WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Off the Trails: The Woes of an Injured Outdoor Enthusiast

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

Join Nicole Sighiartau as she discusses some of her wildest experiences in the great outdoors! This week she chats about her current injury which is limiting her ability to be outside enjoying the gorgeous fall weather.

You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Welcome to Off the Trails. I'm Nicole Seyartow and I'll be your adventure buddy every week as I discuss some of my wildest stories for my outdoor endeavors. This week, Storm is not with me. Very sadly enough. Our schedules were rather chaotic and it just didn't work out where we could record together. So you're getting a fun little solo episode. for me. Because it is a solo episode, it will be, I guess, less story-oriented and just kind of

a chit-chat with stuff that's been on my brain. Before we get into the episode, which I do have a focus with it. I do have a direction I want to go. I kind of want to talk about being injured as someone who loves to be outside and do outdoor activities because I'm currently in that boat right now. but before we dive into that, I'll just talk about my trail marker for the week. And it was my fantastic bike ride on Monday afternoon. I initially was going to go for a swim. Can't run because I'm injured. More on that later.

But I decided to go for a bike ride and I was just going to take it easy. That was my plan. But it was a perfect 60 degrees. there was actually a pretty strong wind about 10 to 15 miles an hour, which I've had issues with very vicious headwinds in the past of my bike rides in the Midwest and that being just really unpleasant. But I started out and I was feeling really good. So I actually extended my bike ride to around 25 miles. And initially I was biking downwind, so I was going with the wind, which made it really easy, and I was going really fast, and I felt good.

So on the way back, I just kept it going and pushed it a lot harder than I normally go. So my average speed for the entire ride was about one mile per hour faster than it typically is. So I was very pleased by that and encouraged, since I feel like I haven't been able to exercise in quite the same way, because of my injury. So that was really fun and it was just great to feel strong, to feel the wind through my hair, and for the sun to be out and all the leaves to be yellow and orange because it is fall here in Michigan. And so there were leaves literally falling through the air as I was biking. And that was really, really fun. So that bike ride, definitely the highlight of my week. And it makes me kind of sad because it's been really rainy the past few days, so I haven't been able to bike.

But I'm feeling granted to the bike right now, so I'd love to get out there again, even though it is now a lot colder, so I'll have to bundle up. But anyway, I mentioned this a couple episodes ago. I have stress fractures in both of my shins from running. I ran a marathon last, or I guess this current April, like past April, and it went really, really great. I have an entire episode on that if we're curious, but I never really was much of a runner until last year, or I guess two years ago now, my freshman year of college. And since then, I've come a long way, and I really, really love running. And I can say that with confidence,

because now that I'm not able to run for eight weeks, it really sucks. It's really, really frustrating to not be able to go for a run. So after I kind of deemed that I had a stress fracture, I stopped training for my marathon. Thankfully, I was able to get a refund, or I guess more so credit that I can use for a future race, which is really great. But I basically had two weeks where I couldn't do any sort of training. The most I could do really was aqua jogging in the pool, which is, it was more fun than I expected. If you don't know what aqua jogging is, it's basically running through the water.

And no, I'm not in the shallow end where I'm running with my feet on the ground. You're quite literally just running in slow motion. There are flotation belts that you can put around your waist to keep you afloat, and this is actually really helpful because it maintains good posture, so you keep your running form really good.

If you don't use the flotation belt, it's a lot harder. to run through the water so your posture might suffer, your form might change, and ultimately that can just cause more issues. So I just have my little running belt on, and then I actually put in an earbud, and I listen to a podcast or music while I do it because my head is completely above the surface of the water. But I will say running, aqua jogging for an hour to an hour and a half in the pool really is not the same as being outside and running. Now, it was great. It served its purpose and I think thankfully that I am mostly done with that for the rest of this recovery phase,

but it was really frustrating. I was able to start pooling with my swimming, not kicking it all during that two weeks as well. So I did that for a little bit. And that was pretty good. I grew up as a swimmer, so I really love swimming. But it's really annoying when you can't do a flip turn and you have to do open water flip turns, which means I literally, I would get up to the wall, and before I would my feet would hit the wall, I would flip, and then I would just start pulling again without a push off the wall to make sure that my shins weren't getting any extra impact. I tried lightly kicking at first, but that also led to shin pain. So not ideal, not very good. And then also during this initial two-week recovery phase, this is part of my fall break.

break. So when we were in Arches National Park, we did quite a bit of walking, which is really fun, and I don't regret it at all, but my shins definitely hurt the day after that, which was less than ideal. But anyway, we're past the first two weeks, which was definitely the most challenging, and now I'm at a point where my shins basically don't hurt, which is really good. That means that they have healed. I did a good job of taking it easy those first two weeks, which is really, really crucial. But now I'm at a point where I feel good and it's perfect running weather right now, if I'm being completely honest. Fall in Michigan just has the most crisp, lovely temperatures, 40 to 50 degrees and you just want to go run through the leaves. And I've really been struggling

with that the past couple of days. I mean, running for me isn't just a form of exercise, even though it's great for that, but it's really a way for me to get outside during the day and to get away from campus, putting in physical miles between myself and my school, and being able to disconnect from all of that. And I really didn't realize how much I would miss it until it's been now three weeks since I have gone for a run. So I also can't, I can walk more now that my shins have mainly healed, but I still have to be taking it easy for these next five weeks to ensure I don't create more micro fractures that could then make this worse. So today I did go for two walks.

