I decided to start a blog to provide people with information about my rehabilitation after a major injury and my training and races that have occurred since that injury. The story takes place over a 14 month period from when I was first injured to completing my first Olympic-distance triathlon on June 24, 2012. I plan to continue updating the blog with races in the future. I hope that people can be inspired by what I’ve been through and possibly motivated to challenge themselves to achieve greater things in their lives. In addition to providing information about my races, I will share some of the tips and tricks that I have learned while training for my first triathlon for anyone who is thinking about doing a triathlon.
My story is that I’ve been a runner for the better part of the last 12 years. I’ve always tried to be somewhat in shape but things like work and other responsibilities have occasionally side-tracked me in the past. For the last eight or so years, I have been pretty consistent with running. I’ve completed three marathons and many half-marathons. Luckily, I have a great job and I live close to where I work (a five minute bike ride or ten minute walk) so I have plenty of disposable time to train without the hassles of commuting.
I had an unfortunate accident on May 1, 2011 where I was playing softball and was hit by a line drive that broke my left kneecap and completely ruptured my quadriceps tendon. While the world was celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden, I was in the ER in Bryn Mawr hospital getting X-rays and being placed in a knee brace, hopped upon whatever pain killers that I was given to numb the pain. I was scared that my ability to run, let alone walk would be forever changed. I met with an orthopedic doctor two days later and he told me that I would need surgery to repair the knee cap and tendon and that was really the only option. The sign of my tendon being ruptured was fairly simple test, lay on your back with your leg straight, and then try to raise your leg. I was totally unable to perform this simple exercise meaning the quad tendon was completely ruptured.
I went in for surgery the following Friday morning, May 6th. The surgery went well without any complications. A screw was inserted into my kneecap to attach the broken bones and my tendon was sutured to my kneecap. My surgeon felt the operation went well and was able to bend my knee while I was under. After I woke up from the anesthesia, the surgeon was there and we briefly discussed the procedure. After a few hours at the hospital, I was discharged and went back to my girlfriend’s place for the rest of the day. As the anesthesia wore off, a numbing pain settled in and became brutally unbearable as the night wore on. Sleeping was impossible and I took my Vicodin at the prescribed times but I don’t think it helped until about 3AM when I was finally able to get some sleep. I would sleep for about an hour and then wake up, take another Vicodin and eventually fall asleep about an hour later. After several hours, the numbing pain wore off or the meds kicked in, but I was feeling much better on Saturday afternoon and even went to a barbeque later in the afternoon.
I spent the next two months in a knee brace to immobilize my leg and doing physical therapy to strengthen my knee. I never missed running as much as I had that summer. I was lucky that I knew had done some physical therapy in the past at the Penn Sports Medicine Center. Chris Kauffman, whom I worked with in the past, saw my Facebook posts about the injury and helped me to get scheduled with a therapist quickly. I started my physical therapy appointments at Penn Sports Med the following week for the entire summer to strengthen my knee. I feel like I was very coachable, patient, and worked hard in PT and at home to get better. I was hoping to be cleared to run at the end of July but I think the surgeon knew that I might go out and push it too hard so he wouldn't clear me for another month. Finally after four months of physical therapy and healing, I was medically cleared to run again. Although my knee still hurt and continues to do so today, it was healed enough for me not to damage anything further with higher impact running. Time for the fun to begin….
Now for the absolutely crazy part of the story. I had registered for the Philadelphia Rock ‘n Roll half marathon before the injury and not wanting to waste my registration fee, I decided that I would try to train for the race which was happening on 9/18/2011. I felt that I would see how it went but wouldn’t push myself if I felt there was any danger for future injury. Just finishing a half marathon would be a major accomplishment based on what I had been through. I started training slow and made a promise to myself to stay within my limits.I was able to ramp my mileage up to completing a 10 mile run within four weeks of training and just a few days before the race.
The race went well and my goal was to finish around the 2 hour mark. I ran a good pace with my friend Alon from the West Philly Runners. We stayed together for 10 miles and had a slow and steady pace going when I started to fade. Alon had a burst of energy and took off for the final 5K. The next two miles were tough as my calves were pretty cramped from a new running form which stresses natural running so it became a run/walk for the last few miles. I was still able to finish under my goal with a time of 1:53:13 and then got to sit back at the finish and listen to a free Bret Michael concert after the race while basking in my athletic achievement. Something that I hadn't expected or thought possible a few short months prior.
