Change Brings Pain Brings Progress

I saw a meme the other day:?

Q: How do you know someone has run a marathon?

A: They will tell you??? Did I mention that I ran a half-marathon…?

You may recall that I wrote about a sore hip resulting from the running I was doing, and this not insubstantial pain directed me to seek a solution.?

I turned to Physiotherapy and Pilates to help heal the damage and strengthen the areas that weren’t playing their part and causing other areas to have to over-work.?

Through this process it was drawn to my attention that part of my problem was my running form. Much like how a wheel out of alignment on your car will wear out a part of the tire, especially over a long distance, so too with your body.

After consuming a couple of books, and videos and still not ‘getting it’ I went to a running workshop one Sunday morning, and added coaching to the Physiotherapy, Pilates, and my strengthening and movement exercises.

I am learning a completely new way of running. Part of this learning is unlearning my old way of running.?

Change brings pain brings progress.?

Consciously learning a new way to do something that you do without thinking about it is really difficult – painfully so. Depending on what you are relearning there is a period of feeling slow/awkward/stupid, the list goes on. And this feeling might not go away quickly. In the case of re-learning running, it is expected to take 4-6 weeks.

I am about 3 weeks in and because I have high expectations on myself, I was hoping to be through this process in 4 weeks. Now I am not sure I will be.?

When I go out for a run with my new style of Foot Kick-Flat Shin-Knee Drive-Flatten Foot-Land repeat I get puffed in minutes. New muscles are being engaged and they are tired now. If I drift off in my mind I can slip into old patterns. Most days it feels like I am running in waist deep water or soft sand, with extra effort required.?

But I trust the process. My hip has stopped hurting. Three weeks in I don’t need to stop for a breather every kilometer and I can run up hills again. My pace in shorter distances has returned, and now I am building up both speed and distance. It is still really hard though.?

If just for my own sake this needs emphasising. ?I was pretty broken after the half-marathon on the 1st of October. In a 6 week period – it is now the 16th of November – I have recovered and re learnt how to run. I am now speeding up and increasing distance.??

Change brings pain brings progress.

Change is often a painful process but it is required for progress. Trust the process and find mastery on the other side.? There are several other directions we could explore here. If you are in a rut of any sort don’t underestimate the importance of getting help from an experienced professional. Life is too short and too busy to suffer in silence – this is in any space, professional, personal, or improving skills in hobbies and interests.

We can always seek out experts to help us on our journey through this wonderful adventure called life. Shout out to?James Kuegler?for his philosophical and practical support in getting me moving.