Fitness & injury recovery

Two weeks ago I broke my middle toe on my left foot.  This came one week before my much anticipated biathlon (run-swim) I had been training for months.

I was hoping I could magically heal in one week to do the event. Of course that didn't happen & I missed the race.  

My husband in the middle of the biathlon

My husband & I talked about it & decided to host an individual race, just for me, after the toe heals.  We're calling it the 'Broken toe biathlon.'  I'm satisfied with that, although it's not the same.

Until then I'm stuck with the issue of how do I maintain an exercise program while healing a broken toe.  I mean, I really don't want to sit on my rear all day for several weeks.  But I also want to allow for full recovery.  

After feeling sorry for myself for a while I finally snapped out of it & came up with a plan.  I am a trainer for goodness sake, I can figure this out!

• I can't walk or run but I can use this time for swim training.
• I can't hop & jump for cardio but I can work on my Kettle bell skills & that's plenty of high intensity work.
• I can't do pushups on my toes (ouch) but I have the chance for some creativity with pushups - or I can work on my chest flies that I generally avoid for no good reason.
• It's hard to do yoga with a broken toe but I can do mat Pilates & fine tune the basics of yoga.

The best part is I get to practice what I preach.  I talk about allowing for full recover.  Now I get to be a role model, and I feel really ready for that. -- Written by Emily Collins, Owner of OnTrack Fitness