No one can say I am not committed to my charity! If you could see the stuff I am going through right now to retrain my biomechanics, you would never doubt me again if you ever did.
Let’s set the stage by a little recap.
In April I tore two adductors and my rectus abdominus off the pelvic attachment points on the pubic bone. Ouch. Now the MRI did not comment on whether these were full thickness tears but I don’t think they could have been or I would never have been able to train as soon as I did.
It took about a month before I could walk without pain again and in typical last minute fashion I managed to get some long distance runs in before August’s Canadian Death Race.
Unfortunately, the loss of the adductors and another very hot day took their toll in the second and most grueling stage of the race and I cramped up badly… stretching literally every 1 to 2 minutes for as much time allowed me to finish the stage. Unfortunately, it took 7 hours and I had only budgeted 6.
With a 3-hour run looming ahead and only 2 hours to finish, I vowed “they will have to make me quit before I do!”.
In what was as close to a “heroic” run as I could ever manage, I covered half the distance (or so I thought) in exactly 1 hour. Buoyed by the hope of actually squeaking under the impending cut off, I ran my heart out and was within about 2km of finishing (again, or so I thought) with about 12 minutes to go.
Certainly doable. Then a car came down the trail and the people inside said, “you may as well not kill yourself; you’ll never make it!” What I could do was 1.2 km (just over a mile for you metrically challenged) in 12 minutes.
Sorry, pal; you are 5k from the finish. Turns out this year’s race was lengthened in this stage and shortened in the next -- two facts I was unaware of!
So basically it really was an impossible task. I slowed down to a comfortable walk and settled in for the longest 5k of my life, taking about another hour to finish.
So 40 some miles into the race (11 miles farther than last year and 38 miles less than 2008) I was forced to quit.
The culprit? Agonizing bilateral sartorius muscle cramps slowing me to a crawl in Stage 2. Once again, or so I thought. Turns out all of the adductors come together on the inside of the leg just above the knee in what is known as the “adductor hiatus”. This was the area that went nuts and knotted up.
The usual suspects? Yep, poor biomechanics, overuse (secondary to poor biomechanics) and of course heat and dehydration.
I have never one to be proud of failure but in this case, as the weeks passed by I became proud of myself for not quitting even though it was hopeless.
After a month or so of no running, I began in September to try to run again. I took it slow and easy and as I was doing it, sought out the help of some real biomechanical experts to help me fix what was wrong with my gait. This includes a real rehab of my adductors and, as we’ll see, other hip muscles as well and pretty much a complete postural makeover.
Not surprisingly I suppose, the further I got into the rehab the less I was able to run, with more and more things pulling cramping and aching than ever before. Somewhere around the end of October I gave up completely when, after a 7 mile trail run, I had agonizing adductor cramps again the night after. But what a beautiful last run it was. Warm and at night, I enjoyed running down the trails with 300 other runners, lights blazing the way, lighting up the mountain trails for hundreds of yards in either direction. If this was my last race, I could not have asked for anything more beautiful!
As much of a leap of faith as it is to accept “you are going to get worse before you get better,” I really have no choice if I ever want to run again even shorter distances. I am aware beyond the shadow of a doubt that I could not continue the way I was going.
In truth, I may have to do what most runners wind up doing when they can’t run any more: bike.
But I am committed to the process and I am learning a ton about human movement, mostly by observing and understanding how screwed up mine is! LOL.
The blessing in disguise is that I probably am saving myself from a hip replacement. I have the CDR to thank for that as well. That race allowed me to see what my body would be like if it were 90 years old and allowed me to start working on the fix now in my 50’s instead of waiting for what might have happened if I had not brought out these problems with an extraordinary task.
A few quick observations that may help you in your ultra training…
While cramps can certainly be due to biomechanical and overuse issues, dehydration plays a big role as well as electrolyte balance. Duh!!! Right? Well here is even more DUH! I am a doctor and should know better. The problem is that the first and last sign of dehydration I get is cramps when I run, and fasciculations (like a bunch of worms crawling in the muscle) when I don’t. I do not get anything resembling thirst or hunger or any other warning -- just WHAM! Cramps. In addition, I have found the amount of water you have to drink to avoid dehydration (especially on a hot day, carrying 15 to 20 pounds of gear as one does in the Death Race) is almost ridiculous.
“Normal” body water for me is 61 to 62%. I am almost never there during training, even at the start of a run. I cramp mercilessly at 57%.
So drink, drink, drink, drink and keep your electrolytes up as well on those long difficult runs.
Ok what is next for me and the charity?
My goals for this year are far less lofty. I would like to run just 2 stages totaling around 40 miles. Stage 3, which has become my nemesis, is not all that hard by Death Race standards. Stage 4, Mount Hamel, is a big challenge.
I will let others who are more fleet or feet than I handle the rest.
But, if I am successful and can do it without major trauma and actually succeed in fixing the bulk of what is wrong with me, I will challenge the Death Race solo in 2012.
If I fail, there is always the bike and I have a nice one!
I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, check out DrDavesBest youtube channel for some interesting things I have learned!
Dr Dave
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