By Isabelle Kennedy, Track and Field, Cross Country Captain, Boston College
I was diagnosed with a right sacral stress fracture (in the pelvis) in October of 2018. This was my second stress fracture of the year. In February, I had been diagnosed with a sacral stress fracture on the left, so I had been running for about six months at this point. I knew that this injury would take about 12 weeks to heal, so I needed to be smart about my cross-training. It can be easy to burn out and become demotivated. To maintain some variety, my plan was to do 2 days of aqua jogging, 2-3 days of lap swimming, and 1-2 days of biking per week. For the bike days, I often attended a spin class, which also helped with my motivation. It’s nice to work out with other people! I also made sure to give myself a day off each week.
Moving Forward With Cross Training
The most important thing I did was reaching out to Cathy. Rather than just think of my cross training as way to stay in shape for running, I wanted to use this time away from running as a chance to improve my swimming form and speed. In other times when I have been injured, I’ve found myself counting down the days and weeks of cross training until I can run again.
Setting goals for swimming with the M.O.V.E.! method helped break this time up and gave me something to focus on. I didn’t want to just wait to run again. Swimming gave me something to work towards, and provided positive feedback that reinforced the success of my cross training. Chipping away at my cross training and swimming goals was proof that I was making progress and actually getting somewhere with my cross-training!
A, B, and C Goals For Swimming
I first met with Cathy in December. We did a 500m swim time trial (which was the longest continuous effort I had ever done!), and I swam an 8:53. After a short break for the holidays, we then started meeting every week and doing time trials of different lengths. This gave me a couple of different time goals to work towards, with the 500 being my main goal. My A goal for the 500 was 8:35-8:42, my B goal was 8:42-8:47, and my C goal was 8:47-8:52.
These goals were designed to be attainable, but still challenging. We repeated the 500 m time trial at the end of January. Doing longer time trials and more consistent swim workouts over the course of this month helped me become more comfortable with the distance and set a huge PR of 8:09! I then re-evaluated my goals, and set a new group of A, B, and C goals: A - 7:57-8:01 B: 8:01-8:05 C: 8:05-8:09. We repeated the time trial again at the end of February, and I swam 8:02, landing solidly in the B-goal range. Even though my improvement was not as drastic as the first one, having specific, concrete goals was extremely helpful in giving me a frame of reference to understand my progress. A few seconds in swimming can be a huge jump, and I was very excited about this result. Having cross training goals was also helpful once I started running again; sometimes when I have (finally) gotten cleared to run again, I try to rush back in and do too much at once. Having cross training goals with swimming has helped make the transition back to running more balanced.
Goal Setting And Long Efforts in Swimming Strengthen Goal Setting and Sustained, Hard Efforts in Running
The swimming training we have been doing has not stopped as I have been increasing my running - I am still cross training 2 to 3 times per week. This has really augmented my running, and the time trials we have done in the pool over the past few months have helped with staying comfortable with long, hard efforts. Though my focus has shifted more towards running rather than swimming, the swimming component has eased the transition into running. I have been building up my mileage, and the M.O.V.E.! method for goal setting for my cross training goals has given me a very strong skillset in goal setting that has been very helpful as I have begun racing on the outdoor track.
Since this injury was the 3rd injury I have had in a series of injuries, I had not raced on the outdoor track in two years when I opened up with a 3K race at the beginning of April, and I hadn't been running for very long. Based on my workouts and my fitness level, we set some A, B, and C goals for the race: A goal -10:15 -10:25, B goal 10:25-10:35, C goal 10:35-10:45. These goals were meant to be achievable, but still challenging. I started out cautiously during the race, but ended up surprising myself and feeling stronger than I thought I would. I achieved my A goal with a 3K time of 10:14! The time trials we did training in the pool were excellent practice for a sustained, hard effort that definitely helped me during these races.
Very Specific Goals Provide Framework for Progress
Because this result was better than expected, we decided that I should try running a 5K on the track the next week. My goals were: A goal- 17:05-17:15, B goal - 17:15-17:25, and C goal - 17:25-17:35. I started the race in the top 5, and let the pack carry me for the first 3K of the race, and made a move around 3K because I was feeling good. My end result was a 17:21, solidly in the B-goal range. I was very happy with this result. I was successful, but there's still plenty of room to improve. Setting these structured goals for racing has been very helpful in keeping my expectations realistic and in helping me to create a framework for my progress!
