By David Torrence

Monday afternoon. I’m at the track, about to do my last speed session before the big adidas Diamond League Meet in New York. The past few weeks had been going great... feeling healthy, fast, strong from training. Confidence ever growing from my victories and PRs earlier in the season.  

It’s a great day for speedwork, the sun is shining down on Edwards Stadium, light breeze to keep you comfortable, but not too cool where it gets your muscles cold. I warmup, do my dynamic stretches and drills, a few strides, and get ready to the start the workout. First thing on the list: some accelerating 150s, in spikes.

On the very, first, ONE. My left hamstring pulls up. I still don’t know how it happened, or why, but the fact remained that I was on the track, unable to run faster than 6min pace, and barely able to jog. First thought was “Oh no, why now?!” I had one of the biggest races in my life, one of the first chances for me to run fast and set up my European season, and five days before this huge opportunity my body betrays me.  


Like many runners, whether you’re elite, college, HS, or just a casual weekend warrior, we all get our fair share of injuries. I don’t care how good you are at stretching, icing, strength training, etc…there is always something that we overlook, or something that is out of our control, that can throw your body out of whack. When you’re competing at such a high level and pushing your body to its limits, it’s not a matter of “if” you get injured, but rather “when” and “how often.” So although we all do our best to avoid them, it’s just a fact of our sport that you’re bound to over-stress something. 
 
The difference, however, in what can make or break you… what can be a great opportunity or utter failure, is in what you do next.  

So, I wanted to let you all in on what had helped me go from unable to sprint, to kicking a 55-second last quarter in a 2.5sec personal record, all in just five days. 

MONDAY - INJURY

As soon as I felt the pull, I told myself, “No big deal, you have time, you can get better, you are going to race on Saturday.” Having an optimistic and positive attitude is a HUGE tool in recovering and healing as quickly as possible. Stress in your body releases cortisol, which is basically the worst thing for somebody recovering from anything, and also is just bad for your mental outlook on the upcoming competition.

Next up, as soon as I realized that I couldn’t run comfortably, I went straight up to the Cal training room and asked a trainer what they thought. She felt the hamstring, did some light stretches on it, and determined I had a strain in my medial hamstring. She did some light massage and then I went into a cold whirlpool (between 50-60F degrees) for 10minutes. If you can, try and see some sort of sports health professional (Sports Massage, Chiropractor, etc) as soon as possible. The sooner you get it looked at and worked on, the more time your body can heal with the proper adjustments made.

Lastly, when you strain something, and the muscle or tendon is tight, your first instinct is to stretch or massage it to loosen it up. However, too often we can stretch and massage over and over again, but instead of actually helping the problem, you only end up irritating the area and causing more trauma. Don’t fall victim to this common practice of over-stretching/treating, because you’ll only end up delaying your return to the track.  You’ll want to do some very light stretching maybe twice a day at the most, but again, you don’t want to over-do it…let your body heal. 
 
TUESDAY – DAY OFF

Although my hamstring was sore from the day before, and it’s usually a good idea to run when you’re sore to get blood flow to the area, I took Tuesday completely off from running. The most common reason for people getting injured is simply overtraining. Your body can’t handle the stress, so muscle chains start to be overworked, and you end up straining something that’s not strong enough to do the work. As a result, it’s a good idea to take a day off and let everything heal up. Because sometimes it’s not just the problem area that is the cause of the injury, but rather a different muscle or area of your body that is fatigued and is causing inefficiencies.

So instead of working out, I went and got more treatment, this time by chiropractor extraordinaire Leonard Stein, who works out of Ultimate Sports Medicine in San Francisco. He found out that my pelvis was misaligned, causing my hamstring to do some extra work, resulting in the strain. He did some adjustments on me, and I went about my day, not worrying about the leg. However, I DID continue to ice the area, for a total of 4 times throughout the day. 
 
WEDNESDAY – EASY “SYSTEMS CHECK” RUN*

On Wednesday I decided to go for a 20 minute run to see how the hammie had progressed. During the run, I was also very conscious of everything that was going on. I tried to feel where the tightness was coming from, and at what point in my stride did the tightness feel most acute. These are all important things to try and “feel” and remember, because they can be of valuable information not only to yourself so you can see how you progress, but also to a chiro or physical therapist to better diagnose and treat the problem.

