How to Mentally Rebound from Injury: Psychologist Carrie Jackson on Emotional Recovery

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Apr 3, 2025

In this insightful discussion, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson shares her expertise on managing the emotional aftermath of running injuries. With a background in psychology and a focus on athletic performance, she emphasizes the importance of acceptance and flexible goal-setting for mental recovery. Carrie delves into strategies like journaling for tracking progress, the need for community support, and the dual nature of healing—both physical and emotional. Her advice aims to help runners redefine their identities and nurture resilience as they journey back to the sport.

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ADVICE

Recovery as Your New Sport

Acknowledge the mini-losses that come with injury, like loss of identity, routine, and community.
Reframe recovery as your new sport, dedicating the same effort and focus as you did to training.

INSIGHT

Mental Toughness in Recovery

Holding back and prioritizing recovery demonstrates mental toughness, more so than pushing through pain.
Recovery requires a shift in mindset, from pushing limits to disciplined patience and honoring body signals.

ANECDOTE

Carrie Jackson's Snowboarding Injury

Carrie Jackson shares a personal anecdote about a snowboarding injury that led to a profound realization about recovery.
Applying mental performance techniques to her rehab resulted in her best season ever, highlighting the importance of psychological recovery.

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No runner wants to get injured. But the worst part of an injury is often the mental side of it, not the physical!

Sure, you can go to the PT or self-treat your injury. That will help you physically heal.

But what about your loss of identity when you can't run? What about the loss of a future goal? How will you respond to feeling like you lost your community?

Perhaps more importantly, your mental outlook will affect how you treat your injury and the level of success of that treatment. We have to get this right!

Joining me is mental skills coach and psychologist Carrie Jackson. She is the author of On Top of Your Game: Mental Skills to Maximize Your Athletic Performance and coauthor of Rebound: Train Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries. She’s worked with elite and pro runners around the world and her work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Runner’s World, and most other major media. You can hear even more of Carrie on her podcast, The Injured Athlete’s Club.

We discuss:

How to practice acceptance
Fear management strategies
How to adjust goals
Why "recovery is training"

As a formerly injury-prone runner, this conversation really impacted me. I remember how each injury made me feel. And there’s almost no worse feeling for a runner! It’s one of the major reasons why my coaching practice and training programs all revolve around consistency and staying healthy so you can focus on your running. If you want to learn even more about how to prevent injuries, go to strengthrunning.com/prevention.

Thank you LMNT!

A big thanks to LMNT for their support of this episode! They make electrolyte drinks for athletes and low-carb folks with no sugar, artificial ingredients, or colors. They are offering a free gift with your purchase at LMNT. And this does NOT have to be your first purchase. You’ll get a sample pack with every flavor so you can try them all before deciding what you like best.

LMNT’s products have some of the highest sodium concentrations that you can find. Anybody who runs a lot knows that sodium, as well as other electrolytes like magnesium and potassium, are essential to our performance and how we feel throughout the day.

If you’re not familiar, LMNT is my favorite way to hydrate. They make electrolytes for athletes and low-carb folks with no Sugar, artificial ingredients, or colors. I’m now in the habit of giving away boxes of LMNT at group runs around Denver and Boulder and everyone loves this stuff.

Boost your performance and your recovery with LMNT. They’re the exclusive hydration partner to Team USA Weightlifting and quite a few professional baseball, hockey, and basketball teams are on regular subscriptions. So check out LMNT to get a free sampler pack and get your hydration optimized for the upcoming season.

Thanks to Ketone-IQ!

Ketone-IQ increases the levels of ketones in your blood – and raised blood ketone levels do increase focus and alertness, which is why I take a shot before every podcast recording and have for almost two years even before their sponsorship. I feel dialed in and quick for these high-stakes conversations.

There’s also promising research – and loads of anecdotal evidence – that ketone supplementation can help with recovery if taken post-exercise. I know some of the best ultra runners in the world, Boston Marathon champ Des Linden, and the pro cycling team that won the TdF in 2022 and 2023 all take ketones post-race to aid recovery.

Go to Ketone.com/strengthrunning to save 30% on your first subscription and receive a free 6-pack of Ketone-IQ and try for yourself today.

Thanks Boulderthon!

Boulderthon is a top 10 race in America according to USA Today and one of the best fall marathons according to Runner’s World. With a 5k, 10k, half marathon, and marathon, Boulderthon offers an amazing fall destination race weekend right at the foothills of the Rockies. Use code STRENGTH20 for $20 off the marathon or half marathon.

Join me in Boulder, one of the top running destinations in the country, on September 28th, to experience the tight knit running community here, race on the epic streets of Boulder, and finish on historic Pearl Street. While I live in Denver, I travel to boulder probably once a week to run. It’s arguably one of the best running locations in the United States.

There’ll probably be cool and crisp fall weather for racing fast, too. And don’t worry, Boulderthon is a BQ-eligible, USA Track & Field Sanctioned Event.

Boulderthon is on track to sell out again this year so don’t miss out. Use code STRENGTH20 to save $20 on the marathon or half-marathon here and I hope to see you in Boulder this fall.