71 | Wheelchair Racer Susannah Scaroni: A Newfound Gratitude
Release Date: 06/16/2022
150 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question from Kathy: On Having Patience for the Long Haul
The Injured Athletes Club
“ How do you stay patient when the doctor says you’re doing too much? Mentally I get so down.” —Kathy In season 8 of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question every other week about the mental side of overcoming injuries. This week, she empathizes with Kathy’s conundrum—most injured athletes aren’t happy with the pace of their recovery, because they don’t want to be injured in the first place. But patience is essential, and the way to cultivate it is to recognize it for the strength and power that it...
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149 | Hockey Player and Marathoner Thomas E. Smith on Becoming What’s Possible
The Injured Athletes Club
”What went through my mind—I was 19 at the time, my birthday was the prior month—was, oh my goodness, is my life over in terms of being able to live my dream? Because hockey, for me, wasn't just a sport. It was a gateway to do better in all facets of life.” doesn’t like the word “impossible.” After all, time after time, he’s beaten the odds. After a paralyzing spinal cord injury during a hockey game, some doctors didn’t think he would walk again—but he found a team that believed he could not only walk but skate. Nine months later, he returned to the ice. ...
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148 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question from Whitney: Rejoining the Group Ride
The Injured Athletes Club
“ When you're injured and beginning to rejoin group rides/workouts, how do you let other riders know you're not at 100%? I'm thinking specifically of gravel and mountain biking. I have trouble clipping out quickly, and am currently overly cautious. I want to ride in the very back, but sometimes there are other people ALSO trying to ride in the back. I know people don't want/need to hear my ‘woe is me' injury story, but I also don't want to be a hazard!” —Whitney In season 8 of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question every other...
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147 | Coach Carrie & Cindy Explore Your Identity
The Injured Athletes Club
“ When you give yourself permission to explore your identity, you will start to realize that being an athlete is an important part of who you are, but it is not all that you are. When you develop other areas of your identity, it can sometimes open up your performance in ways that were never available to you before.” As we discuss frequently in The Injured Athletes Club, injury brings a rollercoaster of emotions. But often, one of the most destabilizing feelings is the question of identity: Who am I without my sport? In this host-ful episode, Coach Carrie explains how common...
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146 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question from Allison: Coping When Recovery Feels Overwhelming
The Injured Athletes Club
“Besides feed the athlete/feed the monster, are there other ways to reframe and build confidence with that day-to-day overwhelm in month 3 and beyond?” Allison In season 8 of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question every other week about the mental side of overcoming injuries. This week, listener Allison wants advice on self-talk and other confidence-builders as she moves into the long-term stretch of her rehab—and Coach Carrie delivers advice that will help any athlete riding the emotional rollercoaster of a lengthy recovery....
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145 | Paralympian Noelle Lambert: Breathing Life into a New Identity
The Injured Athletes Club
“ I woke up in the hospital and told everybody that this isn't gonna define me. I'm going to be playing lacrosse again. But there was always that what-if in the back of my head; I didn't really know if it would be possible. Having amputees sit across from me and hearing everything that they've been through … they were telling me that I'd be able to live an active lifestyle. I would be able to do whatever I wanted to with my life. And if I really wanted to, that I would be able to play lacrosse again.” Noelle Lambert was a collegiate lacrosse player at UMass Lowell when she...
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144 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question from Emmie: On Anger and Failing Relationships
The Injured Athletes Club
“ Just after recovering from being hit by a truck over the summer and breaking a bunch of bones, I got to start running again only to slam my ankle into a table and now I can’t even walk. It’s possibly just a bone bruise but the pain is radiating through my entire leg and I’m so angry this happened to me just after I got better. Everything is just fifty thousand times worse. I don’t get along with those closest to me, I have so much more conflict with family and friends because nobody understands what I’m going through and nobody is even that nice. Does anyone else feel...
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143 | Physical Therapist and Strength Coach Susie Spirlock: On Dropping the Comparisons and Training for Life
The Injured Athletes Club
“ The biggest change that I've had to make in myself is, you don't always have to be progressing. I feel like there's this huge push to be able to run faster, run farther, lift heavier, just do more all the time. But it doesn't necessarily have to be that way to reap all the benefits of health and fitness that come along with cardio and with strength training.” Physical therapist and strength coach has always been a healthy, active person. But after she got sick with COVID in the fall of 2020, everything changed; her resting heart rate soared, she lost fitness and muscle mass,...
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Coach Carrie Answers a Question from Jennifer: Getting Back Up to Speed Post-Injury
The Injured Athletes Club
“How can I cope with treadmill anxiety? Coming off of a mild ankle fracture, my first few weeks I was back up to speed. Lately, as soon as I go anywhere over a jog, I feel panicky, like I'm going to fall and have to slow down. I feel relatively sure it is all mental—but I’m wondering if you have any tips.” —Jennifer In season 8 of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question every other week about the mental side of overcoming injuries. This week, Coach Carrie addresses Jennifer’s question about coping with treadmill...
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141 | Pro Runner Millie Paladino: Climbing the Mountain of Recovery
The Injured Athletes Club
"Actionable goals build. It's a mountain—recovery is a mountain. Think about the stops on that mountain that you need to make to get to the top.” Millie Paladino had a successful, relatively injury-free collegiate career in running at West Virginia University and then Providence College, where she ran distances from 800 meters to 3,000 meters and was an all-American in the mile. She turned pro and joined Team New Balance, and in 2021, made the final in the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in the 5,000 meters. But in the lead-up, a slowly developing injury began...
info_outline“I remember not knowing whether I was going to be able to race that day. I felt so emotional, I was crying. I had tears on my face and I was just thinking about just how weird the circumstances were, and just feeling how it was taken from Daniela, but it wasn't from me.”
Susannah Scaroni had one career high in summer of 2021—she won her first two Paralympic medals, a gold and a silver, at the Tokyo Games. This past May 29, she had another, when she set the world record in the 5,000 meters for the T54 category.
In between came one of her greatest challenges. In September, she was struck by a car while training, sustaining a burst fracture in her T8 vertebrae. Treatment included a clamshell-like back brace and restricted movements, which kept her out of the fall marathon season—and had her wondering about her future in the sport.
As if that weren’t enough to make her recent record-breaking performance more emotional, the race took place at the Daniela Jutzeler Memorial meet, named for a Swiss wheelchair racer killed in a similar collision. Susannah joins us on this week’s show fresh off that incredible accomplishment, and talks through what it took to get there, the lingering effects of the crash, and how it’s changed her outlook on athletics—and life.
New this season: We’re asking listeners to support the show directly, which you can do at buymeacoffee.com/rebound. Make a one-time donation or download extras like webinar recordings and resource sheets. Or, you can join as an ongoing member; for $10 a month, you’ll get goodies like podcast extras, live monthly Q&As with Carrie, and discounts from great companies like Fluid Running, Lever Movement, Netic Health, and Reflex Health.
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Resources/links:
- Susannah’s Instagram and Twitter
- Runner’s World article about Susannah’s story (by Cindy)
To access more resources for injured athletes:
- Buy Rebound: Train Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries —now available as an audiobook!
- 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.