I was diagnosed with a right sacral stress fracture (in the pelvis) in October of 2018. This was my second stress fracture of the year. In February, I had been diagnosed with a sacral stress fracture on the left, so I had been running for about six months at this point. I knew that this injury would take about 12 weeks to heal, so I needed to be smart about my cross-training. It can be easy to burn out and become demotivated. To maintain some variety, my plan was to do 2 days of aqua jogging, 2-3 days of lap swimming, and 1-2 days of biking per week. For the bike days, I often attended a spin class, which also helped with my motivation. It’s nice to work out with other people! I also made sure to give myself a day off each week.
Moving Forward With Cross Training
The most important thing I did was reaching out to Cathy. Rather than just think of my cross training as way to stay in shape for running, I wanted to use this time away from running as a chance to improve my swimming form and speed. In other times when I have been injured, I’ve found myself counting down the days and weeks of cross training until I can run again.
Setting goals for swimming with the M.O.V.E.! method helped break this time up and gave me something to focus on. I didn’t want to just wait to run again. Swimming gave me something to work towards, and provided positive feedback that reinforced the success of my cross training. Chipping away at my cross training and swimming goals was proof that I was making progress and actually getting somewhere with my cross-training!
A, B, and C Goals For Swimming
I first met with Cathy in December. We did a 500m swim time trial (which was the longest continuous effort I had ever done!), and I swam an 8:53. After a short break for the holidays, we then started meeting every week and doing time trials of different lengths. This gave me a couple of different time goals to work towards, with the 500 being my main goal. My A goal for the 500 was 8:35-8:42, my B goal was 8:42-8:47, and my C goal was 8:47-8:52.
These goals were designed to be attainable, but still challenging. We repeated the 500 m time trial at the end of January. Doing longer time trials and more consistent swim workouts over the course of this month helped me become more comfortable with the distance and set a huge PR of 8:09! I then re-evaluated my goals, and set a new group of A, B, and C goals: A - 7:57-8:01 B: 8:01-8:05 C: 8:05-8:09. We repeated the time trial again at the end of February, and I swam 8:02, landing solidly in the B-goal range. Even though my improvement was not as drastic as the first one, having specific, concrete goals was extremely helpful in giving me a frame of reference to understand my progress. A few seconds in swimming can be a huge jump, and I was very excited about this result. Having cross training goals was also helpful once I started running again; sometimes when I have (finally) gotten cleared to run again, I try to rush back in and do too much at once. Having cross training goals with swimming has helped make the transition back to running more balanced.
Goal Setting And Long Efforts in Swimming Strengthen Goal Setting and Sustained, Hard Efforts in Running
The swimming training we have been doing has not stopped as I have been increasing my running - I am still cross training 2 to 3 times per week. This has really augmented my running, and the time trials we have done in the pool over the past few months have helped with staying comfortable with long, hard efforts. Though my focus has shifted more towards running rather than swimming, the swimming component has eased the transition into running. I have been building up my mileage, and the M.O.V.E.! method for goal setting for my cross training goals has given me a very strong skillset in goal setting that has been very helpful as I have begun racing on the outdoor track.
Since this injury was the 3rd injury I have had in a series of injuries, I had not raced on the outdoor track in two years when I opened up with a 3K race at the beginning of April, and I hadn't been running for very long. Based on my workouts and my fitness level, we set some A, B, and C goals for the race: A goal -10:15 -10:25, B goal 10:25-10:35, C goal 10:35-10:45. These goals were meant to be achievable, but still challenging. I started out cautiously during the race, but ended up surprising myself and feeling stronger than I thought I would. I achieved my A goal with a 3K time of 10:14! The time trials we did training in the pool were excellent practice for a sustained, hard effort that definitely helped me during these races.
Very Specific Goals Provide Framework for Progress
Because this result was better than expected, we decided that I should try running a 5K on the track the next week. My goals were: A goal- 17:05-17:15, B goal - 17:15-17:25, and C goal - 17:25-17:35. I started the race in the top 5, and let the pack carry me for the first 3K of the race, and made a move around 3K because I was feeling good. My end result was a 17:21, solidly in the B-goal range. I was very happy with this result. I was successful, but there's still plenty of room to improve. Setting these structured goals for racing has been very helpful in keeping my expectations realistic and in helping me to create a framework for my progress!