The first walk was a rather short walk, but my boyfriend and I went over to like this little state park. I don't even know if it's a state park. Anyway, it's about 20 minutes away from campus. We drove there and then we walked around through the trees. And that was really nice, but not too much walking where we didn't have much time, so we were there for only a short bit. But it was nice to get away from campus. And then this evening, after I finished my dinner, I had my tea and I went and I locked around outside drinking my tea, which is very lovely and pleasant.

But it's still, in the back of my mind, I'm reminding myself, don't overdo it even though you feel fine because you can make things worse and then set back your recovery, which would be extremely frustrating to have to go back to basically ground zero with all of this. So with that being said, I am pretty frustrated with the fact that I can't really be outside enjoying this weather. It's one thing to sit outside, and I have done that a little bit, but it's also fall, so it's not the most pleasant to just sit still and not move around. So I'm trying to think of low-impact ways to continue enjoying this fall weather that we have for the next couple of weeks. Obviously, biking is preferable, but in the rain, that's not really a good option. My dad was biking one time in the rain at home, and his front wheel just slipped out from under him. So it's not really the water aspect, which number one, that's kind of unpleasant to be biking.

through the rain, but it's really just a safety concern of my wheels slipping out from under me and me falling. So that would be not, that would probably injure me more than what I'm currently at. You're listening to Off the Trails on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Thankfully, I think I'll be able to continue walking around outside more because I am, I feel mostly recovering. so long as I keep the walks short, I think that is something I could continue to implement. But I guess the other thing I just want to touch on briefly, or maybe more than briefly, is how difficult it is to explain this struggle to some people. It sounds really ridiculous, and I've talked to several people so far where they're just like,

oh, in general, how are you doing? I'm like, oh, I'm great, but I'm injured, which really isn't the worst of it. Like, that's fine. It happens when you use your body a lot. But the hardest part is not being able to go do the activities that I love. And people are like, oh, there's so many substitutes. Like, you can do this. You can do that. You can do that. Well, that's fine and dandy if your goal, I guess, is fitness per se. But really, I just, I miss going outside and doing. these activities. Just being completely honest. Like, yeah, I'm a little concerned about my cardiovascular fitness decreasing because it was pretty good before I got injured. Like, I was really happy with my

V-O-2 max and just like my heart rate and everything. So it is, it is a little upsetting because I do know that that is going to slip a bit. But I also know that I'll be able to build it back up fairly quickly, hopefully. And I don't know when my next race would be. I'd have to look into that and just kind of ramping up my mileage slowly. That's really not my biggest concern with all of this. It's simply the fact that, like, that is my happy time outside where every day for an hour or more I get to just go be alone, listen to my music, listen to a podcast, and just disconnect from school. And I, I, I think swimming used to be a great disconnect in high school and elementary and middle school for me when I would go and do that. But it's really not quite the same going to the pool at the

college. Number one, I'm alone, which is fine. I do enjoy swimming alone, unless if it were to be back home at my pool with all my friends, because I really do miss my friends. Like that was part of the disconnect in high school was socializing with my friends and talking to them in between sets and whatnot and laughing while we're stretching and just having a good time. So I definitely missed that aspect of it. But the other thing is I swim in an outdoor pool outside. So I still got to be outdoors, watch the sunset basically every night except in the winter, I guess, when it was kind of dark when we started practice. But I still got to be outside and get my dose of sunshine and enjoy. And all of that. But here it's an indoor pool, which makes sense. It's Michigan. It's cold. The pool will

freeze in the winter, so I understand why it's indoors, but it's a little bit depressing because the pool hours here are really at an inconvenient time. It's like 6 to 8 p.m., which is dinner time for me. So if I go swim, I either have to eat a really early dinner at like 4 o'clock, so I have time for my food to digest or I end up eating at 845, which is really late and I don't like doing that. So typically it's just a smaller snack or meal. So that one alternative doesn't quite solve the problem. As I mentioned, biking really is another great alternative. I love to bike and it is fantastic to do in the summer or late spring or early fall.

But we are, we're going to enter winter soon. Like our first snow is kind of due, which is crazy to say, but I was talking to one of my friends who lives in Michigan. She's like, yeah, we typically get our first snow of the year on Halloween, which is a week away at this point. And so that means pretty soon biking isn't going to be much of an option either. Also, there's only so many layers that I can bundle up while biking until I freeze because you just have all that wind in your face, especially on your hand. that's my biggest concern. Last year, I think the latest that I ever want on a bike ride in the school year was around this time of year towards the end of October. And I'm, I still have five weeks, I guess closer to four weeks now, of recovery where I can't run. And I really want to be able

to be biking to get at least some outdoor time because otherwise it will quite literally be me just swimming indoors, which is really sad. So I, I need to figure out a glove situation in order to keep my hands warm. And maybe even wear a beanie under my helmet to keep my head warm. I don't know about that. I haven't tried. So I really should do some research on ways to stay warm while biking. Another thought that I've had is going to our rock climbing wall at the school.

