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When Motivation > Common Sense: The Achilles Heel That Leads to Injured Runners

I initially wanted to approach this post with my usual comical spin, but quickly realized in my heart that this topic should be taken seriously.

Some of you know I have been injured the past few weeks – an ambiguous knee injury that will have me out for another few weeks. While the diagnosis has varied from professional to professional that I have seen, every doctor has had a consistent answer about the cause: overtraining.

The lead up to overtraining, as described by marathoner Bruce Deacon, is "motivated beyond common sense". This was my shortfall – I dived deep into marathon training, a week after I ran the BMO Half Marathon. Being obsessed with a goal of BQ'ing at my first marathon in September lead me to rapidly increase my weekly mileage and intensity, without consideration of the physical implications.

During the first few weeks of training I experienced good results. I was happily surprised that my body was producing great workouts (on the track, during road intervals, min/km pace on long runs) day after day after day. I didn’t take days off, and it seemed I didn’t have to.

Then, like a wave the fatigue arrived. Motivation did trump common sense at that point, and I pushed myself to achieve the results that I wanted – clearly oblivious whether I was feeling good character-building pain or bad injury-causing pain. It was the latter…

… And I’m not the only one. Many runners experience overtraining – the insane motivation to achieve… perhaps achieve too quickly or too frequently. Determination and will power are crucial to being a successful runner, however those qualities can lead to our downfalls as well.

Patience during recovery is no easier than patience during training. A friend described the recovery period to me today as “an identity crisis”. By no means are we all professional or elite runners, however we dedicate such a large portion of our physical and mental lives to the sport. When we are stripped of running, we are left feeling insignificant, because we realize that our goals and social life are tied in complicated knots to the sport. Who am I and what am I to do without it?

Taking a step back to see the bigger picture is a struggle we all face. Is it worth pushing through the pain? Is it worth coming back before my injury is fully healed? Will I prolong my injury if I do so?

In the end our hearts are dedicated to being athletes, and it's inevitable that the passion to achieve eclipses the ability to impartially evaluate negative situations that may hinder our progress.

I could tell you, if you are going through this or do in the future, to not worry about your injury or the length of the recovery period. But I won’t, because I know this isn’t easy to accept or get out of your head.

I have only finally acknowledged that running my first marathon in September is not the end-all, be-all. Taking the next two weeks off of running is the appropriate decision for the long-term health of my knee, and reassessing my race timeline will come after the recovery.

What I will leave you with: you’re not the only one going through this. As runner’s we are smart, and on our own terms we all eventually figure out that no PR or race goal is worth the determent of long-term injury. Yes, with patience you will get through this.


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