The Injury: Part 5

You Are Not In This Alone

In the first week of June I skipped a club championship race (only a 5K!) for the first time in 18 months. The next day, I got mail from Terry, my training partner of almost 20 years. More than anyone else, Terry had been witness to all my gains and setbacks over many months. He wrote about finding the "healing plateau" -- the level of activity (or the lack of it) that would truly represent a firm foundation on which to build up to healthy running again.

It was a strange period, with the Mass. State Championships representing the competitive peak of the spring for many athletes I knew, with the return of collegiate runners to Newton, and with the open calendar full of opportunities to run on the track and on the road. Also at that time, people were asking me when the Cold Springs runs would begin.

It was hard to imagine running with collegians who had been tearing up the track in the spring, and me a broken down senior citizen barely able to manage seven-minute pace four times a week. And yet, a funny thing happened. All these runners, without exception, were gracious and accommodating to my slower pace. Noah would agreeably run at whatever pace I needed; Dave would keep me entertained with his non-stop (and non-sequitur) conversation as I panted through our runs together. Sam accompanied me on gentle runs of 4-5 miles, when he could have been running twice as far and much faster. In spite of my reservations, the Newton Summer Running Project was revived, and I began looking forward to Monday and Wednesday runs again.

I think there are few good runners who aren't comfortable training alone; but I also think that no one stays long in the sport without the help and support of a group of friends who can share the effort, and help with the rough patches.

A Summer Running Project

As far as high school goes, I've always considered the second week of June to be the first week of summer. Unless a runner is good enough to run at Nationals, this usually either the first week of rest (after States) or the first week of summer (after a week or two off).

For lots of reasons, I think summer is the only time that it makes sense for HS athletes to have a specific mileage target. That's why I've liked the idea of mileage goals for the twelve weeks of summer beginning the second week of June.

This year I made up training logs for Concord Academy runners, and the first day of their summer running project was June 8. That turned out to be the first day of the Cold Springs Runs. And it also was the first day that I started writing down my runs again after several months of being too discouraged to do so.

But a strange thing happened: at the same time I started writing down my runs, I started noticing the discomfort in my right leg decreasing. I don't think it was training log, but it was strange all the same. What was REALLY going on, I think, is that after several weeks of my "no-fast-running" plan, the pain-tightness-soreness in my hamstring-hip-gluteus had quieted down to the point that I could actually identify at least one area that was causing the problem, and I could attack it. And, just as importantly, I was now following better habits (e.g., sleeping better) that gave mne a better chance of repairing the damage that I had done.

I found a combination of stretches and tennis ball massages that seemed to reveal and relieve a particularly small and subtle area that seemed unusually tender. Every day I worked on it, it seemed to get a little bit better. And unlike before when there were multiple "hot spots" in my upper leg, working on this tender spot didn't simply reveal other problems.

By the weekend of June 21, I was definitely getting better. Actually, I was literally feeling more and more mechanically sound each day. And I was enjoying my runs again, which was like having water in the desert for someone who had been struggling with the basics for many months.

But still no speed. Now I was just running every day -- various distances, various paces, but just plain running, followed by an hour of stretching, massaging, icing (sometimes).

Independence Day

I broke my "race" fast on July 4th, running a 5-mile race in Concord. It was a low-key race, and I wasn't expecting to run hard. I just thought it was time to run a little faster, and I had been feeling pain-free after runs for almost two weeks. I went out easy, way behind the high school kids with their cut-off shorts and the guys with the American flags painted on their chests. It was a cool, wet day, and I ran steadily without urgency or ambition. I finished in 29:56 -- about six-minute pace (although Jonathan Wyner tells me the course was 20s short). I felt strong throughout the race, with no late-race disintegration.

Most encouraging, I felt no ill effects from this run. No waking up the next morning to fund myself unable to run 8:00 pace; no complex with a mysterious source. I felt... normally tired, and normal had never felt so good.