Friday, August 12, 2011

Even the Elites Get Injured

It's easy to feel alone when you get injured or to think that you're the only person or that the elites have it easier.  Kara Goucher recently posted on her blog about an injury that kept her from racing in London.  She labeled her post appropriately Heartache and Hope

Kara's blog post confirms:
  1. Even the elites get injured.  The injury monster isn't biased about who it attacks.
  2. Elites have access to some pretty sweet equipment.  Who wouldn't want to run on an underwater treadmill?
  3. Running through an injury isn't always the best solution.
  4. Sometimes a setback isn't a true setback in the big scheme of life
  5. Injuries suck (big monkey balls)
A couple things struck me about her post.  She had the tight hip for months and that became "normal" and she continued to run through it.  She used  ART (active release therapy) to help manage the tightness but even ART (which has worked wonders for me lately) wasn't THE answer.  It's muscle imbalances that she can remedy or improve with specific strengthening exercises.  I'm sure her regular routine includes various exercises but in this case the exercises weren't addressing the specific areas.  We runners love to just go out and run and ignore the exercises but those exercises help keep us running.  

Happy Running!

3 comments:

Jen Feeny said...

Her post yesterday really made my day! I hope she recovers quickly and gets back out there to show us all how tough she is!

The Green Girl said...

Thanks for the reality check.

Black Knight said...

Yes they get injured too but can recover in an easier and faster way; they have an organization for themselves: physio, structures, personal-trainers ecc.
Best wishes to Kara.