“You can’t always get what you want, but you get what you need!” 

Nobody wants to be injured, especially athletes, but sometimes, just sometimes, it could be that an athlete ‘needs’ to be injured.  What?  Are you crazy, Janelle?  Have you completely lost it this time?  Maybe….but maybe not.  Hear me out…

I’ll start from the beginning.  I have been working through yet my second strain injury in my foot this season.  My first was in the early spring and now this one.  It is frustrating, yet doctors, physiotherapists, and orthotists all agree that we have found the reason for this and it is something that can be corrected, so this is very comforting news.  But in the mean time, this means that I will not be quite ready for Longhorn 70.3 this weekend in order to ensure a full recovery so that I can race my second Ironman in November.  Arizona is the plan, but we’re also considering Cozumel to buy another week of healing/training time as Cozumel is only one week later, so we’ll see, but the focus is to get full recovery first, as that’s the only way. Anyways, that will all be decided within a week’s time as recovery is assessed, so for now, back to the ‘needing to be injured thing’….

Getting an injury JUST when I started going at this full-time was really frustrating.  There is already so much change to regular life and then the one major focus and goal that you’re working towards is not even something you can go at 100%.  Sure, you can work the swim, bike, and although water running is an incredible thing (and one that I believe allows athletes/runners to get even faster for the long term)  it is still not ‘running’ and you can’t ‘water run’ in a race.  Too bad…cuz I’m getting good at it!!! Ha! 

I have, therefore, spent a bit of ‘down in the mouth’ time over this. Basically feeling sorry for myself and then trying to find ways to control the issue.  Constantly thinking about the injury, wondering, worrying, stressing.  Pointless things really.  But eventually, a person can only be in that kind of a bummer mindset before they get tired of it, and that’s when the glimmer of light comes on.  “All righteeee…I’m not getting what I want, that’s clear, so what do I need to learn from this?”  Time to reflect.

For each individually injured athlete, what they need to learn is going to be different.  A fundamental aspect of any person who is looking to excel at anything, albeit in sport, their career family life, or other, is that they must all be willing to continually improve themselves.  Without this innate desire, or even understanding, you won’t get there, and you’ll eventually be halted along the way, so the will to improve…. this is key. 

Athletes often tend to see improvement as something they need to ‘train harder’ to do.  But this is not always so – it is not always physical.  All the strength, power, and endurance in the world might get you to a very high level, but it probably won’t be enough to take you to the top if you don’t have solid mental/emotional aspects of self to match.  For me, right now, I know that I am being taught patience and flexibility.  I need to learn these two things and understand how they are important for me as an athlete on this journey before I can continue onwards.  In order to be taught this lesson, I needed to be injured, to be forced to stop and reflect. Setbacks are a part of life, and certainly not easy, but they provide you a unique opportunity to hone your coping skills for future life events, which, most certainly, happen….to all of us.  It’s how we deal with these things that matters in the end, and which separate those who can from those who don’t.

 If you are injured right now, I am sure it’s not what you want.  So ask yourself, “What do I need?”