Lately, I’ve been in a blogging funk, so I decided to participate in a blogging topic challenge. Many of the blog topics are ones I haven’t discussed in a lot of detail. Most of the posts will relate to my personal experience with running, but there might be exceptions too.
Blog Challenge 1: One mistake I’m glad I made
No one likes to make mistakes. The feeling of failure can be one of the hardest emotions to come to terms with. However, if you can learn from a mistake, it’s hard to consider the mistake a failure. We all live, and we all make mistakes.
I’ve made plenty if mistakes in life, in relationships and of course in running too.
One of my earliest errors in running was overtraining and receiving my first stress fracture.
At the time, I wasn’t glad. In fact, I was miserable and upset but in hindsight, I’m glad I made that mistake. Early into my running career, I was running too hard and too fast for every single run. I was running every mile between 7-7:15. My 5k PR was around 20 minutes, and I had never even attempted a half or full marathon.
(To compare now my easy runs are above 8:30 pace or untimed and my 5k PR is 18:22. Running is also not stressful this way.)
While I wasn’t running extremely high mileage (in the 40-50s), the constant pounding and hard running lasted about a month. On July 12, 2011 (also known as my 21st birthday), I ran hard and ultimately ended with a severe tibial stress fracture. Looking back, it’s fairly obvious the cause was overtraining.
Since I was new and had no idea, I thought, of course, I was training well. While injured, I took the time to look back at my training and I learned more about myself and running than I had previously. I began learning that my body is not invincible. Little pains can manifest themselves into larger issues. It was a lesson I needed to learn early!
If I had continued down that path of running, it would have been a disaster and honestly, I would be injured with something more serious.
During my two months of rest and recovery, I learned that running isn’t and never will be everything in my life. I also learned that it’s appropriate to listen to cues of injury. Taking a rest day here and there is far easier than taking 8+ weeks off.
My tibial stress fracture shaped my training now that I’m not afraid to run easier miles, cut back mileage or take rest days altogether. Just thinking about back to back 7-minute miles is enough to exhaust me.
Each injury teaches us something about ourselves. Instead of dwelling in the injury, I think it’s important to look back and realize what can be improved.
Questions for you:
What is one mistake you are glad you made?
Has an injury taught you something recently?