Refocus Your Training With These 5 Things If You Find Yourself Injured This Season

Being injured can be tough - especially mentally.  Here are a couple strategies to help get you through it.

Change Your Focus

Unable to run?  Take the opportunity to really focus on your swim and bike.  If it is winter, try cross country skiing or ice skating.  Summer time?  Try mountain biking or kayaking.  Keep your cardiovascular fitness up and maintain muscle mass while giving yourself time to heal.   

Improve Weaknesses

Cross train and really target your specific weaknesses.  Gain strength in the gym.  Improve mobility by taking yoga classes.  Have your physiotherapist give you an exercise program to strengthen weak muscles, improve balance and proprioception. 

Look to the Future

Take comfort that you won’t be sidelined forever.  Look into future races that get you excited to get back into training.  Set small, weakly goals and track your progress.  No matter how small, progress is progress.    

Social Life

Spend time with your friends and family.  Often times us triathletes tend to get so caught up in training we forget to interact with the outside world.  Have dinner with your family, go to the movies with your friends.  Don’t mope in your room – get outside and interact!

Learn From Your Mistakes

What caused your injury?  Was it overuse?  Too much too soon?  A muscular imbalance?  An improper bike fit?  Figure out the cause and you can prevent it from happening again in the future.  Don’t delay your progress by jumping back in to soon – nothing is worse than re-injuring yourself and having to start from scratch.  Be smart!