Fixing a Broken Runner - Part One

by Hugh Wilson

The “Road to the Eastern States 100” – that was to be the title for a series of articles describing one runner's efforts to prepare for the inaugural Eastern States 100 mile ultra-marathon. With a 36 hour cutoff time and multiple 900 – 1200 foot climbs through what is known as the Grand Canyon of the East, this race is slated to be one of the most grueling races East of the Mississippi. The race is scheduled for August 2013 and has a cumulative total elevation change of over 20,000 feet.

So why change the topic and title?  The information is quite timely with just 6 months left until race day. Funny you should ask! Well – In short, I am now that broken runner.

What I am now learning is that there are three steps to regain your previous fitness level:

1.      Recognize and accept you are broken

2.      Get help correcting the problem

3.      Re-Start your training at a reasonable level

Nothing you have done on the road to becoming a competitive runner has been easy – neither will this.

My story illustrates many of the good and bad choices runners often make. I try to learn something from every training run, every race and other runners. I have learned a great many things from a recent injury and only time will tell how well I can implement those lessons in the future.

I think we all agree that in general, runners are a hardheaded stubborn lot – it’s in our nature! If we didn’t possess the character of independence, self-determination, self-reliance, self-assuredness we would not be runners. We push through aches and pains and often take pride in first blood of the run or race. When we fall we get up, if it hurts you shake it out and continue. Short of a bone sticking out of our leg, we choose to continue. The inherent nature of the runner makes recognizing something is definitely wrong very difficult.

Sunday November 10^th 2013 was like any other Sunday of the previous three or so years. The MATR (Maryland Adventure Trail Runners) running group met up at Oregon Ridge Park just a little before 5am, rain was steady – Tom Nasuta and Casey Fisher were already there. The first words I hear are “great weather to train in” followed by “we have the park to ourselves”. We train in all conditions because races take place in all conditions; we start at 5am because many of the races we participate in also start at 5am. We leave the parking lot and head for the rain sodden trails, which proved to be fairly muddy and slippery enough to give us a good core workout staying upright. Casey had left early that day and Tom and I decided to do just one more loop as it was getting close to noon. We managed to keep a fair pace mimicking the rain that was proving to be as stubborn in showing any signs of slowing until the trail turned into grass and the parking lot came into view, we decided to walk it in and discuss the run we just completed.

It is funny and curious thing that when you do something simple which requires little if any effort in thinking, like walking, is when accidents happen. I managed to step into a particularity deep spot of mud sending my left leg out to the side leaving the right to collapse into a Russian squat before toppling over and ending up on my side.

I heard no snap’s or crack’s or pop’s and I would describe the sensation in my right knee a one of great discomfort but not as pain. Tom checked the knee before helping me to my feet. I thought a cold pack and then some light stretching would shake things out. Things didn’t shake out that evening so I decided to take a break from running over the next few days since I wanted to be well rested for the Stone Mill 50 miler taking place the following Saturday. Stone Mill was to be my qualifier for Eastern States so it was an important race for me.

The days that followed saw no change in the knee, the only relief I could find was to keep the leg straight and propped up.

At 3:30am Saturday November 16^th I met up with Tom and Casey to drive to the Stone Mill 50. I took the back seat where I could keep the leg straight and I neglected to say much about it on the drive. Having a persistent dull tooth ache like feeling in the knee all week made me think it may be more than just a minor strain or twist and I decided I would get it checked out after the race. [note: the decision to check out the issue after the race was a definite mistake]

The Stone Mill race started with a loop around the school then out on a dog leg to disperse the runners. Tom and I planned on running together as far as possible – we tend to keep each other in check at the beginning of our races and not let the adrenalin or race excitement push us out faster than our plan calls for. I found the race more difficult than I expected which was odd as we have trained on similar trail – maybe it was the knee that was making the run more of an effort than it should be. Somewhere around mile 14 I told Tom I will slow my pace and that he should continue on. I think I clipped out something funny like “I’ll catch you on the downhill”. After mile 20 I started getting light headed and stumbling a bit – it was difficult to get the right leg to push off or land from a jump. At mile 24 I was hoping just to make it to the next check point when I saw Darryn Waugh a good friend and fellow runner. Darryn had come to see several of the Baltimore area runners competing in the race. He knew at first glance I was in distress and offered to pick me up – so I made it to the aid station at mile 25 where I dropped from the race. We drove from aid station to aid station to see how the runners were doing; lucky for me I was able to keep the leg straight in Darryn’s car. By the time we got to the start/finish line it was dark and the slight breeze kept me cold – which helped me deal with the leg issues.

It was a good feeling watching Casey cross the finish line in 9:25:28. Judging by the pace that Tom was running we estimated that we had time to get in the warmth of the school for food and a cup or two of tea. I always feel better after a hot tea! Tom rolled across the finish line in 11:50:43.  In finishing the 50 miler, both Casey and Tom qualified for the Eastern States 100 that we had been preparing for.
 

Recognize and accept you are broken
There was definitely something not right with the knee and I needed it fixed soon. The next day I contacted my doctor and a knee specialist and arranged for an MRI.  Continuing to run on a knee like mine was not an option.

Get help correcting the problem
Doctor Lanzo came highly recommended – I had heard he is one of the top knee surgeons in the area and he has dealt with numerous sports related injuries. He had my MRI in hand when I met him, his first question was “Are you having any pain?” I answered - no pain and that it was more like a tooth ache annoyance in my knee. He responded “I understand you are an ultra-runner” and I said yes. To my surprise he said that’s why I don’t feel any pain, ultra-runners usually have a high tolerance to pain. What I had was an 80 percent tear of the quadriceps tendon, I should not be standing, I definitely should not have run a race on that knee and what I should have done is had surgery a week ago.

I’ve had similar issues in the past, how could this sore knee be something so major? With hindsight, I can honestly say that I have never had soreness last more than a few days. It is that recognition which is important and it should have kept me from attempting Stone Mill. What did I say about runners?  They are often stubborn, I should have included (at least in my case) in denial about how serious the injury was.

I had the surgery and for the following 4 to 5 weeks, the leg would be in a brace set to zero percent flexibility. To go from running back to back long runs of 5+ hours every Saturday and Sunday with a number of hours in between, and yoga alternating with P90x, to no exercise at all makes for a very unhappy runner. This was also over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays so food was in abundance – another issue the immobile have to deal with is weight gain!

We all get grumpy when we haven’t run for a week – try 5 times that! I could for see myself turning into a major grump and decided no matter how down I get I will remain positive and not utter one negative word. My mantra was “keep your thoughts positive”! I knew this is as temporary as the side and chest pains you get from running hills – it will be over soon. I continued the routine getting up early on the weekends, I would sit there with a cup of hot chocolate and one of tea along with a stack of pancakes slathered in butter and syrup and look out the window at the dark sky which was sometimes filled with rain, sleet or snow. I knew the MATR group would start the run at 5am; I am aware of  how miserable it is to be in the dark with a cold wet wind in your face, but if given the chance, I would have happily traded the hot chocolate and pancakes to be out there with them.
 

Re-Start your training at a reasonable level

Time passes and I made it through the 5 weeks remaining positive throughout.  The quadriceps tendon should have reattached to the patella and healing has been going well.  I am now at the stage of beginning physical therapy and getting the leg to work again! 

Look for an update of my experience with physical therapy in Part 2 of this report. This article is being published in next month’s issue of My Training Group Newsletter.