Setbacks Become Successes

If you have been following me you know I have been struggling with a knee injury (IT band) for about two and a half months. I have been going to physical therapy to work on my flexibility and strength. I must say therapy has really helped, because my IT band no longer bothers me. I started swapping the bike for the treadmill as a warm up....one minute at 2.0 speed and 5 minutes (somewhere between 3.2-3.5) nothing higher. Just a light jog to get my heart rate up and making contact with my knee. Then up to a total of 8-10 minutes or until I no longer can. But let's be honest eight minutes is the max I can do! It is hard to listen to someone else when all you want to do is push yourself harder, but you know if you do it could not end well.

I started to be very cautious of how I run/walk. Because instead of my original issue it was as my right foot was landing my knee was going in, causing the inside to hurt & then I was feeling burning underneath my knee cap (tendinitis)

How are my feet landing?

Is it something I can do to prevent it? 

Should I take bigger strides?

Come down softer on my feet?

The PT asks how I feel as I'm winded (since its the only cardio I have done in 2 months). I tell him I try to consciously make an effort of thinking how to land and he says stop, don't do that. Because this simple motion should be natural. So my next step is to ask, "how does this get fixed?" it all comes with practice, working on my at home exercises, and having someone watch me/video tape me as I'm doing my agility work to see what I'm doing. 

The struggle is real. It's difficult to be told no. It's hard accepting you are limited to exercises you should do. No one wants to be told don't push yourself to hard. And everyone wants to be fixed, but QUICKLY!

But how do your struggles become your successes?

 

Every struggle pushes you to your limit. You listen to your body and understand exactly what you need. This diagnosis may seem so little to some, but to others it may be a different story. But we all have two choices: you can either accept it & push forward doing all the things you can to make yourself better OR you can throw your hands up &give up....the choice is always yours.

That is EXACTLY what I did. I could have told the therapist no, I don't care about never running again. Is it a life or death situation? No, but it would be nice to run when I can. But I choose to fight. I choose to do whatever it takes to be able to jog or sign up for another 5k. And in the process I grew my muscle strength, flexibility, and overcame it. But it is nice to enjoy your hard work for just a little while. 

Only for a little while? YEP! Because in the middle of fixing my IT band (which it is strengthened) it has brought out another issue....not because of fixing it, but because my IT band has never been properly functioning neither have other parts of my knee. I now either have a stress fracture or petula tendonitis. How fun right?

So now that physical therapy has come to an end, what does that mean? Do I stop and quit doing all the exercises that were given to me. NOPE! I still continue to do them. Practice makes perfect and I have to continue to build up that strength & I have to continue to work on getting my knee straight. If I stop doing what I have been doing for the past two months all my hard work is going to get thrown out the window and honestly it will all be for nothing. That first time I run; I will be right back where I started. So even though we have overcome the first issue (success) we now have another issue on hand (another setback). And that is just okay. Because every little setback makes up for a bigger & better comeback.

 

When you receive bad news, get diagnosed with a health issue, or you become injured...YA it is never fun & you may not know what you are going to do, but you have two choices when this happens. You can either throw your hangs up & give up before the journey starts. Or you can choose to fight this battle full force and give it everything you have got.

 

Your setbacks make you into the person you are today and the person you will be down the road. The choices you make today help determine your future. Like the book "the slight edge" says stay consistent over time, there may be things you do not always feel like doing, but do them ANYWAYS.

 

Consistency is KEY! 

 

And that is what is going to make you stronger. That is what is going to allow you to overcome your struggles and your setbacks!