The Remaking of a Runner: Part I

Part I of II

Back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, I was on top of my running game and in the process of setting all my personal best times. I would regularly run in the 15:30-15:45 range for 5k, low-32 minutes for 10k, and equivalent performances at other distances, and when I had a great day, I’d go even faster. I had gone from a guy who was pretty darn mediocre in college to being an invited athlete at some fairly large road races. I guess you could say that life as a competitive runner was good for me.  However, I wanted more. In fact, I wanted a lot more. I wanted to run under 15 min for 5k, under 31 min for 10k, under 1:09 for the half marathon, and even had a pipe dream of taking a shot at the 2:22 “B” standard for the Olympic Trials in the marathon. I knew the last one was a pretty big stretch, but the others, along with fast times in a variety of other events, all seemed attainable.

My desire to get better got the best of me, however. I began to work TOO hard, something I didn’t really think was possible at the time. I ran too many miles, ran them too fast, and went to the well too many times in workouts. As a result, I got injured. Then I got injured again and again and again. From 2003 to 2009, I struggled. I ran some decent times here and there, hitting 33 min in the 10k and even going under 16 min for 5k a few times, but I never could get back to where I was in the 1998 to 2002 time frame. I kept telling myself that it wasn’t my age and that I could still be as good or better than I ever was, but it never happened and I continued to struggle with injuries, never being able to string together more than 10-14 weeks without getting hurt. Then, in 2010, I had my worst injury to date, a double Jones Fracture in my right foot. I was told that I might not ever be able to run seriously again and almost certainly wouldn’t be able to do it at the level I always had. I was pretty depressed, but still determined to get back.

I write all that to set the tone for the rest of this post. In 2011 and 2012, I spent most of my time running scared. I eased back into some mileage and figured out that I could do so without reinjuring my foot. However, I was still afraid to run really hard and fast because I knew that meant getting up on my toes, and that seemed risky. Accordingly, I settled into what was basically marathon training and figured that if I ran enough I would eventually get fit. It worked to a certain extent, but we all know that as you get older your speed is the first thing to go. I not only had that going against me, but I had the fact that it had been years since I had done any faster paced work as well. That was a double whammy. Additionally, I struggled with some pain in my calf that was related to scar tissue from a bad stress fracture in 2009. The faster I ran, the more that hurt. It could handle mileage, at least to a certain extent, but speed was not its friend.

Towards the end of 2012, I was growing tired of the whole thing. I still liked to run, but battling the same old same old and getting the same results was starting to wear on me. I decided that something had to be done. I either had to get back to the point where I could pursue the goals I still wanted to achieve or walk away from the competitive side of the sport and just run 25 miles a week for fun and fitness. Based on some advice I’d received earlier in the year about my calf, I decided to pursue Graston Treatment. It was a shot in the dark and even Dr. Walker at Balance Chiropractic where I received the treatment wasn’t sure it would work, but it turned out to be a miracle. Within a few treatments, I was starting runs pain free for the first time in as long as I could remember. I finally felt like I had full use of my legs and I could run with a more natural stride and normal form. I was ready for the next step.

To be continued….