“ How can I be resilient in a long-term recovery program?” —Kim Recovery always takes longer than you want it to, because you don’t want to be hurt in the first place. But some rehab periods are lengthier than others, and that can be physically and mentally exhausting. To cope, Coach Carrie stresses in…
Podcast
157 | Coach and Elite Runner Laura Thweatt on Rebuilding and Reinvention
“That injury was one of the most psychologically harrowing experiences of my career, just figuring out how to navigate that space, how to eventually see it as a superpower … if I hadn’t gotten that injury, I wouldn’t have been able to rebuild my body in a way that allowed me to come back a…
156 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question: How to Cope with Shifting Timelines
“ How do I deal with expectations around timelines?” —Every injured athlete, ever In season 8 of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question every other week about the mental side of overcoming injuries. And for our season finale, she tackles an issue that’s come up from more than…
155 | Volleyball Player and Dietitian Tatum Vedder on Nourishing Your Recovery
“ Surgeries one through three, there is still this fear around weight gain and therefore restriction. And I think part of me wants to know, is that a major factor in why I didn’t heal well? I’m not going to dwell on that or guilt-trip myself over it; it’s in the past. But it was also…
154 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question from Kat: Having Radical Honesty with Your Coach
“ I’ve unfortunately faced a series of surgeries and setbacks over the last few years. While I feel like I have a supportive group of friends, I don’t feel like my primary coach has been that understanding of the mental toll that this has taken on me or how to navigate a game plan through my…
153 | Elite Runner and Coach Becki Spellman: Embracing Your Best Each Day
“ It really helped me as a coach to be able to look at my athletes and remind them, it doesn’t have to be about a PR, doesn’t have to be about the best day you wanted, but it can be—if you’re healthy—about the best day you have that day. And that can be celebrated, that…
152 | Coach Carrie Answers Two Questions: Don’t Play the Self-Blame Game
“With overuse injuries especially, how do you help injured athletes recognize what to take ownership for, and what was out of their control? For example, one’s weightlifting form may have led them to injury. Shame and guilt can be common emotions here, which are not helpful to our recovery, but how do we recognize what…
151 | Paralympian Ryan Medrano on Visualizing Success—Then Living It
“ That’s how I learn life. I look at it, I visualize myself doing it, and then I execute. And if it doesn’t feel right, I can feel it. I can see it, almost like a third person’s view. That’s the way I’ve approached life; that’s the way I’ve been able to really reel in on…
150 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question from Kathy: On Having Patience for the Long Haul
“ How do you stay patient when the doctor says you’re doing too much? Mentally I get so down.” —Kathy In season 8 of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question every other week about the mental side of overcoming injuries. This week, she empathizes with Kathy’s conundrum—most…
149 | Hockey Player and Marathoner Thomas E. Smith on Becoming What’s Possible
”What went through my mind—I was 19 at the time, my birthday was the prior month—was, oh my goodness, is my life over in terms of being able to live my dream? Because hockey, for me, wasn’t just a sport. It was a gateway to do better in all facets of life.” Tom Smith…