Injury Will Slow You Down

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In one way or another injury will always slow you down.  This may be voluntary or may be forced upon you by your body or doctor, but sooner or later injury will slow you down.  Now, I am not saying you will definitely get injured, as there are some very fortunate runners that have remained injury free (I think a total of 2 of them).  I also am not saying that the ultimate outcome will be that you are slower as that would just be an ignorant thing for me to say.

Injury just seems to be a part of running for most people.  I know of very few people that have been able to avoid a running injury.  If you spend any time on Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, or Dailymile you will see someone talking (or in my case whining) about being injured, dealing with an injury, or recovering from an injury.


Not only did I not run the Publix Georgia Marathon this past weekend because of injury, I also ran my slowest Half Marathon ever while running the Publix Georgia Half Marathon.  Am I upset about this?  Not anymore.  I was a bit disappointed immediately following the race and especially when I got home and checked my times from my previous 13.1's.  I didn't remember what my time was on my first half marathon, but I knew I may have been slower.

This injury has slowed me down in multiple ways.  First, I physically started to run slower to try and baby my sore thigh.  This was because of the type of injury it was and a lengthened stride that would come with faster running could possibly irritate the already sore muscle.

Second, I took a full week off about a month ago, and then ran very few miles in the subsequent weeks leading up to the half marathon.  This lack of mileage took it's toll on me with my fitness and it was quite noticeable on race day.  I was still quite ready for the half marathon distance, but not at the same pace I would have been had I been actually training more than 2-3 times a week.

The third and most embarrassing way it has slowed me down is that I now have a little extra to carry around with me.  My mileage has not been this low in longer than I can remember, and with that lack of physical activity combined with poor food choices and portion sizes, I have gained some unwanted weight.  I knew what was happening but I have had trouble changing the habits.

What can I do about it?

The first and second reasons for slowing down will fix themselves once I get past this injury and rebuild my mileage.  In fact, times like this can actually make you stronger and faster in the long run if you are smart with your return to mileage and speed work.  Until the time that I am healed there is not much I can do about these reasons.  Slowly returning to the mileage and speed work will help keep injury away.

The one thing I can do a lot about right now is the weight gain.  I am sure the weight will start coming off again once my mileage builds back up, but I cannot wait for that to happen.  I need to be making wiser food choices both in quality and portion sizes, and I need to start making those better choices now.  Waiting for the mileage to return is only creating excuses and not taking care of the real issues that are causing the weight gain.

Please join my accountability group, beating squat, or whatever else you want to call it and help keep me accountable for what I eat.  Feel free to leave a comment on any post asking how I have been doing.  The Facebook Fanpage, and Twitter are also good outlets as is DailyMile, and even good old fashioned email at info@262quest.com.

Do you have problems with injury?  Does it also cause you issues with weight gain because of the unneeded calories you consume that you are no longer burning off?  What about food choices during that time, is it harder to make the wise choices?

Please chime in, I would like to know that I am not the only one that struggles with this.

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