This is where I need to start to tell a story. Not long after I started to experience patellofemoral pain in my left knee, I read a short article in Triathlete Magazine. It was in the August 2006 issue. The author of the article, Matt Fitzgerald wrote about his overuse running injury and how he recovered from it. The thing about the article that horrified me was that Matt's overuse injury hit him in 2002 and he wasn't able to run a marathon again until 2006. At that time I was only 6 months into my injury and was terrified at the thought it could sideline me for years. I was sure I would not have that experience, but tucked the article away for safe keeping anyway.
A few months ago, I came across the article again and read through it. Matt did not state what his overuse injury was, he simply called it a "maddening series of overuse injuries." I can relate to the "maddening" part. I read the information at the end of the article that said Matt is a coach and has written many training books for runners and triathletes. I decided to "Google" him. In my Internet search, I learned in July 2007 Matt started a web blog through Active.com. I read the blog and realized there was a link where I could email him directly. I sent an email, trying to keep my story as short as possible. I said I was dealing with an overuse knee injury and was glad to read he was running marathons again. I asked him was how he got through it mentally. I was having a hard enough time, I couldn't imagine what he went through as a competitive runner, triathlete, and coach.
It took a while, but in mid December I got an reply from him. This is what he said:
Hi Ali,
I apologize for taking so long to respond to your message. I just discovered it. The thing that did the most to get me through the mental anguish of my long battle with injuries was a line that Tim Noakes wrote in Lore of Running. Namely: "Only a small fraction of true running injuries are not entirely curable by simple techniques..." When feeling frustrated by my injuries I reflected on this line and thought, It has to be true, and in believing it had to be true I believed that I could overcome my injuries, despite all of the seeming evidence to the contrary. So I just kept experimenting until I found a recipe that worked for me. It took a long time, but I never gave up completely. Simply not giving up was perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle.
I suggest you read the chapter on injury prevention in my book Brain Training for Runners. This will give you some practical guidelines in conducting your own experimental search for the key to solving your individual injury puzzle. Good luck!
Matt
A few things came to mind after reading his email. First, I took to heart what he said about being able to cure most running injuries by simple techniques. The second thing that came to mind was, is this guy just trying to sell me his book? Humph... Well, after the New Year I got to thinking about it again and I ordered Matt's book from Amazon. Stay tuned for more information in my next post!
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