31 | Olympian Mechelle Lewis Freeman: Finding the Opportunity
Release Date: 07/23/2020
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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,...
info_outline
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_outlineMechelle Lewis Freeman had put everything on the line to achieve her Olympic dream. She’d walked away from a successful career in advertising, moved to a full-time training facility, and calculated everything from the hours of sleep she needed to the grams of protein she ingested to the positive mantras running through her head. (The impossible is nothing. I can do all things. No weapon formed against me shall prosper.)
Injury threatened to derail her progress, keeping her away from the track for four months in the leadup to the 2008 Olympic Trials. But because she’d already invested so much in training not only her body but also her mind, Mechelle was able to see the opportunity in the obstacle. She took her training to the pool and returned months later to make the team in dramatic fashion, as she explains in this episode.
This optimistic, ambitious mindset not only took Mechelle to the Games in Beijing later that summer, it now informs her work as a relays coach for Team U.S.A. and fuels her mission to mentor the next generation of athletes through her non-profit, TrackGirlz.
A huge thank you to Fluid Running H2GO, the only app-based deep-water running system in the world, for sponsoring this season of the Injured Athletes Club. CLICK HERE and use code IAC 30 to take $30 off the full system or the digital bundle.
In this episode, we discuss:
- How injuries are viewed in sprinting (6:11)
- Her earliest memories of injury, and how they led her away from sport (9:09)
- What drew her back to it years later (13:49)
- How she has been able to use comparison as motivation, rather than a reason to doubt herself (18:19)
- The steps she took to fully commit to her new goal (20:00)
- The injury that kept her away from the track for four months during an Olympic year, and how she stayed dedicated and focused while dealing with it (22:22)
- The big secret she kept from her family about her selection for the team, and why (32:16)
- What actually happened during the Games that summer—and one of the hardest moments of her entire journey (44:04)
- How she moved on from that experience and translated her gifts into the next phase of her career (55:44)
- The ideas she has for instilling resilience in young athletes—and for further integrating and diversifying the running community (1:01:23)
You can subscribe to The Injured Athletes Club on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, 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 we mention:
- Mechelle’s Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook page
- The TrackGirlz website and Instagram (go there to register for the last in the RefresHER series, July 28!)
- Her AirBnb Online Experience (and the article Cindy wrote about it for Runner’s World)
To access more resources for injured athletes:
- Join The Injured Athletes Club mailing list, for weekly news and updates
- Join The Injured Athletes Club Facebook group, for support and camaraderie
- 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.