18' 1" Olympic Trials 2008

18' 1" Olympic Trials 2008

Monday, October 24, 2011

A Twist on Pain

I do like pole vault, well I love it. But I sure as hell don’t get to do it very often. Looking back in my journal, I can see that I attempted to piece together a session from a short run on October 4th, before experiencing a sharp pain in my Achilles. Then after a few weeks of therapy and recovery, the pain in my lower leg was nonexistent. I was feeling rather positive about being able to vault again. I even gave my self an extra few days to make sure. During one of those extra days, I bent over (like an idiot) to pick up a box, and I’m sure you have already guessed, hurt my lower back.  However sharp and sudden it may have been, the pain was not excruciating, directed to either side of my back, or ultimately debilitating. It was more like it spoke to me, in some sort of soft evil whisper, and said, “way to go genius, any bets on how long you’ll have to wait to jump now.” Then it laughed at me. It was something similar to a witches cackle actually, not fun laughter. The kind you hear that makes you hate the thing it resonates from. How rude I thought, way to rub salt in the wound.
 To state the obvious, I’m taking some more time off of jumping. I was a bit sad at first. But it dawned on me that it is October, and spending excess hours of vaulting, continuing to damage a back in need of some serious healing, is absolutely pointless for someone in my position. This is the perfect time of year to heal, by staying off of the runway, and carefully getting stronger and faster. Which is an interestingly challenging task in itself the majority of the time. Honestly I’ve probably gained more knowledge and skill through problem solving, by creating such unique training, than I have gained for actual vaulting. But that is beside the point I was trying to make. I don’t need to be vaulting right now, and all these little injuries and set backs keep reminding me of that. They are only taking time away from me on the runway and must be part of the plan, or they never would have happened. So I don’t see them as set backs, but necessities, reminders, and key learning points. Almost all of my regular physical training has been unaffected for the most part.  I am however, itching to be able to do real running workouts again, outside of a swimming pool that is, but all in good time I suppose. It is one of my training goals that continues too elude me.  I made it through an entire year without them and still managed to do pretty well, so I try not to dwell on it and still manage to work around it. Just another chapter in the story, the ending is already written. It’s the pages leading up to it that continue to keep me guessing. 

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