Knowing When You’re Hurt

When you’ve been in the game long enough you know when you’re hurt, when you’ve pushed past the breaking point, when full-scale burnout and system crash is inevitable.

And so, one week into full-time training with my body aching and groaning at the paces I am putting it through, I take my first misstep.

After surviving 24 training sessions the week previous, I stepped into the ring for the first technical warm-up drill on Monday morning and immediately felt a sharp and shooting pain my right, groin, adductor, and hip flexor.

The ‘Oh Shit’ Moment

When you’ve been in the game this long, you know when it’s bad.

Working through another few reps, the sharpness of the pain intensified, the grimace was growing with each movement. I begin trying to mentally recall the last time I experienced pain this significant…
What was the damage? How long was I out?

I walk out into the field to retrieve my discs, and the mind games take full effect.

Should I push through it?
Can I afford to take time off?
How stupid am I to get injured one week into winter training?
My coach is going to be so disappointed.

Whirlwind. The relentless stories.

Then I paused. I reminded myself this is a sport, it’s not life or death. I whisper a few thoughts of gratitude to help ground me, and finally I land on the only question that matters:

What do I need to do to get back to 100% as quickly and efficiently as possible?

The Only Question That Matters

It’s taken me 20 years of pursing world class athletics and a career in business leadership to learn and respect this central question after any episode of injury or burnout.

As I walked back to the discus circle I approached Garrett (my coach) and gave him the news. For those of you who don’t know me well, I have tendency to always overdo it and Garrett has been integral to my success as an athlete by identifying this weakness and call it out.
Despite being in pain, I put on a brave face and suggested giving it a few more attempts.
Garrett: “Shut it down. We don’t have time to train injured. It’s not worth the risk.”

Dealing with Setbacks

Another wave of frustration. I felt myself tempted to give into the satisfying feeling of wallowing in self pity. Here was another decision point. Let my energy drain into despair and frustration, or call an audible and divert 100% of my focus and attention into getting back to 100% as efficiently and quickly as possible.

I chose hope.

Within 24 hours I had managed to see my Physio, Thomas Tran, and Movement Specialist, Jeff Alman at MVMT Lab, 4 times. We aligned on the diagnosis and got to work. I canceled my next 6 training sessions in those first 48 hours and dedicated every ounce of energy into recovery.

Finding the Upswing

By Thursday, while still in discomfort I was cautiously optimistic that I could practice. This felt like the pivotal moment – make the right call and you can fast track the final leg of recovery, push too soon and you could relapse.

This is the exact moment where I believe the intuitive relationship we build with our bodies becomes an invaluable asset.

My right hip hurt. It hurt from the third throw of my first training session (of which I would have 3 more that day). But this pain was much different than Monday. It was not escalating, it was not shooting, and it was not nearly as sharp. It was dull and throbbing – not ideal – but extremely important to make note of and assess.

As practice went on the pain did not increase or decrease and so I made a risky decision – I notched up the speed and intensity for the last 4 throws of my morning practice. After letting go of the disc on the last throw I had a smile on my face – my hip was no worse off after dialing up the intensity. An indication that, so far, I was in control of this injury.

I had found the Upswing in my recovery. My definition of the “Upswing” is the point where you know you’re well on the road to the recovery and you are in control of the path to get there. The Upswing delivers a rush of positive emotions and energy that we can further leverage in our recovery.

By the time I made it home at 8:30 PM, I was exhausted. But I was no worse off. I immediately began working through my “micro-Physio” exercises and then a long and healthy dose of ice while watching a show with Tash.

I knew I had sealed the fate of this injury in the amount of volume and training I had just put on it over the last 12 hours and Friday would be my day of reckoning.

With a Tribe, Anything is Possible

I woke stiff and sore on Friday (nothing unusual there). As I began working through my morning Stretch Space “wake up” ritual I was felt optimistic.

