We talk about adding up the wins, but what do you do when you feel like you keep striking out?
You know, when you have one of those weeks where nothing seems to being going right.
Do you just give up, throw in the towel?
I was midway into training for my 3rd Marathon. I went out for a 10-mile run. During that run, I felt good, pace was good, everything seemed pretty normal.
Then I woke up the next day and had no knee. Meaning my left knee was so swollen I could not even see any indentions around it.
I went to two different Ortho docs trying to figure out what was going on.
The weirdest part is I never really had any pain, just a ton of swelling/fluid and a clicking.
An MRI confirmed I had pretty much worn all the cartilage behind my patella (knee cap) away from all the years of running. Long story short the way my pelvis is angled, through my IT band to my knee it is amazing I have been able to run this long.
To be told in your thirties you have arthritis in your knees and you really should not run was pretty tough.
I could have just said that’s it, but I asked more questions.
What can I do?
I learned I could strengthen all the muscles around my knee. It was a long rehab process. It took about four months before I could do a body weight squat.
The reason I go through all this is to tell you we all struggle through injuries and setbacks.
I also want to encourage you when you feel like nothing is going right keep pushing forward.
Do the small insignificant things you know you need to do to get better.
I had to do something as simple as sitting against the wall lifting my leg 1,000 times! It was awful. But I will tell you I am where I am today because of those leg lifts.
It would have been easy to brush them off, thinking they wouldn’t help.
Instead I chose to do them to keep moving forward.
When you have that week, month or even a year that feels like nothing has gone right be encouraged that it can and will.
Keep getting up each day ready to win, you will get knocked down, that’s part of it. Rub some dirt in the wound and find that grit to go after it again.
It will be worth it!
Have an awesome day today,
Arin