People often ask me something along the lines of, "How long did it take you to recover from your brain injury?" I usually respond with, "My recovery isn't over yet: I still think I'm recovering now." The natural follow up question is, when will your recovery be over? Back in 2008, I wrote a verbose post on this blog, How Long Does TBI Recovery Take? In it, I talked about the length of my recovery depending on what goals I set myself. One activity recently reminded me of the concept, though: my running.
Running in the hills above Wellington city, New Zealand.
Using my running as an example, I want to explain my new answer to the question of when my recovery will be over: it'll be over when I say it's over!
I had my accident shortly before I was to reach my goal of racing Ironman triathlon in 2005. Being a goal-focused person, I was desperate to build back up to it. As I started running again, I quickly realised how physiologically complex the activity is to do. Gradually, I relearnt how to control my muscles well enough, particularly those in my core, to run properly. Eventually, I was running well enough to support my finally completing Ironman in March 2010.
Even through Ironman, though, I carried a number of running issues. A key one was that my right quad muscle group would seem to run out of push after about 20-30 mins of running. The issue wasn't bad enough to stop me doing Ironman: If I walked ten paces, it would come right and I could start running again. However, I love my running and it was hindering my enjoyment of it. Once I'd finished Ironman, I was keen to get it sorted out.
In the second half of last year, I restarted my recovery process: I saw physios, tried new things like yoga classes, stretching and muscle exercises and talked to lots of relevant people. After about six months of trying stuff, I made a breakthough: I realised it wasn't my right quad muscles I needed to worry about, it was my right gluteus maximus (as well as another muscle close by, the gluteus medius). For some reason, exercising those two made a big difference to my issue with my quad. Although they haven't solved it completely, just yet, I think they'll allow me to run well enough to train for and complete off-road running events (as per my photo). (Off-road running seems easier on my quad muscle issue.)
Since I built myself up for Ironman (twice!), you may be thinking I'm someone who likes big goals. You'd be right! In New Zealand, one big goal involving off-road running is the 60k (37.5mi) Kepler Challenge, following the Kepler Track in the South Island. Guess what I'm aiming to be next November? ;-)
Herein lies my idea. There are things like running that I really want to enjoy. It is up to me to do all I can to recover for them. No matter how long it's been since my brain injury, my recovery will only ever end when I decide to stop working out how to recover more. It'll only be over when I say it's over!
Cheers,
Mike
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