Don't Ask for Injury

It's Friday - YES!  It's been a great week, getting back to consistent training and also spending a lot of late hours working on plans for our new McKinney facility.  (If you thought our current youth and junior programs were awesome, just you wait...).

I've primarily been swimming and biking this week, though I did get in a good interval run workout on Wednesday.  My swim yesterday got cut short cue to some pain in my right rotator cuff - so I'll go ahead and take this time to address a serious issue that I see with 90% of age group athletes, and sometimes even with newer elites.  Consider this situation: you are in the middle of a workout, and you suddenly feel pain in your knee/shoulder/ankle/back/etc.  What is your first response?  How do you deal with this situation effectively?

Many amateur athletes, due to a fear of being injured and not being able to stick to their "plan" will try to "push through" the workout and more likely than not will end UP injured, even if they weren't already.  In most cases, the first signs of pain aren't actually injuries!  They are just signs of tired, tight muscles that need a little more recovery time, stretching, icing, etc. Unfortunately, many athletes will panic at the first sign of pain, and try to keep going in hopes that the pain will "work itself out."  This is the worst thing you can do - tired, tight muscles are more prone to injury, so you are actually asking your body to injure itself when you take this route.

Don't ask for injury!

"Pushing through" spot pain in workouts is NOT a sign of toughness, but of ignorance in an athlete.  The correct procedure for this kind of occurence is as follows:

1. Slow down - see if an easier pace eases the pain.
2. If you are still in pain, STOP.
3. Stretch out the sore area and surrounding muscles GENTLY (do not overstretch), and do some EASY dynamic stretches to try to loosen the area and get more blood flow to the affected spot.
4. Test the area by beginning the motion again at an easy pace.
5. Hopefully at this point you will have worked out the muscle and will be able to continue your workout.  HOWEVER - if the pain is still there, it is time to end the workout.
6. Roll, stretch, ice, compress - be careful not to over-do any of these things.  Don't punish the muscles, just work them out.  I recommend a coach/chiropractor/massage therapist's assistance in this if it is something you are new to.
7. After a day or two, re-test the problem area at an easy pace.  Look for changes.  At the point that the pain is gone, you can try to push a little harder.  As soon as you feel pain again, BACK OFF.

An injured athlete is a slow athlete - DON'T BE THAT ATHLETE!  I can't afford to be, because I'm going to have a bunch of little college girls on my tail come May.  You don't want to be because we all have goals, whether we are amateur, elite, or recovering couch potato.  Health first, performance second - because health leads to performance.

So, I'll be testing the shoulder in the endless pool today - hopefully it will be ready for Playtri Masters Swim come Sunday, after the Playtri Race Team South Loop Ride!  Can't wait!

Happy Friday everybody!