Injury is a Training Opportunity

Anne talks about injury as a training opportunity

Today I’m delighted to present a guest post from the ever-wise-and-insightful Anne Hughes. Anne has been struggling with something we all deal with from time to time: injury. Ugh. Can we say that all together now? UGH. Exactly.

It’s always frustrating, not to mention disappointing and scary to face injury when we have big plans for our outdoor endeavors. Luckily, we have Anne to share her wisdom and experience. Because what she has to say is really important—and encouraging! And y’all need to listen up.

I’ll let her take if from here.

injury is a training opportunity

My friend and personal trainer, Pat Gilles, taught me something every athlete should take to heart. ”An injury is a training opportunity.” This suits me so well I’m amazed I didn’t think of it myself!

Tendonitis in my rotator cuff these past seven months has kept me from rock climbing, my favorite thing. Just last summer I shared my passion for climbing here in a late-blooming athlete interview, Climbing in Three Dimensions (July 2010).

Anne crushing it on rock

Since becoming a climber, I’ve had tendonitis a few times in my shoulder, hip and my elbow so I could easily have sunk into negative thinking like, “I can’t climb hard because I’ll just get hurt” or “I’m too old to climb” or “my body is just not cut out for this sport.”

At its worst, pessimism can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. At minimum, it certainly makes the good things evaporate into thin air. I just don’t think that way, but being injured again, I had to admit I was frustrated when I arrived at Pat’s Gym and told him I was injured again.

Pat instantly worked his magic, reframing my disappointment into more productive thinking and a practical, adjustable workout plan. A good trainer can work around your injuries, training your healthy parts while you heal. Pat’s training is so varied, fun and challenging that he seems to come up with stuff to do even when I’ve had multiple injuries to work around.

One time I had to rest my right shoulder and my right hip for more than six months, yet he still kept me strong. Pat has taught me how to be a more well-rounded athlete and specifically how to improve my habits to get well faster and avoid future injuries. I am lucky I have his expertise.

Unfortunately, not everybody can hire a trainer—I realize that—but anybody can reframe their thinking, and find an activity to do while their injury heals.

finding opportunity

Anne in Ouray ice climbing

I remember how I appreciated my thoughtful friend Sue’s advice. When Sue heard I had just been diagnosed with elbow tendonitis and would not be able to climb for some time, she said let’s run! I didn’t like running much but I did like Sue and welcomed the diversion of running with my friend.

It was at her suggestion that I even gave myself a challenge: to run faster. I started running intervals. A few months later I ran a 10K at my fastest time ever. It was a nice accomplishment and working toward it made the months away from climbing elapse without much frustration.

A year ago, Pat got me interested in indoor rowing when he noticed I did pretty well on the rowing machine that he’d use for the metabolic part of my cross training for climbing. He encouraged me on it, tweaking my form and confirming that I was making progress. His belief in me was contagious and soon I was invested in my rowing goal, totally fired up to have new challenge. Here was my “training opportunity!”

Turns out, rowing is a good match for me as well as a complement to rock climbing. Indoor rowing “regattas” occur in the middle of winter when I don’t have climbing goals. Rowing is aerobic while climbing is about strength and endurance. Rowing on a machine is simple, straight line, repetitive motion while climbing is infinitely varied movements executed at all angles and in all directions.

Anne rowing during the competition

Indeed, I can climb the same climb over and over, each time totally differently. My performance in rowing is quantified stroke by stroke, instantly, on a screen I see throughout my workout or race. Feedback is instant and continual, allowing me to make the adjustments moment by moment.

Climbing performance is measured quite differently if it is measured at all and climbing improvement can be hard to track. What’s really lacking when climbing performance lags can be hard to assess. Of course the complexity inherent in climbing movement is precisely what fascinates me, even fourteen years into the sport.

