Life after an Injury
I wanted to write this blog post just to share how my recovery is going & what life after an injury is like. Getting back to normality & a training regime has been hard, after such a debilitating injury.
It’s been over 7 months since I returned to the UK from New Zealand, after breaking my back out there & I’m finally starting to feel like I’m getting my normal life back.
Normal life for me is a hectic & chaotic combination of adventure, training, travelling & planning. Not to mention the more trivial reality of work and university. It’s a busy lifestyle, but that’s what I’ve come to love and thrive on – without it, I feel lost & lacking direction!
We’ve been blessed with an absolutely incredible summer this year in the UK & I suspect myself, like most others, have just been too busy living life, instead of adhering to a training routine! When its 20+degrees in the UK & the offer of a BBQ & beer comes around – any other training or adventure plans go straight on hold! This aspect of life after an injury has been pretty sweet!
In a way, this has helped give me more time to allow my fractured vertebrae to recover. I was told absolutely no running for 6 months, but that didn’t mean it was guaranteed that on the day of the 3rd July, my back would be miraculously healed & ready to run again.
So whilst I’m unbelievably stoked to be able to go running again – I still have to take it easy. Intense weight bearing exercise still causes my back problems. I can’t run every day, nor at any high intensity. I can feel it immediately in my lower back if I put myself under too much pressure.
I can’t lie, life after an injury is pretty frustrating – most people would be grateful to have some form of normality back. But I just can’t call it my normal routine yet. Normality for me is what most people describe as chaos!
Prior to my injury, running was my escape – it was my way of releasing endorphins & reducing stress levels, it was the answer to any bad mood or crappy day.
I was never pro-athlete standard prior to my injury, but my typical pace over ten miles would be sub 7 minutes per mile. I’m now nowhere near that & I just can’t train at the intensity to get back to that – yet. So whilst I’m loving the fact I am able to run, I still feel restrained.
To describe it, it’s like you’ve just been let out of a glass box after 6 months & you can see everywhere you want to go – but you’re still restrained on a leash. You can only go so far – I’m not a patient person at all, so life after an injury can be agonising at times!
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all doom and gloom, in fact it’s quite the opposite; I’ve rediscovered my love for cycling! Cycling helps with my posture big time & this has been absolutely brilliant for my recovery. Cycling keeps my back arched in a nice and supple, positive position, putting little pressure on my lower spine.
I’ve spent so many evenings this summer riding my bike from my front door – either to work, or exploring the absolutely breathtaking Ribble Valley. The Ribble Valley & Trough of Bowland is a road cyclists dream; quiet roads, stunning scenery, undulating landscapes for miles and miles. It’s so easy to get lost and just follow your nose, before eventually ending up somewhere near where you initially planned!
The best bit? I don’t have to drive anywhere! I can get everywhere under my own steam, which is just THE most satisfying thing.
(forget the part where I’m paying a finance agreement on a car which now doesn’t get used!)
Cycling has given me such a feel good factor over the last few months, if anyone sees me out and about on my bike, I can guarantee I’ll be grinning from ear to ear!
One of the challenges I set myself for this year was to run the Yorkshire three peaks; a 24 mile route over Pen-Y-Ghent, Ingleborough & Whernside. So as part of training weekend a couple of weeks ago, I decided to run up each one individually, over 3 days.
On the Friday night I completed the 8 mile loop over Whernside, Saturday the 6 mile loop over Pen-Y-Ghent, but my god did I struggle on Sunday on Ingleborough – I managed the run up, just… before my back gave out on the way down.
So near yet still so far. The recovery days afterwards weren’t particularly pleasant & it was here I learnt my lesson – this full recovery is going to take time. Another frustrating aspect of life after an injury. Like anything good; it takes time, dedication & patience.
For that reason I’ve kind of decided that this year is a bit of write off in terms of achieving the challenges & things I had in mind. So I’m going to put my challenge, travel & adventure plans on hold for this year – rather than keep on adjusting and tweaking plans and moving dates further out due to setbacks.
This feeling of ‘failure’, whilst not a failure at all, has left me a little fed up. Making a plan to achieve a goal by a certain date, only for it not to happen. I’ve learnt that setting a date to work towards meant I was pushing my body too hard, beyond its current physical limits.
So I’m just going to wipe the slate clean for this year, get the ideas out of my mind for now and just focus solely on my rehab. Now I’m building up very slowly, increasing either the distance or the intensity every few weeks – it’s a slow process. One which I under-estimated and am learning the hard way. But getting the recovery right, to avoid future setbacks in the main priority right now – life after an injury requires short term pain, long term gain as some would say!
Like everything in life, things happen when the man above decides it is our time – as Alex Staniforth illustrates in his book, ‘Icefall’. Alex’s Everest ambition has unfortunately been jeopardised by circumstances outside of his control on two attempts. His Everest summit will happen when the time is right – and I’m sure he’ll agree, it’ll taste so sweet!
In the meantime, we just have to take each opportunity as it comes, always looking for the things to be positive about.
So whilst this year is solely dedicated to fixing myself up good & proper, it’s going to allow me to take some time for myself. Have a think about what I’m doing & where I’m going, as well as saving some money & putting plans in place for next year.
Stay tuned for my next post, which will be all about my challenge goals & aspirations!
