people surrounding them or encouraging them to be their best. Thankfully I’ve had a great circle of people.
Existential Thoughts
I believe a huge takeaway from times like this can go one way or the other really. Typically I think people ignore the issues that got them there. Especially in running. It's easy to focus on what happened in the past, which on one hand makes a lot of sense because there was probably a racing error, training error or an injury that caused the set-back or mindset in reference. Whether the injury actually came from the two aforementioned options or not.
The other prong that I want to highlight in these so-called existential thoughts of the post is that people don't often really do the things that are needed to get better. Doesn't sound existential, but stay with me. I am more so aiming at the deeper parts of the mind and body. So many people walk through life almost or mostly unconscious. I don't mean this to be an ass. I’ve just seen enough people in my circles, podcasts, churches, etc., that just never really amount to what they're capable of. It's sad.
Now I'm there too in a few ways, or just simply other areas of my life. I write this, at 37, and I'm just now getting to a financially independent place. I'm single, no kids. I live with 4 dudes. I will say too, in a house with 4 dudes. None of these things are inherently failures, but damn…it sure feels like it.
Back to the topic. I'm not about to suggest a segue into making sure you feel like you've failed because you haven't done several years of counseling once a week (at least here and there would help 😅) for example. I just mean, often times, injuries are far more than the injury.
There's Always More to the Injury
I'm not going to dive too much further into my thoughts here. I'll do a much bigger post someday on this topic as a whole. However, I want to make sure it's clear that most people don't realize that their injury isn't always just a thing that happened to the body. Sure, if you roll off a curb and break your ankle, that may fall into that category. The body, though, is so complex and intertwined that you honestly can't just say this thing in your calf is only because you run, or run a lot. It can also be connected to your adrenals for example. I believe it's the lateral side of both calves and up along the lateral quad. I'm not an expert there, yet…but my doctor has told me these types of things in the past relative to my running injuries or pains and such.
I'll stop there though. I really wanted to write this post to just start the thoughts in your head. Maybe you need to go to counseling like your gut has been telling you. Maybe you need to actually commit getting more physical treatment to help your body out the way it truly needs. Long-term especially. Or maybe it's as simple as just warming up every time before you run. 🤔
Wherever you find yourself, just use this as a little push to get your mind more connected with your body. Let's do this!
Happy running :)