Biker girl

Almost everyone's been there before. The girls are out on a run, talking, laughing, bonding, and you're sitting in the training room as the sprinters fill up their ice bags, waiting to be poked, prodded, wrapped, and consoled. Yes, you think you're injured. For weeks, the pain in your (fill in the blank) has been bothering you, but the denial prevented you from taking the necessary precautions. You though if you just ran through it, refused to allow it to manifest itself in your training and consciousness, it would silently slip away due to lack of attention. However, this was not the case. Then, as it got worse, you began to take pain killers to get through the increasingly long miles, hoping to just make it through the next meet and then you'd allow yourself a break. Yet somehow the days kept running together, the break never came, and the pain kept worsening, until the day that you literally couldn't run any more. At that point, you had passed the time of no return weeks ago and were substantially injured-- a cowpoke weeks in a boot and a long, slow period of recovery are on the agenda and you're asking yourself what went wrong. Having been there myself, I can tell you what went wrong: you siding listen. The allure of dropping time and staying with the team trumped the logical rest days you should have taken, the cross training days that were so necessary but so unattractive. But, as the girls on my team continue to identify debilitating injuries, I decided to post a quick warning against training to the point of no return. To prevent injury, I take a multivitamin, calcium, do calf raises and hip flexer strength, and cross train. One day a week without running has kept me injury free. Also, running on grass is a huge help. Once you feel the pangs of an injury, buy new shoes IMMEDIATELY. Chances are this will nip the problem in the bud. If not, ice, ice, ice. Don't press the injury. Go see the trainer and get some preventative strength exercises. Start to cross train. All these options allow you to keep training, which is the ultimate goal! I know how it feels to be biker girl, and though you may not want to separate from the team for even a day, think of it as a day of being biker girl as opposed to two months. Believe me, I've been there, and preventative care is much easier than recovery. If you are injured, though, keep your head on straight. I know that I personally had an emotional crisis during my period of injury-- there were tears, short tempers, and feelings of isolation. However, in the face of an injury, you really do learn to love the sport. So, in short, I am just saying that as athletes we must recognize the risks and benefits of our actions. Staying uninjured is the basis for success, but proper recovery is also necessary and beneficial to later success. Keep running, but run smart so that you can do what you love!