I have to wonder.
When masters athletes go too far. Pushing themselves for the sake of competition and damaging their bodies in the process, in some cases, beyond repair. That said, I think I have been repaired, although the jury is still out on the ultimate success of my surgery.
I've been extremely careful and only now, beginning the 5th week post op, I'm gingerly and only occasionally putting weight on my affected leg. It still hurts sometimes, but not badly or alarmingly. Mostly a throbbing feeling.
I recently was featured in Ray's "Geezer Jock" blog. One of my masters colleagues was also featured recently and praised as a hero for running injured in an effort to defend his title. I'm not going to mention names but I feel really sorry for him. He revealed his MRI on social media taken after his race (finished out of the medals, well back), and it was far worse than the knee I just had repaired. It is almost certainly unrepairable, especially at his age.
Another colleague had been running bone on bone for yrs and has apparently finally retired. He has literally dozens of National masters 400m titles. I see some short sprinters gutting it out, running obviously injured, 'just one more race' and not anywhere near where they used to be, like one former world champion I raced at Penn. World champ, Allan came out of retirement to race the 60m at Nationals, finished 3rd and said he "did not have a good time."
Another stellar athlete, WR holder won the 400m nationals in her age group and is competing on a torn meniscus. It doesn't bode well for her future. Short term goals for long term damage. People think they can overcome a torn meniscus with PT. Some even use snake oil chiropractic treatments like red light, cold laser, etc... Actually, probably no better than a soak in the hot tub and some gentle massage. All these things are really bandaids and won't help long term.
It makes me think real hard about ever training to compete again.
Two kernels of wisdom that Dr. LaPrade's assistant, Dr. Cook gave me...
1) There are two types of people. People who learn from their mistakes and people who learn from other people's mistakes.
2) You have one chance for a surgical repair, and you want to hit a home run.
I have 2 full weeks on crutches still left. Last time I got off crutches and on to the underloader brace at 5 1/2 weeks. I'm a bit behind that repair because I had 95% ROM by the end of 5th week. I'm a ways away from that, at least 2 weeks I'd estimate. Right now I can stand on it with full weight with no pain, but I am avoiding doing it. Still wearing the brace all the time. I still have a full 8 days before I have to work, which is great.
Staying at around 144 lbs. Been eating a lot of fruit lately out of convenience.
It’s an addiction. If you read critical sports psychology the motivation behind sport accomplishment is very primitive and seated in instinctual drives. Along the lines of tribalism, social standing, etcetera. Master athletics is particularly addictive as the next age group is always out there as a carrot.
ReplyDeleteHaha, what a load of psychobabble!
DeleteExcept it’s true. But typically only for those that have high placements. The joy and satisfaction of being on the podium, especially first place, is routed in our instinctual need for social standing, and results in real physiological, chemical responses in the brain. Like anything of extreme pleasure humans strive to recreate it, and will endure all sorts of discomfort and difficulties in training to achieve it and the standing again. To be number one in the world! To be part of a small group of near equal achievers! Master athletics in particular provides opportunities to recreate glory on a periodic schedule based on age groups. Again that is only for those good enough to be on the podium, most humans never experience it in competition (lucky last has opposite psychological response, instead of pleasure it is a form of pain to avoid)
ReplyDeleteMaybe an unhealthy addiction for people who have little else remarkable going on in their life. But I know it can be obsessive when near the top, to maintain that edge. Now in the days of AI, it is nice to get a mention for something hard earned, and that's about the only place it's noted outside of masters athletics itself. No one cares about masters athletics except the participants, unlike school, pro, and elites.
DeleteActually we are far better off as a species for this need, as it produces many if not most of our advances. In the golden age of science scientists were real rockstars.
ReplyDeleteGo back and study the study that studied studies.
ReplyDelete