Live and Learn
Being injured is always instructive; you can’t help but get more familiar with how your body works (or doesn’t work). The biggest lesson for me recently has been that regular doctors and physiotherapists may not have the running-specific knowledge that will help you get better as quickly as possible. That knowledge is more likely to reside with a sports medicine professional or running specialist. I’ve now had this experience twice. When I experienced hamstring soreness after a summer of racing, a physiotherapist sent me home with strengthening exercises (good). But without specialized running knowledge, he missed an issue with heel striking and overstriding (what!—me?) which were likely contributing to my injury. (That came weeks later, from a chiropractor who is also a running specialist. She prescribed some gentle gait retraining, which,…