Listen... And trust

It's not often I do this but today I will use the example or a fellow coach (AL) and a situation that manifested over the past weekend. My purpose in using this unnamed coach is not for singling out but rather a very relevant example for serious subject.

Eight coaches from Kitsilano took part in the Haney to Harrison Relay, a gruelling 100km one-day event held last weekend.Heading into the event, AL had complained of lower leg pain (shin area) during training runs and extended sessions in the facility. In the week up to the event, when questioned about tapering and even possibly sitting out the event due to a small but nagging injury, AL replied that he just wanted to get through the H2H as well as this weekend's Fall Classic at UBC before shutting down his running for the year. In his words the pain was manageable (not getting better, not getting worse), and he decided to push forward. As teammates, we trusted his judgement and focused on the race.

The day of the race, AL ran the second leg. Without a compression sleeve on the leg, in cold weather, AL set off for his 13.5km. While waiting for him at the second exchange, a race marshall alerted our next runner that AL was encountering great difficulty and drove him out to see AL. Upon meeting AL, our next runner saw a limping, wincing coach trying to push through the pain and clearly losing the battle. Our next runner offered to take the baton and get an early start to relieve AL of his pain and duty for the day, but AL was determined to finish. After passing off at the exchange, our runner took off and AL sat down to get some relief. When he tried to stand up again ten minutes later, he could put NO weight on his right leg without intense pain. What happened!!?

A stress fracture on the tibia (shin bone). A injury that often starts with nagging pain and with each and every impact on the leg becomes worse and worse until... No more weight can be put on the leg, followed by a MINIMUM of eight weeks off from all running and impact. (goodbye running season, hello ice packs.)

The frustrating aspect of this injury is that it is very preventable. Overload/overuse injuries exhibit many warning signs (nagging and persistent pain, discomfort) and are fairly simply remedied (rest, physio exercises and controlled resumption of activity) when addressed EARLY ON. The longer they are allowed to progress, the worse they become, and in this case, by pushing too hard too far for too long, the coach practically begged for a stress fracture, and is lucky to hobble away with just that.

So where was the failure? Two basic ideas... ATTENTION: By ignoring the obvious warning signs over and over, the coach ignored his body and didn't trust advice from teammates who were looking out for his best interest as an individual (and had much more experience in running and running injuries). During the event, the coach ignored obvious pain km after nasty km, and though admirable for wanting to finish, only hurt himself even more physically (not to mention the team's total time in a relay race). NO coach should ever allow this pattern of behaviour from a client, on so many levels, so it is just as inexcusable to do this to oneself. The coach felt the pain in their body, but ignored it. The coach was given suitable advice from teammates, but ignored it. The coach is supposed to trust the systems in place and and the people around them but... You get the picture. TRUST: between yourself and your body, yourself and your fellow coaches, yourself and your clients. If your coaches aren't able to trust you are taking care of yoruself properly, they will lose faith in you as a teammate (not to mention an injured team member is as useless to the team as they are to themselves). A coach who puts themself in danger and blatantly forces an injury upon themself will accordingly lose the trust of their clients, and is probably putting them in similar danger. A coach is supposed to be an example and standard of the work they preach and demonstrate. Should a client take nutritional advice from an overweight coach who has trouble controlling their calories? Hell no. Should the same client take training or running tips from a coach who can't listen to his own body? Hell no again.
Trust and attention are two of the fundamental aspects of training, and work in so many directions. From clients to trainers and back, between trainers and their teammates, between everyone and their own body... Ignoring obvious signs repeatedly raises serious concerns about trust and the purpose behind those decisions (Will AL trust his doctor for rehab? Will he stop next time his body is in pain?), and only makes a manageable situation worse, until it becomes a fairly serious injury. At this point his clients and teammates will question his method for training others as well as himself, and wonder if they can trust he'll listen to them when they raise their concerns.
-Luke Purm