Runners, especially those who are training for a marathon, loathe the thought of taking time off for an injury. In fact, there are a lot of people that might press through the pain rather than take cease training to deal with the damage. The reason is simply because of how much an extended amount of time off can set a person back.
A new report in the Guardian examines one such runner who pressed through an injury only to have the pain reach a critical level toward the end of a marathon. Her particular injury was a fractured femur, and if she would have continued, there’s a good chance that a full-on break may have resulted.
The important lesson to be learned from this and other stories is that it’s okay to take time out of your life to deal with an injury. Don’t think of it as giving up on training or fitness. If you let that injury fester and get worse, your workouts are going to get harder and harder, and eventually, you’ll be dealing with damage that was far more serious than it would have been if you sought a sports medicine specialist at the first sign of danger.
The sooner you get an injury seen to, the sooner you can begin training anew. It might be a slight setback in the short run, but recovery will be for the best in the long run.
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