39 | Triathlete Lesley Paterson: Channeling Your Passion
Release Date: 03/25/2021
108 | Carrie Answers a Question: Contemplating the Crossroads
The Injured Athletes Club
“How do I keep trying in the face of chronic health issues? Sometimes giving up feels like the more sensible choice.” —Sarah “That’s my question too. How do I accept that structural issues are real and we need to accept and move on? There's a lot of discussion here about 'going back to' what we did before, but for some of us (all of us at some point) that is just not possible. I'd rather be able to walk for life without an assistive device than run for a year and then need a walker or cane for the rest of my days. Can you explain how to put the 3 A's (accept, adapt, act) in...
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107 | Elite Marathoner Maegan Krifchin: Trust in Yourself
The Injured Athletes Club
“At this point, it’s knowing the warning signs and when you can keep pressing on the gas and when you're kind of like, ah, I gotta, I gotta step on the brakes a little bit … If you've been unlucky and had an injury, you kind of know what it felt, what it feels like, whatever led up to it. You can think, ‘Ooh, this is similar. So maybe I just want to take a day or two off and go in the pool or do some kind of cross training just so I don't repeat history.” Pro marathoner (and full-time occupational therapist) Maegan Krifchin had a pretty incredible fall last year. After what...
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106 | Carrie Answers a Question: Julie’s Adjustment
The Injured Athletes Club
"I just turned 56 years old and have been making great strides in the mental side of my tennis game and competing. However, last May in a doubles match, I tore a piece of articular cartilage in my left knee. As my orthopedic surgeon has explained to me, that cartilage will never grow back as it was. She has given me suggestions for things that I can do to try to create fibrocartilage, including cross training with cycling and taking Osteo Bi-Flex. Those things, I think, have helped me maintain my ability to play. However, I’m more susceptible now than ever to my knee swelling up or the pain...
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105 | Carrie and Cindy Go FAR (Again)
The Injured Athletes Club
“It's really accepting the emotion and coming into the present moment—not time-traveling and wishing things were like they were in the past or time-traveling and wanting this to be over already and thinking about the future. Instead, it’s bringing yourself into the present moment of like, okay, I would prefer to not be feeling this way. I would prefer for this not to be happening. But this is happening, so I need to accept that.” In this week’s episode—a replay from season 1 that’s too important not to re-share—Coach Carrie talks through a mental exercise to get out of...
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104 | Carrie Answers a Question: Dawn’s Dilemma
The Injured Athletes Club
“A question I think a lot of us have is, when do you let go? That is, when do you realistically decide that the energy, physical, mental and emotional is not going to be rewarded and a change in goals—whether that's physical goals or life goals—is an order? In short, when do you stop beating your head against an immovable wall? This week—in a replay of an episode from season 4—co-host and mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question from listener Dawn F. What advice can Carrie offer during what may be a time of transition? Can she help Dawn pinpoint her objective, and...
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103 | Author and Athlete Christine Yu: Writing a New Story
The Injured Athletes Club
“My previous perspective, or the way that I have always thought about my body, is that it's injury-prone. That's the narrative I had adopted and often just think of myself and my body in sports, or in doing any sort of physical activity, that it's not quite suited to or made for this type of activity and that there was something just wrong with me, for lack of a better way to say it. Through the course of talking to a lot of experts and pulling this information together for the book, I really recognized that sometimes things just happen. You could be doing everything right and something...
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102 | Carrie Answers a Question: Louise’s Longing
The Injured Athletes Club
“Will I ever be the athlete I was before all of this? My fear isn’t around re-injuring the same part, my fear is, what body part might go wrong next? Is this my body’s way of telling me that my age is finally catching up with me?” —Louise This week, co-host and mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question from listener Louise, who is trying to navigate through a series of injuries and wondering what impact age is having on her recovery. In her response, Coach Carrie offers some inspiring examples from the world of high-level sports. She explains what it...
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101 | Football Player & Author Tim Hightower: Playing to Your Strengths
The Injured Athletes Club
“You can't fight for everything in life. But we all have a few things in our lives that are core to who we are, and that pull on us every single day. As much as you can endure, endure, because it's always worth it and it's bigger than you.” Running back Tim Hightower had all the momentum in the world heading into his fourth season in the NFL—a critical year, when contracts are renewed (or, in most cases, aren’t). But a catastrophic ACL tear in a 2011 game, when Washington played Charlotte, took it all away in an instant. Tim didn’t know it then, but it would be four...
