Excuse the terrible photograph of me icing my foot, but at some point or other, most of us will end up dealing with an injury.  When injured, addressing the physical healing, is often straightforward.  It is the managing of emotions, that can be challenging.

Being injured and not working out can be frustrating.  This is particularly the case, if you have races on your schedule.  The closer you are to a race, the more frustrating it becomes. 

Like many injured athletes, I have in the past worried about several things, when in this situation.  Will I recover in time for my race?  How much fitness will I lose by not training?  Why does this happen to me, I have worked so hard to get to this point?

These are all perfectly normal things to worry about.  The issue is, that nothing good really happens as a result of worrying about them.  All worrying does, is cause stress, which might actually delay the healing process.  

As I have matured as an athlete, I have come to realize that it is important to control your emotions and to focus on things that are in your control.  I focus on rest, eating well and sleeping well.  I focus on religiously following my rehabilitation protocol.  Doing these things, has the potential to minimize my recovery time. 

If I can minimize my recovery time, then things I used to worry about, become less of an issue.  Before I know it, I’ll be back training and hopefully racing too. 

When dealing with an injury, focus on what you can control and not what you cannot.