MileSplit XC Journals 2011
Meet Grace Tinkey, Foot Locker finalist from First Presbyterian GA. Grace will be sending in a journal several times over the course of the 2011 season to update you on her running and the life of an elite HS runner. Enjoy!
Working through injury
Hey everyone, hope everyone has been having a great season so far. I missed seeing you all at the races. Congratulations to everyone who ran Great American two weekends ago and the Atlanta Classic. There were a lot of fast times run those days.
Our FPD school team ran at Disney this weekend. They told me that it was raining and real muddy but they were still having fun hanging out at the parks.
A few weeks ago I began to have some tendonitis in my left foot on the peroneal tendon. After seeing a doctor he recommended 10 days of no running to allow it to completely heal so that we could get back up to full intensity training well before our goal end of season races: GHSA REGION, STATE and Footlocker Regionals.
But as all of you probably know already taking time off from running can be difficult for diehard runners. Taking control of the injury early is really important. If you try to keep running through it hoping it’ll just go away, you can prolong the recovery time, making it longer until you can get back to training again.
Luckily, we have a great physical therapy center called Piedmont Sports Medicine in Macon, Ga. We began going there Mon-Fri from 3:30-5:15pm every day for about 2 1/2 weeks for physical therapy and rehab. A tendonitis injury is a recurring soreness that will continue to aggravate you until you stop running and have some treatment to reduce the swelling and promote the recovery process.
During that time I also had my first MRI to make sure there was nothing else inhibiting the tendonitis on the peroneal tendon from recovering faster. That was about the most nerve racking thing I’ve ever done (haha). They strapped me onto this board that was coming out of the MRI machine. Every 5 minutes the board would slide farther into the tube. I never knew how claustrophobic I was until I was actually in an MRI machine. Not Fun!!!
The MRI showed some mild fluid buildup around the peroneal tendon. Knowing this helped the physical therapist use other treatment processes that further helped in speeding up the recovery process.
Mr. Brian, Mrs. Stephanie, and Jonathan were awesome therapists doing whatever was necessary to reduce the inflammation and break up any tissue in my foot that would prevent it from healing properly. We had about 6 different things in our treatment plan:
1). Heat and Stem for about 15-20minutes. They put these pads on my foot that were attached to a machine that increased/decreased the tension that the pads put on my foot. It helped to heat up the tissue and tendon so it could break up tissue and got it ready for the exercises I did later.
2). Mr. Brian or Jonathan did an ultrasound which also helped break up tissue and reduce inflammation. The instrument they used is called the “magic wand” because it looked like a wand. To me it felt magical because it made the area around the injury feel so much better.
3). After the ultrasound, Mr. Brian did a foot massage type of treatment which felt pretty good until he hit the spot that hurts haha. At which time he would “break up” the knots in that area.
4). Once all of these treatments are done, we moved onto strengthening the peroneal tendon with special exercises. They were mainly done with a stretch band (lime green , favorite color). I would pull back on the band while flexing my foot up and down and side to side. Then repeat with weight on my foot. When we first starting doing these exercises my foot would be real sore the next day. Mr. Brian assured me that it was just because it’s been strengthened and I had to adapt to the exercises first. He was right. A few days later it began feeling much better.
The Piedmont Sports Medicine team is awesome because they all understand how hard it is for runners when they cannot run and they do all they can to make sure you recover quickly and completely. They know a complete recovery is critical to not having the injury reoccur once high intensity training and racing starts back.
It is mentally tough on me when I cannot run. I have learned a key thing to recovering fast is staying mentally positive. I know that may sound cheesy but it’s true. If I let myself get sad and anxious about not running then my body is more focused on worrying then recovering from an injury. So staying positive, being motivated and believing in myself has allowed me to heal more quickly.
I credit God, my family, and my friends for me not going crazy during this time. It was a long and difficult 10 days and I’m so happy I had all of them on my side.
One of my best friends at school, Carolyn McDonald is one of the most encouraging people in the world! She made me a really special note during this time. I posted it on the dashboard in my car as a reminder to stay strong because God has a plan and purpose for everything in our lives.
Whether we like it or not, we have to trust in Him and not lose sight of what is really important in our lives. Everything in our lives is temporary. I hope that God will allow all of us to be able to run till we are like 100 years old haha. But none of us really knows how long we will be able to enjoy what we do. We should never take for granted the ability we have to run, regardless of how fast we are. What matters is that we enjoy every minute of it. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to have to achieve certain goals and finish in a certain place without taking the time to have fun along the way.
During the rehab days my running coach had me focus on cross training. Cross Training is a great way to keep my cardio level up, and get great workouts while allowing my injury to recover. We focused on leg strengthening cycling workouts and upper body swim workouts. One day I’ll have to share about my first triathlon experience
So on the 11th day of treatment Mr. Brian surprised me by saying we were going to have a test run on the treadmill! 3*5minutes, as long as nothing hurt and I only felt mild soreness. This was really exciting. Although I could only run 5 minutes at the time I was relieved to see some progress and finally be back running .
Since then we have finished up physical therapy at Piedmont Sports Medicine and I have transitioned back into my normal training routine. So far I have been blessed with a total recovery, and thank God I am able to run pain free.
After evaluating the calendar and our goals we are planning on running The Last Chance Meet on our State Championship course as a tune up race.
One thing that we’ve learned is that you don’t necessarily need to run a lot of races to be your best. Too many races can actually slow down your training progress as they can take a heavy toll on your body as the season progresses.
The one meet that I look forward to all year is Footlocker Regionals. I have been totally focused on being completely recovered from peroneal tendonitis before getting back to full training and racing so I will be completely ready on race day on that day at McAlpine Park in late November.
Finally, this week at school was Homecoming week! Every day we had a theme to dress up for: Country day, super hero day, red/black day, sports day, etc... Super Hero day was awesome because everyone had a blast coming up with what we were going to be. My sister, Faith went as the black widow from X-men. I was Flash. See the resemblance We had fun taking pictures and joking around.
I hope everyone is having fun with their running. If you are going through an injury, don’t give up or get too discouraged! Stay motivated and keep your eyes set on your goals ahead. With God ANYTHING is possible!
Inspirational Video:
http://www.godvine.com/Christian-Athlete-Takes-a-Fall-But-Still-Wins-the-Race-378.html
Quote: “The Early bird catches the worm, but it is the 2nd mouse that gets the cheese”- Roy Benson
