Hi everyone! It’s Ellen here, over from TeenRunner. In short, I’m a teenage runner, fitness-lover, and blogger who lives just around the corner from Grace, so naturally we often link up for runs, bike rides, and ridiculously hard gym classes (my stomach still hasn’t recovered from the last ‘abs attack’ session!). However, if any of you have been following me on Instagram (@teenrunnerblog) or Twitter (@teenrunnerblog) recently, you’ll know that two months ago I was diagnosed with a stress fracture on my second metatarsal. To put it simply, it was (and still is) a nightmare. Now, I understand that the mere thought of a stress fracture is a worrying prospect for ANY fitness enthusiast, and so reading about my experiences for the entirety of this blog post probably isn’t the best thing you could be doing on this Sunday morning…but I think you should give it a chance. Not just because I’ve written it (although that’s reason enough to continue), but because at one point everyone is going to be pushed down by an injury, so I want to give my opinions on rehab for you to bear in mind in the future. Phase 1- Acceptance This injury recovery process has been a roller-coaster ride. Metaphor yes, but I can promise you there’s no exaggeration here. Therefore I’m going to pick out a few aspects of the last two months, because even I don’t have the patience to go through everything…and I’m the one that’s actually got the injury! For the first two weeks, I found myself in a boot and unable to do anything aerobic. With tendon and muscular injuries, it’s true that you can cross train straight away. But with a bone…well you’ve got to let that have some complete healing time. Okay, so the boot did have its positives, but on the whole those 14 days were extremely hard for me. I’m used to being outside, going to the gym, heading out for a session, so when I was limited to basic arm and core work it took a LOT of getting useful. Taking this into consideration, the best way to deal with it is to accept the injury. Yes, I was angry, sad, frustrated at first (especially since I qualified for the English Schools the day before), but after a week or so I guess the process of recovery had set in. This may sound mildly insignificant, but it worked for me! I really did feel a pang of sadness every time we drove past the track, but I soon became focused on the beginning of rehab. Roll on Phase 2. Phase 2- The Long Middle Ground I’ll let you know now that I’m currently in phase two, so this is hot off the press. From four weeks onwards the doctor gave me the all clear to start cross training. As you would expect, I went a little crazy on this. Tuesday saw me racing up and down the pool, Wednesday on the spin bike, Thursday with the aqua-belt. But unfortunately my foot did not react too well. It hurt a little, and kept swelling up. Hence why I’ve now restarted the training programme again- it’s coming up to week 7 and I’ve only been managing about 40 lengths kicking at one time. I guess what I’m trying to say is that even when you think rehab will go smoothly, it quite often doesn’t. For example the week before last I had been spinning every day, but over the past few days I’ve had to stop as it has been aggravating the foot. Spinning is go-to option for most injured runners- but not for me. I’ve personally found the uncertainty really difficult. Truth to be told, I’m constantly worrying about my foot, and am always spending extra time at the gym to keep some level of fitness up. But it’s not all bad, I promise. I can’t wait to get back running, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed going to the gym. It has provided me with an aura of self-confidence, and it’s always reassuring to see yourself progress. Once I reached the stage where aerobic workouts were possible, things got a lot better! Phase 3- Heading into the unknown And here I reach the end of my scrawl. Phase three indicates the slow start to ‘proper’ training. The jogs, the elliptical, and of course, at one point the training session. I’m a good five weeks away yet, but I do know that when I return it will be very gently. Injuries don’t last forever, and if any of you are unfortunate enough to be suffering with one at the moment, I bet that you’ll be a thousand times stronger (both mentally and physically) when you return. Good luck! I would just like to say a huge thank you to Grace for letting me write on her website. If you do fancy following me, the links are below. Grace’s Sunday post is up on my blog right now- definitely worth a read!
www.teenrunner.co.uk Instagram- @teenrunnerblog Twitter- @teenrunnerblog
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HelloI'm Grace, a 18 year old runner, and fitness fanatic. Join me on my crazy journey through life, squeezing in an adventure in every second of spare time I have. Archives
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