Offseason happens for a variety of reasons. Mine started in the final 20 metes of the Tårnby Games 100m final and all of a I feel a pop, skip, and a spring in my step; the following thoughts being “I’m upside down,” “Here comes the ground,” and “My beautiful face!”
You can watch the video of the fall here.
What I would later find out was an isolated injuries of the semi-tendinosus tendon, my track season came to an abrupt and unexpected end. For the uninitiated, a complete Semi-T injury is a serious injury for a professional athlete due to the long rehabilitation time, however, it is not threatening to a career. As far as I have read every athlete has returned to competitive sports with about 3 months of rehabilitation.
Without running, like most runner dove into a spiral of denial and depression. After a bit of time with friends, I crawled my way back to being active. First I started on the stationary bike, but after a few days that became boring, so I switched to weight lifting. It was fun, however, I was still training at my club and their was an unspoken press that I needed to return to competition shape as quickly as possible. After some searching I found yoga and joined Yo Studios. Joining was exactly what I needed to get back into shape.
Mentally, there was no pressure from my teammates or coaches to push way way back into competition shape; which was a welcomed reprieve. Physically, it was great because the workouts were effort based, what I put in is what I got out; perfect for an injured athlete.
Since joining Yo Studios the primary classes I have attended are barre classes, shape classes, and a vinyasa yoga (flowing movements). Other than yoga, I found that the best way to take my mind off of the injury was to occupy my time doing “normal things.” I started spending time with friends, cooking, and dare I say… watching TV.
When finding your offseason and adjusting to a world outside of running or any competitive atmosphere a change in mindset is required. First is accepting the injury as ever athlete goes through it from time to time. The second, understanding you’re more than an athlete capable of doing other activities. To accomplish help you in accomplishing this, I’d suggest trying new ways to be active, for me it is yoga.