How to “Recover” from a Traumatic Injury

I always told myself I would post on this blog again once I had recovered. After I ran my first 5 mile race I thought—ok should I post now? Is this it? Am I recovered?  Then I ran my first half marathon and still felt like I wasn’t recovered. Even when I ran a second half marathon where my pace was actually speak-aloud-able I still didn’t feel like I could post.  This wasn’t a full marathon. This wasn’t a recovery. In trying to figure out if I had fully recovered yet I googled recovery. Here’s what it said

Recovery: “return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength.”

At that moment I realized that I will never turn back to NORMAL and so I will never recover. Because the accident has changed me. It has forced me to grow. I have created a new normal. A new better normal.  Here’s how I got there.

(Please keep in mind this part of "recovery" comes after finishing PT and being completely cleared by a doctor)

 1) Don’t listen to other peoples experience or advice. Your experience is your own.They will bring you down. Over and over again. They will want to tell you all about how long it took them and the pain they still have.  This includes me. Your experience, recovery, and time frame will be unique to you.

 2)   Learn your injury and your limits. Know when to stop. Learn the difference between an achy pain because you’re rehabbing from a sharp pain because you’re pushing yourself to hard.

3) Throw away your timeline and calendar. Don’t give yourself a date when you want to be back at a certain pace, mileage, ect.  Rushing yourself with an injury equals hurting yourself. Steps back cause frustration you probably can't deal with.

4)  Talk to someone who knows a thing or two about traumatic incidents. Let them help you. You won’t get anywhere with constant fear. Running isn’t really possible if you’re too scared to cross the street.  Good luck running marathons a on a treadmill.

5) Run with friends- the conversation will ease and distract you from new unusual anxiety producing  pain and they won't let you push yourself too far.  They’ll also force you to cross the street even when cars are a little close.  Exposure therapy. 

6)   Go to Barry’s Bootcamp—the incline and short spurts on the treadmill won't hurt as bad as miles and miles of pounding and will kick your ass into shape fast. Will also help get some speed back.

7)  Have a completely different workout routine than before the accident—in fact don’t have a routine at all. Your injury will feel different all the time so you have to go with the flow. If you planned to run 6 miles tomorrow but you woke up and your ankle was swollen and sore sounds like you'd have to go to spin instead. Oh well. 

8)  Start small—get comfortable with short distance and short races first so you can still feel awesome and not completely crippled.

9)  Have a pre accident PR and a post accident PR. People will tell you to only compare yourself to post accident so you can see your progress. They’re right—you need to keep track of your progress and give yourself so many props for how fair you’ve come. But they’re also wrong- keep your pre accident self in the back of your mind so you stay determined. 

10) During a race (when you have more than enough time to think and distract yourself from the annoying pain you still have) take time to think about everyone who got you here. Moms, Dads, friends, boyfriends, coworkers, doctors, and kick ass physical therapists. 

Over 2 years later not much of the accident still really gets to me. Not the pain, not the quick flashbacks of the accident, not the scars. But as I sit down to write this I realize there is one part that is still bringing on the I’m about to cry feeling in my chest.  And that’s the love and support everyone gave me.

I will never say I am happy that this happened to me and I would never want to go through it again. 
But what I learned about the love and kindness of so many people around me I will never ever take back.