_SportyBrains_

I’ll start with the somewhat-disappointing fact that I have had no more than thirty seconds of interaction with Desi Linden while working at the 2012 Olympic Trials, so I am simply writing this from an observational stand point but I feel it’s pretty accurate. Now that my lack of real street cred has been established, let's get into it- What I will say about my 30 seconds with Ms. Linden is this: she radiates a quiet, confident intensity. Even after qualifying for the Olympic Team that year, she still carried herself quietly and confidently in a businesslike manner-as if she knew she was a force to be reckoned with yet felt no need to show it; because the world will soon find that out on its own. Desi has always stricken me as the type of athlete who mostly lets her work do the talking; that or she may actually be a mythical unicorn, but I doubt it. Now to the main content of this post: how we can be more like her-according to Adrienne, at least! In case you don’t follow ...

So after a long string of solid training and racing I was due for a little injury scare last week. This post will go into a little about it but mostly stuff on accurately reading pain levels and coping actively when things go awry physically. So this wasn't my first rodeo with this injury thing and I now fancy myself pretty savvy when it comes to dealing with getting hurt. Please note, if you are unfamiliar with dealing with getting hurt or in denial about being hurt-see a medical or other qualified professional before doing anything else. Okay, got that disclaimer outta the way now let's get into it!   Even though I more or less have a process for how to go about things when unfortunate events arise, I always try and learn something from a setback. And let's get one thing out in the open right now: hurting yourself never, ever happens at a convenient time. Probably because a convenient time to get hurt doesn't actually exist, but anyway!  Long story short, ...