Mon: Rest

Tuesday: 3m easy 8:45/pace

Wednesday: 25 min legs/hips/triceps, 2m walk with LE

Man, I’m a terrible blogger. Sometimes life becomes more important than sitting at a laptop though.  Hope everyone is okay with the once in a while shesgoingthedistance.com becomes shesnotbloggingforawhile.com. 

Let’s get down to it. Summer is my favorite time of the year.. it comes with my favorite two holidays– Independence Day and my birthday.. so i’ve been extremely busy lately.

Playing board games…

Eating too much watermelon…

Enjoying the long nights & sunsets…

Watching L.E. sleep…

and growing my hair. haha

You know, the usual. 🙂

Recently I began running again! Hooray! The IT band pain has completely cleared up and every time I run I literally tear up I’m so happy. I don’t know what it is about running that makes the day better, but i’m not gonna question it!  Here are a few tips on how to maintain fitness & keep positive during injuries!

Dealing & Working Through An Injury

1) If you’re working out and feel an “OW!” pain as opposed to a “muscle burn” pain, you should stop what you’re doing. If the pain continues, go seek a medical professional’s opinion. I trust my chiropractor, so he’s always my go-to when somethings off.

2) Figure out why you are injured. Was it a freak accident or is there a weakness to address? Whatever it is, make sure you find out how to correct & strengthen your weak areas. Strengthening & rehabbing your injured area should be your top priority while taking a break from running. If you can’t work the injured area, train the healthy areas (ex. if you have a lower body injury, train your upper body. If you have an upper body injury, train your lower half).

3) Try and maintain fitness by cross training, pool running/rowing/cycling/elliptical/strength training, whatever you can do without causing your injured area to worsen.

4) Nutrition needs to be on point! Those extra hundreds (sometimes thousands) of calories you normally burn while running aren’t there, so step away from the pizza, ice cream & cookies. Try to focus on healing your body from the inside out & eat foods high in anti-inflammatories (berries, fish, etc.). I truly believe solid nutrition can help speed up recovery. And WATER IS KEY! Stay hydrated!

5) Reach out to others who have been or are injured. I searched the hashtag #itbandsyndrome #ITBS #itbandinjury while on Instagram and man alive, i didn’t feel alone anymore. I felt support from a lot of runners and it made me feel better that I wasn’t the only one dealing with this problem.

6) Re-evaluate your previous training plan and try to pinpoint where it went wrong. Did you increase mileage too quickly? Were you skipping the warm ups/stretching/foam rolling? How many miles are on your shoes? This can go on and on, but usually if you review your training logs you can find a reason. My issue was just not doing enough lateral movements in my workouts, causing weak hips which couldn’t stabilize the IT band.

7) Stay positive! Most runners have small injuries that can heal in 4-12 weeks. Running is not life and death. Being sidelined for a month or two isn’t the worst thing in the world. Sure it sucks, but IT band pain, or a strained muscle is better than being in a cast or needing surgery. Use the time off to appreciate your body, appreciate your love for running and discover new ways to stay in shape!

Week of June 15th-21st Workouts

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 25 min TRX total body

Wednesday: 3m easy 8:53/pace

Thursday: 20 min stairmill

Friday: 25 min hips/hamstrings, 1500m row

Saturday: 1.8m walk

Sunday: 3.6m easy progressive 8:33/pace, 1m walk 

Total Mileage: 6.6 running, 2.8m walking

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Week of June 22nd-28th Workouts

Mon: 2.3m walk, 30 min hamstrings/shoulders

Tuesday: 3m easy 8:50/pace, 15 min lat pulldown circuit + Pushups

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 2800m row + upper body & single leg exercises + core

Friday: 3.3m progressive run 7:45/pace

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 5.1m walk/run easy

Total Miles: 13.75  <—moving on up!

Comment below with your tips for getting through an injury!