I started out VERY slowly…I might as well have been walking. It can be hard to hold back when you are fit and were healthy just days ago, but it is very important that you ease into it, because you want to make sure that your muscles get nice and warm before you pick it up. As the run went on I was able to go a bit faster, and although I could still feel the muscle tightness, it was way better than Tuesday. I probably averaged about 8 min pace for the 20min run.

Afterwards I did two very light and short strides to see how the leg responded to a slightly quicker pace. Although I again felt the tightness, it was still an improvement, and I was able to take note of how it felt. I again went to Ultimate Sports Medicine to see Lenny one last time, let him know how I had progressed, and make sure that I was all aligned. 

*An important tip is that if you’re limping while walking or running with an altered form, then you are not ready to run. Either cross train (very lightly) or take another day off. I was doing neither, and so I went for the run. 



THURSDAY – TRAVEL TO NYC AND RUN

My flight was at 11:30am, so I had to be at the airport at 10:30am. And since BART (the subway) takes an hour from my house to get to the airport, I had to leave by 9:30am. This left me in quite the predicament: Do I run early before the flight, possibly cutting into very important recovery sleep? OR do I wait until after the flight, and try to run when I get into New York (which was at 8:30pm)? I decided to run before the travel, because it is much easier for your body to run in the morning a little stiff and tired from waking up, than trying to run after sitting in an airplane for 5.5 hours.

I ended up doing a 30 minute run, with six hard 10 second pickups in the middle. These were to see how my body responded to change in pace, while also being a very light workout to keep my nervous system active. The hamstring was tight, but still getting better each day.

While on the plane, I made sure to get up several times and walk up and down the aisle. Passengers may have been staring at me, but it is very important to keep your muscles somewhat active and get the blood flowing in order to combat the stiffness from a cross-country flight. Also, once we landed and I settled in to my hotel room, I went for a short walk to stay loose and get some blood going.

It was at this point in the week that I started to get nervous again. I could still feel the strain while running. It wasn’t changing my form or anything, and it didn’t hurt, but I could just feel it, and I was worried that in an all-out performance I would just fall apart. There was no way I was going to be ready in less than two days! But I blocked those thoughts out of my head and focused on the task at hand.

I know I said it earlier, but I can’t stress it enough: you have to stay positive! You may think that you’re running out of time, and that you won’t be able to race in that upcoming competition, and that your whole season is now RUINED, but NO. You have the power to control what you think, and you simply have to just believe that you WILL get better, and that each day your body is doing everything it can to return to 100%. 

FRIDAY – PRE RACE SYSTEMS CHECK

Ran for 30 minutes, very easy. Stayed on soft trail the whole time, even if that meant running on the infield. Today was a big test, because I was going to do some drills, dynamic stretching, a couple strides, and one 200m at around 30 sec or so. This was going to determine how my body really felt. I had done pickups and light strides on trails, but hadn’t yet seen how the leg responded when I was running on the track. I was nervous, but just focused on my form and staying relaxed. We made sure to run in flats, and not spikes. Spikes are very aggressive footwear, and cause a lot of stress to the legs, so we decided to give them one more day of rest.  I ran 29.8 very comfortably, and that was the greatest news I’d heard in several days. I jogged a couple laps on the infield, and that was it. 

 

SATURDAY – RACE DAY

Ok, so now it’s game time. And although I’ve been telling myself to stay positive and that I was going to race, the simple fact remained that I had injured myself just 5 days ago. This one race was not worth re-straining the hamstring, something which might take MUCH longer to heal from. I had to realize that my goals this year lay further down the season, and that this race was not the end all be all.

So when I warmed up, I was keenly aware of my body, making sure that it was all working correctly. If I felt the tightness during the warmup and strides, I was going to call off the race. But if all systems were clear, then I was set to go.

I did my normal pre-race/workout routine, and I guess the combination of rest, treatment, and a positive mindset really did the trick, because by the time we got to the line, I had totally forgotten I even had an injury. It was time to race. And when it’s time to race, the past doesn’t mean a thing. I didn’t care that I couldn’t run 5 days ago, and neither did my competitors. The only thing that matters is the right here and NOW. And with a smart and cautious buildup to that moment, I was never more ready to take advantage of that 1500m of opportunity.  

See if you can spot me about to run 3:35!