I knew that while sore, my hip wasn’t smashed, it definitely had not regressed. I headed back into MVMT lab to continue the rehab process. There over the course of 25 minutes, Jeff and I uncovered 2 trigger points that when addressed had an immediate and positive impact on my hip. My glute/TFL and the tissue directly behind my knee. After 5 minutes of sound shockwave therapy, I couldn’t believe how good my hip felt working through very slow technical movements.

I felt like I was floating as I walked out of MVMT Lab back to the office.

The Final Phase

I spend an extra 15 minutes warming up my hip Saturday morning – doing an endless number of small exercises to wake the critical little muscles up.

As I stepped into the ring for my first throw I was feeling good. And sure enough, the first set of throws felt strong. My confidence was beginning to rise.

By throw 16 I knew I was well beyond the worst of this injury. My hip felt strong, I felt confident throwing more and more velocity through it as I navigated through the ring to the throw. At 20 throws I knew I could keep going, but I shut it down, recalling that this moment of pure jubilation is often where relapse occurs.

From throwing practice I headed to the weight room where for the first time in 2 weeks I was able to get some weight on the bar and feel strong and confident moving it. Working up to a couple of 335 lb. hang clean doubles and 185 single leg squats.

I left Saturday’s training session buzzing. Not because I threw particularly well or that those strength numbers are impressive, but because I made the right set of decisions to get me back to nearly 100% health in less than 6 days.

Why is This Story Important?

I believe the parallel between how athletes respond to injury and how corporate professionals respond to illness and burnout is significant.

This story reminds me of several important lessons for individuals pushing their limits in any domain of life:

1. Injury, sickness or burnout is inevitable when we’re pushing that line. It is actually OK to get injured or burn out, that is not where the battle is lost.

2. The biggest mistake I have seen repeated with athletes and professionals is the “suck it up and push through” mentality. I have never seen this yield long term success in athletes, professionals or teams in either domain. This mentality inevitably leads to more serious injuries, sicknesses, fundamentally deeper emotional challenges developing, and at times entire teams being brought down as a result.

3. Choosing to do whatever it takes to answer the question “what do I need to do to get back to 100% as quickly as possible” is often harder than pushing through. It requires vulnerability, dropping our ego, and asking for help. But on the other side of this is a faster path to being on the upside – on the road the recovery. And what many folks often miss is that when you begin to feel like you are on the road to recovery your body responds neurochemically with a wave of positive, healing and uplifting chemicals. Your healing cycle accelerates simply by a function of you feeling like you are healing.

4. The game of life is long. Whether it is a project, an athletic pursuit or even our relationships – when we are able to take a long game mindset approach we are better able to put in perspective what we may forego in the immediate by giving ourselves the space to recover.

5. Finally, our injury, burnout or sickness is typically an indicator of something deeper that needs to be addressed. We fundamentally cannot go in search of this deeper issue until we admit that something is wrong. In my case, we quickly uncovered there was a significant cognitive and physical disconnect between the role my core muscles should be playing in sequence with the firing and movement of my limbs. In other words, when you weigh 275 lbs and you’re using your 80lb leg as a whip, you better have the right neuromuscular sequencing and support for all of those little muscles that are going to be stressed. I now can look at this injury as a silver lining that exposed a fundamental blind spot in my technique.

Putting Effective Recovery Into Your Practice

The next time you find yourself injured, burnt out or worn down, I encourage you to do the following:

1. After you’ve let the wave of negative stories wash over you (they will). Take a breath. Find perspective with gratitude and the long game. And then ask: “What do I need to do to get back to 100% as quickly and efficiently as possible?”

2. Once you’ve built the plan, action it immediately and go All In on getting better.

3. Give yourself permission to be vulnerable and even acknowledge that this vulnerability may make yourself and others uncomfortable – that is OK. Have confidence in the roadmap you’ve laid out.

4. As you put your plan into action, start to reflect and inquire on any deeper blind spots, issues or weaknesses that this has uncovered.

5. Ensure you have the right Tribe of people around you to support the recovery you need.

6. Be mindful of where you are on your journey to recovery. When you feel yourself on the mend – celebrate – but remember, this is also where you are most likely to relapse, so give yourself that extra permission to take the time you need.