Tailoring Training Around Injury
Just as a soldier who heads into war needs to expect getting shot at, the odds are that you will at some point or other encounter an injury in your triathlon career. This is especially the case if it's early days in your training career and you are still conditioning your body to the new demands you are placing on it, or if you are training haphazardly or without proper direction while pursuing aggressive goals.
But don't fret! Minor injury is common and a normal risk to expect when you are developing new physical limits. And in fact, an injury can be an opportunity to work on your weakness and examine what went wrong - learning from your mistakes and correcting them is a sure fire way to continued improvement!
The first action to resolving any injury is to seek medical advice. A qualified sports medicine consultant or physiotherapist can give you advice to quickly heal you up and get you to 100% again.
Then, depending on the nature of your injuries, there are plenty of steps you can take to keep training. You want to keep your aerobic system going and your body moving so that the mechanics and skills you have picked up aren't lost to your inactivity. Aerobically, depending on your fitness base and more recent levels of training, you may even find improvement in your performance shortly after the injured period. Forced rest from injury can reveal a tendency to over-train and under-rest. Take note and apply this little pearl of wisdom to the training ahead.
Can't swim? Get in the pool and kick! Simulate the same sets you or your coach were planning to have you swim by kicking them. This will maintain your swim as if you never left the water - in fact, you haven't!
If you're injured and can't run - get in the pool! The running pool, that is. Pool running is a fantastic way to build running strength, maintain form and even improve your run. With or without a float belt, deep water running will make you a faster athlete. Start off on a treadmill when it comes time to try land running again and start easy: Alternate running and walking in the early days post-injury so that your body has the opportunity to adjust to the demands of land running again. Building from a 3x/week program of 4 minutes walking / 1 minute running to 30min of gentle jogging over five weeks (4/1 to 3/2 to 2/3 ... etc.) is a great way to consistently work back to running without high risk of re-injury. If you're training for a longer event, get out and walk your long runs! Increase the time a bit and enjoy slowing down a bit.
If your injury doesn't prevent you from working your weakness - work it! If you can't run, swim more! Building your swim abilities sets you up for a great run later in the day so you may find that your triathlon run improves after a running injury because you have become a stronger swimmer!
If you're getting a little down about your injury, shop around for an active holiday. If you can walk but not run, head to your nearest mountain range and spend a long weekend hiking. Or head to the beach and learn to surf. Take a mountain bike somewhere pleasant. By all means get out and live the other sports a bit - you'll emerge from your injury positive, healthy, happy, refreshed, fit and rarin' to go!And finally, read the great nutrition tips in this magazine! When you're injured you need to pay greater attention to your diet than when you are training hard. For one, you want to use all the tools at your disposal to promote healing and recovery. And for another, if you're forced to take an extended break you don't want to have to fight the battle of the bulge all over again. Been that, done there - pass the pull buoy and hit the pool!