ICED - Athletes, injuries & mental health
By Challis Popkey
Recorded while I am recovering from a broken pelvis (snowboarding) that prevents me from running the Boston Marathon. Now, with COVID-19, it seems the whole world has been put on the injured list.
ICED - Athletes, injuries & mental healthMay 20, 2020
Episode 11: Katie Kellner broke her pelvis training for her first Boston Marathon
Katie Kellner fractured her pelvis training for her first Boston marathon. Ring a bell?
.
She’s a 2 time Olympic Trials Marathon qualifier and placed 57th at the trials this February. She was a Division I All-American in both Cross Country and the 10K on the track at Cornell, where she also was Ivy League Champ in both events. She’s transitioning right now from being a professional runner (paid to run) to an elite runner (still super fast, paycheck comes from elsewhere). She’s now a biostatistician currently doing research on the Coronavirus.
.
Katie has a great attitude about injury recovery: Focus your energy on rebuilding your bone instead of lifting weights (cross training). Some pearls of wisdom from this conversation are:
.
Don’t focus too much on the past (never going to be as good as I was) or too much on the future (I need to get ready for X race) - but what you can do today. Getting a massage, icing, sleeping an extra hour are all helpful in making you a better athlete. Doing hard work is the only way you are making yourself faster, doing hard work is not a recipe for success while you’re injured.
.
If you're interested in being coached by Katie (she is AMAZING! super supportive and responsive) go to http://www.forwardfocusrunning.com/. She's also on Instagram @forwardfocusrunning.
Episode 10: Two knee surgeries didn't stop Breezy Johnson (skiing)
After placing 7th in downhill skiing at the 2018 Olympics, Breezy Johnson was ready to make her best THE best. A partial ACL tear that Fall took her out for the whole 2019 season. She thought she had paid her dues to ski racing, “almost every skier tears their ACL,” but not every skier tears their PCL and MCL. Breezy did, just as she was getting back into training.
The second knee injury really shook her. This is an athlete who lives for race day. She loves that feeling you get when it’s all on the line, “when you have to put up or shut up,” and she felt like part of her soul had been wrenched out when racing was taken away for the second time.
We talk about her amazing recovery and return to racing in January, and how having something for your mind to focus on is just as important as having something for your body to work on.
BONUS episode! *EXCLUSIVE* SNEAK PEAK of PolyPro 3
.
I have the bros themselves, Dan and Nick Popkey, on the show to talk about bruised egos and the creative genius behind the PolyPro series.
.
For those unfamiliar with the series... WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? Catch up. Seriously.
PolyPro 1: facebook.com/dan.popkey/posts/10153967670269824
PolyPro 2: youtube.com/watch?v=0GYrJ32eF-0
.
Our GoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/f/polypro-3? (still open for donations)
.
Nicky's Instagram Instagram.com/nicholaspopkey
Episode 9: "No one cares about your injury" with Avital Shimko (mogul skier)
Episode 8: "You live and die by your own decisions" with pro skier Mark Taché
Episode 7: “I wouldn’t have medaled without my injury” Christin Cooper - Silver Medal, Giant Slalom, 1984 Olympics
Over her 10-year career on the US Ski Team, Christin competed in 2 Olympics, 2 World Championships, won five World Cup races and never suffered a knee ligament injury (very rare for skiers). She was also the first American skier, and is still the only female American skier, to win three medals in a single World Championships. She talks about how a healthy dose of fear helped her avoid career-ending injuries.
Full disclosure: Christin is also my Aunt! We talked about her growing up with a daredevil father on the beach in Malibu, falling in love with ski racing when the family moved to Idaho, transitioning from professional athlete to civilian, and the joys of puttering.
She and her husband, Mark, are quarantining in Mark’s native hometown of Aspen, Colorado, where they built a house twenty years ago, while running their restaurant, Montana Ale Works, in Bozeman, Montana, which is currently closed due to COVID-19, by telecommuting with their partners and staff. Towards the end of the episode we talk about how the skills she learned on the US Ski Team translate into being a successful business owner.
Episode 6: Becoming a Speed Skater with Dessie Weigel
Dessie is a COMPETITOR. She started pole vaulting (from a 6-step approach) and then found cycling. She says, "I needed to be training and using my body. I needed to be able to compete." She found that these sports didn't put the same amount of strain on her muscles so she could do hard workouts, as long as she was careful.
She poured her competitive fuel into cycling, but she says it was biking was just a vehicle. She always knew she was going to be a speed skater. After college she moved to Salt Lake City, Utah and signed up for a "Learn to Speed Skate" class. Now she's one of the fastest amateur skaters in the nation, aiming for a spot on the 2022 Olympic Team.
Episode 5: Finding your reset button with Mattie Webb
Mattie shares her collegiate running history (NC State and UNC) and how hard it was not being able to compete her first two years of college due to stress fractures. This episode is really fitting for this time, when it seems like the whole world is an injured runner... What do we do with all this time on our hands? Mattie has some good ideas.
Episode 4: Chronic injury - when pain becomes your passion with Dr. Ryan Peebles DPT (surf)
Instead of giving up he redirected his passion for surfing towards solving his chronic pain. He found the key was in the core. He became a physical therapist, then developed a fitness program that teaches you how to reconnect with your core. We talk about Ryan's journey, his program Core Balance Training, and what he's up to now that he's living pain free.
FB group: www.facebook.com/groups/lifewithoutbackpain/
Website: Artofcore.com
Instagram: @corebalance.peebs
Episode 3: "Focus on what you can do" with Paula Dubovoy (running)
Paula Dubovoy ruptured her achilles in January 2019 and had to take 6 months off of running. She has an amazingly positive approach to recovery and encourages injured athletes to focus on what they can do, rather than what they can't. You can follow her on instagram @eat_lift_bemarried and check out her personal training plans at https://extramile.fitness/. She's got an awesome pull-up challenge that I'm thinking about starting!
Episode 2: Finding balance as an adrenaline junkie with Jesse Kurrasch (motorcycle)
Episode 1: Trusting your body with Cat de Jong
First podcast episode! Cat De Jong is a 2:50 marathoner who had her eyes on an OTQ in Houston in January. A stress fracture in her femur had other plans for her, forcing her to take 2 full months off running. We talked about the toll injuries take on our mental health, and on our loved ones, who sometimes get the worst of it.