Still, the simplicity of a rowing race is captivating and satisfying. Climbing well and rowing fast both stem from mental discipline. Sidelined in rock climbing, I honed my mental game in rowing. Improvements gained in my mental discipline will be a plus once I am climbing again.

experiment

When I was first injured I had to rest my shoulder for a bit. I did lots of core and leg stuff and one-handed stuff. It really was an opportunity to do things that were fresh and different since I couldn’t do things the way I always had before.

Then came a few weeks of experimenting to find out exactly what my right shoulder could do. Pat guided me through workouts that were increasingly difficult without taxing my injury. We played around with things and found out that pulling straight in did not bother my shoulder. Hallelujah!—my climbing goals were on hold, but rowing was full speed ahead!

As a novice rower, I had a lot to learn and that steep, novice learning curve was fun enough that I hardly missed my climbing. I remained strong in my legs, core, shoulders and arms in ways that will serve my climbing too (pushing with my legs, pulling with my arms/shoulders/back and connecting them both with my core).

As I learned to push through the pain of rowing all-out for 8+ minutes, I began to see that mastering rowing’s mental game would improve my climbing. The focus, mental discipline, and ability to dig deep even when my mind is saying quit will certainly come in handy at a climbing crux when I may think I’m too tired to go on or too scared to keep it together.

Anne with trainer, Pat (looking super-stoked!)

Pat patiently coached me, a complete novice, for seven months, shaping my strength, power, speed, form, focus and more. In January, I raced in my very first race, a 2000m event at the local competition and won my age group with a time of 8:22.4 min.

I’m hooked. Now, my overarching goal is to continue to improve my personal best time as much as possible. I will compete here again, and plan to finish in under 8 minutes.

Also I plan to compete at C.R.A.S.H.-B, an international rowing competition in Boston. My current personal best is close to the winning times in my age group at CRASH-B these last few years, so I’m aiming high, hoping to win in Boston in 2012.

Opportunity has knocked and I’ve answered the call.

thank you!

Editor's note: A training opportunity indeed! Anne, thank you so much for sharing your experience, wisdom and inspiration. It’s always a pleasure! You can find Anne on twitter or at Pat’s Gym taking advantage of opportunity. (You can also read her previous guest post talking about finding a climbing mentor.)

What about you guys? What's helped you get through injuries?

welcome

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Comments

[Tiffany]

Thank you SO much for this post. It came just in the nick of time. I'm about ready to give up on rock climbing due a nagging shoulder/rib injury (despite a year of Drs and therapy) and was just thinking the other day - maybe a trainer will help me keep my overeagerness at bay and help me heal! Plus, the idea of trying out new sports I'd never thought of picking up makes it a fun goal for 2011. Thanks again!

[Amy C]

Hey Tiffany.

I'm so glad you've found some renewed energy. :0) I wonder what new sport is out there waiting for you...

_A

[Anne Hughes]

I listened to this story on an NPR podcast today:

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/11/135216852/want-to-live-to-100-try-to-bounce-back-from-stress?ps=rs

It's about Helen, age 109, who has outlived several of her doctors! It describes Helen's optimistic approach to life as significant in reaching age 109 in such good shape. The podcast mentions interesting research that shows how taking a glass half full attitude and developing adaptive competence (the ability to bounce back from stress and setbacks) actually leads to a healthier, longer life. It reminded me of what I learned from Pat and internalized, that a positive attitude makes a huge difference in physical well being and healing. Like Helen I also try to bounce back and I love self deprecating humor.

[Spencer]

First, congratulations to Anne for winning your first race. "An injury is a training opportunity." - This is actually the first time I've heard this quote. I'm familiar with stories of people who did not let their injury stop them to achieve their goals, but Anne's is quite different. My hat's off to her.

[Editor's note: This comment has been slightly modified to delete links that look like spam.]

[Kenjie]

Not that many people can do what she was able to accomplish. The thought of pain would immediately scare people in continuing their training program. Kudos to you, Anne.

[Editor's note: This comment has been slightly modified to delete links that look like spam.]