We do have an indoor climbing wall at the Splax. And so that's definitely an option to kind of get some. different kind of movement in that's fun. Once again, it is indoors, sadly, but I think because it's different enough, it'll be stimulating in the sense that I have to use my brain more, just thinking about the different movements. It's a totally different workout than what I'm used to. So I think that would be really fun and would kind of help me with working towards a pretty big goal that I have, which maybe I'll talk about. I actually think I'm going to create a little separate side show to talk about this goal. So maybe I'll introduce the topic briefly. Around a month ago,

maybe a little bit more, we had this CEO of the Ohio Institute, I believe, come here and he climbed Mount Everest. And he said that Mount Everest was his B-Hag. And he said that Mount Everest was his B-Hag. and be hagg stands for big hairy audacious goal and I heard that I was like hmm that's really interesting I've never heard of a be hag before and I guess before this I had the goal of running a marathon but that didn't really seem audacious to me when I think of a be hag in my opinion it should be something really really challenging that's completely out of your comfort zone and like something that you have to spend a lot of time working towards so obviously a lot of time goes into a marathon, but a marathon for the most part, by the time I decided I wanted

to do this, I was fairly comfortable with running distances as long as a half marathon. So it didn't seem audacious. It seemed very doable to me. So after a little bit of thinking, I was like, well, El Capitan is, that seems like a pretty big, hairy, audacious goal to have. So I would love to climb El Cap. El Capitan is in Yosemite Valley, and it is this granite wall. I don't even know how tall it is. I really need to do a little bit more research on my B-Hag, but if you've seen the movie Free Solo, it's a documentary. It's about Alex Honnold, and he climbs up El Cap with no ropes, no safety harness, nothing. He just does it free solo, all by himself. and so that's not what I want to do at all, but I would love to climb it with safety equipment,

obviously. I'm not looking to die. I would love to live to tell the tail. I've done a little bit of rock climbing in my past, not very much. A lot of the 14ers, I shouldn't say a lot, some of the 14ers that I've done require some scurrambling and some technical climbing, but nothing like rock climbing. You can use your legs for a lot of it, whereas I feel like rock climbing requires a lot more upper body strength, and I wouldn't say that most of the step I have done requires that kind of strength. So I would love to start pursuing this goal at some point.

I don't actually know when I want to do this in my future. I just know it's something that I at least want to attempt and probably start out with something easier. You know, maybe I do half dome first and realize this is like, a lot harder than I was expecting it to be. So maybe I'll just leave it at half dome, but it is as of right now my B-Hag. And so I think going to the Rockwall on campus would be a really fun way to kind of mix up my activities, maybe give me something to be a little bit more excited about because I can't run. So we'll see. That could be kind of a substitute. I actually,

had the idea when I first got injured to go swimming at our local lake, Bobby's Lake. And I kind of determined that I was injured around the start of October. So obviously pretty cold, but not as cold as it is right now. So to start with, if I would have done that immediately, it would have been cold. Now it's just a little bit impossible, in my opinion. You could definitely go do it, but I would just freeze to death. And it wouldn't be fun. It would be really miserable. So I'm not going to do that. But all this to say, I'm definitely counting down the days until I can run again. I know that once I get the all clear from myself, I haven't gone to a doctor or anything. But once I clear myself, I really do need to start out slowly and very, very gradually build to make sure I don't overstress my

body. I will say today I kind of broke the rules a little bit and I ran maybe 100 to 200 yards, but I was just frolicking through the leaves and I genuinely could not help myself. It was just so beautiful outside and I really wanted to run. And that 100 to 200 yards just it felt so great to be running. I felt strong, surprisingly, didn't feel winded. Now I wasn't sprinting. I was still trying to do a nice, easy run. But it was, it was really great. So thank you for listening to this very chit-chatty episode. I know it's not the typical laughter and fun that you get when Storm is on the show. And I do miss having a partner to bounce off conversation with. But I also just wanted to chat about this. If you're an injured athlete or have experienced this in the past, I'm sure you can relate.

It is very sad not to be doing your sport or just not to be able to go outside and enjoy nature in the way that you're used to doing it. Really, that's just the biggest struggle right now. And I have to remind myself that it is smart that I am resting and not pushing myself towards greater injury because that could mean more time that I am recovering. So I hope you're getting outside and enjoying this fall weather that we have. and if not, I hope that you maybe put that on your calendar and go sit outside for at least five or ten minutes. Thank you for listening to Off the Trails on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I hope you have a great week and make time to go outside and enjoy the great outdoors. I'll see you out there. Happy trails. Bye guys.