How to Recover from Setbacks that Sideline Your Personal Goal Journey
Goals are great… until setbacks make us question everything about them.
Mid March.
Early morning.
Still dark.
It wasn’t my alarm that woke me, but a sharp pain near my big toe.
“F*ck.”
I instantly knew two things:
Something was wrong.
I was out of commission.
Any other day, injury might be a minor annoyance.
Pain is a part of the deal of being human.
But an injury like this could set my plans back dearly.
10 weeks out from this moment is a half Marathon I signed up for months ago.
And I needed all 10 to complete my training properly.
Here’s why. 👇
Big goal, big setback
Long-term I’ve been building up an epic fitness goal:
Complete a triathlon before I turn 40 (Sep 2024)
It’s a big goal. One that needs equally big effort to complete. I laid out a series of milestones and have been working towards each one for about a year.
My big goal felt like it was disappearing in front of me.
Running wasn’t an option, let alone walking at 100%.
My only priority now—healing.
Goals give us an aspirational target to propel ourselves forward.
Sometimes we want it so badly we can taste it.
But this time, I clearly pushed too hard.
The setback was my fault.
The “Lucky” Shamrock Run
A few weeks ago, I ran the annual Shamrock Run in downtown Buffalo, NY.
It’s an 8k (~5mi) run.
I’ve run that distance before, but never that race specifically.
The real problem — before the race, I hadn’t been able to train at the same quantity of running for several months because … well… Buffalo.
Turns out, Buffalo’s not the best place to train in the winter months when you’re more likely to see a blizzard than a day warm enough to run outside.
On the flip side, that push indoors got me back in the gym to start weight training.
So with far fewer avg miles under my belt per week, but an attitude that I could still push through, I ran the event anyway.
Day of—felt great.
Even though there were three nasty hills that stood in my way, I finished right at my time from the 8k event I ran months ago.
The “Mourning” After
The problem—my foot started hurting the morning after.
I could tell that it wasn’t broken, but it most assuredly wasn’t ok either.
There was only one thing to do: RICE
Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation
Turns out my body doesn’t like it when I push too hard.
I was able to slowly get back to normal walking.
Running… not a thing.
I started feeling down on myself.
I was depressed.
I was anxious.
I was angry.
I was lost.
I didn’t know what to do other than wallow.
“I wasn’t going to be able to compete in the half, or finish a marathon, or a tri, or anything… ever again!”
“If this doesn’t happen in this specific way, I’ll NEVER complete my goal!”
Goals don’t need to be perfect.
I started mourning the idea that I would have a “perfect” run towards my goal.
The Shamrock Run was intended as a training check to help me understand what I needed to work on between now and the Half.
It was kind of a kick in the pants to realize I needed a lot of work, but had no way of doing anything about it until my injury had healed.
In fact, even as I write this, it’s still healing. I won’t try to overwork it for another week or so, easing back into the game.
—
I was spiraling—worrying about all the “what ifs.”
Then, I snapped myself out of it.
How?
I needed to reframe the situation.
Goals don’t need to be “perfect.”
The point of a goal is to help you become a better person in the process.
Who cares what it looks like to get there?
Don’t worry about it.
I couldn’t control that there was an injury.
I could only control the next “step.”
6 ways to recover from sidelining setbacks
If you’re struggling with setbacks of your own, here are 6 ways to recover (with examples for each of how I applied them to my own situation).
Learn from the experience - I used the time to reflect on where I was and what I still needed to do in my training to get back into peak running shape.
I looked for plans
I considered changes to my fitness regime
I thought of ways to improve my diet (lose weight)
I created a new plan to ease myself back into training
I took the experience as something to learn from
Don’t push too fast without the training to back it up
I need more hills training (Buffalo is largely flat)
I need more stretching before and after an event
Break the goal down into smaller pieces - I considered signing up for either a smaller increment race the day of the half, not participating at all, and signing up for other races in between.
10% more load per week is the goal.
Start walking to run
Ramp up my walking overall
Include better stretches
Enter small races between now and the half
Practice self compassion - I’m only human. I’m not trying to win the race. I’m just doing this to improve my life. If it doesn’t improve it, but make me more anxious and miserable, it’s not worth it.
Regardless of whether or not I participate or complete the half, I need to make sure the endeavor is still enjoyable.
It’s about the race against myself, challenging who I am today to be a better person tomorrow.
Missing one race, if that ends up being the case, is not the end of the world.
Don’t lose sight of the bigger goal - I’m still in this for the long run. I want to improve my running and fitness to live a healthier life.
In time, I will pass my tri goal and set a new one
There will always be the goal and then the one that is born from it
Missing something along the way is information to help you improve
Use the information to push you forward, not hold you back
Let it sting a bit - I needed a check to know where my limits were
They say not to use anti-inflammatories (if possible) when you get a minor foot injury because the inflammation is your body’s way of healing.
It takes time.
It will hurt.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is true.
Not because hurting my foot will literally turn it into steel so I can run forever without issue. It’s because the experience I gained from the injury will help me prevent it from happening again.
Go for it - My plan: Oh I’m still going for the Half. You bet your ass I am. Game face on. Experience level charged. I’m ready to build the beautifully chaotic journey that will help me achieve my goals.
TL; DR
Goals are good to push your life forward
Setbacks are inevitable
Control what you can
Learn from the experience
Break the goal into smaller pieces
Practice self-compassion
Don’t lose sight of the bigger goal
Let it sting a bit
Go for it
Quote of the Week
Motivation for the days ahead of you.
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
— John Lennon
That's all for now.
Stay creative, my friends—and have a great week!