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100 | Carrie & Cindy Celebrate Success
The Injured Athletes Club
“One of the catalysts for us starting the Injured Athletes Club support group and then also doing the podcast is so that you don't feel like you're alone … when you lose your sport, there's sometimes so many little mini-losses that come with that. So to be able to come to the Injured Athletes Club and be a part of a community is so special, and you all are the ones that make that special.” One big message we try to share on this podcast, in our Facebook group, and throughout our work with injured athletes is that it’s essential to celebrate your successes. This week,...
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99 | Ballet Dancer Chyrstyn Fentroy: Exploring New Identities
The Injured Athletes Club
“My parents are dancers, so I literally grew up in the studio. Ballet kind of goes hand in hand with my identity—I have always been Chyrstyn the ballet dancer. I didn't realize that until I had it taken away from me and I had to sit down and identify other things that I was interested in. Otherwise, what was I existing for? I think having the confidence of understanding a little bit more about what I want in life that's not just ballet, or what I represent more than just being a ballet dancer or being a pretty mover on stage, was helpful.” is a principal dancer at the Boston...
info_outline“There's this feeling when you feel like you could fly and when you're that fit, when you're that peaked. For me it was always being out in nature, being out on the trails, being connected with the land. And when you can't do that because you're in continual chronic pain—that was a travesty. That's the piece of me that is my soul and the reason I do this, so when you take away all of that, you’re left feeling so desperate.”
Some injuries have a clear treatment plan and a defined timeline for recovery. Others are much more difficult to decipher, and leave athletes wondering what to do and when they’ll be back training and competing again.
In her 15 years as a professional triathlete, Lesley Paterson has encountered essentially every type of setback—often going from, as she puts it, “superhero status” to struggling with daily functions like sitting and driving. In this week’s episode, she talks us through how she’s coped with all of them, most significantly a chronic high hamstring/lower back/piriformis problem that’s affected her for nearly a decade.
When she’s down for the count, Lesley—who now competes in XTERRA, or off-road triathlon—has learned how to redirect her considerable energy into her rehab and recovery. But that alone isn’t enough, the five-time world champion points out.
Athletes also need to find a way to connect with another source of joy. Her other passion is filmmaking, but it could be a hobby, relationship, or any other pursuit that keeps you moving forward when times are tough, she says.
A huge thank you to our sponsors for this episode: Fluid Running and 2Toms. Fluid Running makes it possible to maintain your peak physical fitness even when you're injured through the power of deep water running. And 2Toms provides advanced sweat proof, waterproof blister and chafing protection products that keep you moving. Listen for special discount codes in the episode!
In this episode, we discuss:
- How injuries are viewed in XTERRA and other endurance sports, and the difference between how athletes see acute and chronic injuries (6:52)
- How she helps her athletes work through chronic injuries, and why she sometimes calls them lazy (8:06)
- Where her stop-at-nothing mindset comes from (10:04)
- How her worst, longest term injury developed, taking her from the top of the world to her lowest low (13:55)
- Why she feels her powerful drive is both her greatest gift and her biggest downfall—and how her art helps her to balance the two (20:11)
- That time she broke her shoulder during a race and finished it anyway (23:29)
- How she built her support system, and why that’s been so critical (29:10)
- The way she and her sport psychologist/co-coach husband navigate their many different roles (33:34)
- How she helps her athletes visualize the root causes of their injuries—and why personality matters when choosing a health care provider (35:04)
- The silver linings she’s taken from the pandemic, including an exciting new film project (37:48)
- Her advice to other injured athletes about finding that “positivity fuel” to keep you moving forward (48:37)
You can subscribe to The Injured Athletes Club on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, and if you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or a review in Apple podcasts. That helps other injured athletes find the show.
Resources/links:
- Lesley’s website, Instagram, and Twitter
- The XTERRA podcast, which she co-hosts, and a recent episode on which Carrie appears
- Her book, The Brave Athlete, co-authored with her husband and sport psychologist Dr. Simon Marshall
- Their coaching company, Braveheart Coaching
To access more resources for injured athletes:
- Join The Injured Athletes Club mailing list, for news and updates
- Join The Injured Athletes Club Facebook group, for support and camaraderie
- Like The Injured Athletes Club Podcast Facebook page, for the latest episodes
- Email us at [email protected] with questions, guest suggestions, or other feedback
DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational & informational use only and & does not constitute medical advice. Do not disregard, avoid or delay obtaining medical or health related advice from your health-care professional because of something you may have heard in an episode of this podcast. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please consult with a qualified medical professional for proper evaluation & treatment. Guests who speak on this podcast express their own opinions, experiences, and conclusions, and The Injured Athletes Club podcast hosts nor any company providing financial support endorses or opposes any particular treatment option discussed in the episodes of this podcast and are not responsible for any actions or inactions of listeners based on the information presented. The use of any information provided is solely at your own risk.