My back injury has been a long road of struggles and it can not even be stressed how badly it hurt me. It ruined seasons, made me cry numerous times, and has taken away the chance to compete for Canada on numerous occasions. That’s ok though, because over that time it built something that some people do not build their whole life; It built CHARACTER.
I had to deal with a problem that no one was a 100 percent sure how to fix, but I also had to learn to take responsibility for my part in things. I had to learn that life is not about blaming other people, because before you can blame anyone for anything you have to ask your self if you did everything you could do to prevent the situation. I realised I had not done everything I could have… I could have eaten better, slept better, partied less, stretched more and so many more things I could have made an effort to do, but I CHOOSE NOT TO.
While I was injured many people probably assumed I did what most injured athletes do sit on their butt and wait for someone to give them the magical cure. I was waiting for some magical cure that did not involve too much hard work for me, but I still put in a lot of work to get better. I was in my freshman year in college and I was as hungry as ever to get on that track and prove my worth.
Rehab Program
- no running so I did form drills all practice
- twice a week of pool workouts
- 6 days a week doing 4 glute exercises a day
- A lot of stretching
- Still did all my weight workouts except workouts that put any load on the spine
- Ankle stability 3 times a week
- Deep core work everyday
This was an excellent plan and it got me back on the track and feeling healthy. I came out of my first race running in 4 months with a pr in the 100m, went on to make the drake relays final as a freshman and be the only freshman in the 100 final at Big 12′s. This was not the end of the injury for me and I could not understand how or why. There was another major lesson learned shortly after in this story.
Pt 3 coming up….
