How a Shock Injury Started a Running Journey in my 40s
After a teenage & high school career as a good all-round athlete and with the benefit of Physical Training (PT) that accompanies graduating from military academy in my 20s, I started running again in 2018 at the age of 41. This was after a break of almost 20 years and caused by the simple act of pulling a hamstring and being in shock at not being able to complete a park-run of 5kms.
Shock Injury — Time to Take Stock
This might be a familiar story, early 40’s man plays a game of touch football during holidays with family, he plays hard thinking he still has the agility of a 20 year old man, gets a bit of a twinge in the hamstring and thinks nothing more of it. I didn't know it yet but my hamstring was a ticking time-bomb and an upcoming park-run was going to be the thing to detonate it.
I was this man in the story — in my mind I was a fit 25 year old that could do any amount of hard physical activity at a high level of performance with no training and no preparation. Boy was I wrong.
About a week after the touch football episode I agreed with family members to go down to the local park for a park-run of 5kms and just wasn’t able to complete it. I pulled that hamstring with the twinge at around 2kms in. It was just a little twinge initially, I don’t know how fast I was running, maybe 4:45 per km? Probably more like 5:50 (hard to say but it felt fast for me), I’m not sure but we can say for sure that it was way too fast for my fitness and my conditioning. I was running this thing like I was 25.
When it happened I felt a massive “twang” in my leg which felt so strange, it was like someone had punched my muscle out of place. I became instantly hobbled. I didn't really recognise what was going on at the start so I walked/hopped a few steps hoping it would go away.
My competitive instinct also kicked in as people started passing me while I was hobbled so I tried to start running again which made it worse. Picture a hobbled, overweight, 40 year old man yelling at his leg for not doing what he wants it to do and just looking confused — that was me. This cycle was repeated about 3 times before I realised I had a running injury and wouldn't be able to finish the run.
There was no chance to jog this in — I could barely even walk! I was just embarrassed. My ego was shattered, I must be unfit to be incapable of completing this run and just a general physical failure.
In reality — my family was concerned for me because I had hurt my leg but nobody was judging me, none of the participants were sniggering at me or talking behind their hands. I did all of the negative “beat yourself up” talking all on my own.
The rest of the park-runners just did their runs at their pace and enjoyed being able to move and run in a park on a weekend (which really was the whole point of the thing). I was determined to be able to have that same experience and if it wasn’t going to be effortless like for a 25 year old then it could at least be made alot easier than I had made it by properly training to run again.
Pulled Hamstring Equals Life Change!
This pulled hamstring was a major life milestone for me — you see, in my brain I was still that fit 25 year old and could easily trun up to any sporting or athletic event and do well — as I mentioned, my ex-military background reinforced this stereotype and I was in a state of classic denial.
The difference now was that I had irrefutable proof that my fitness was no longer a given, it didn’t exist anymore! I had to grow up, face my mortality and deal with reality. Suffice to say this was also when I realised I wasn’t a trim 78kgs, more like 103kgs and terrifically overweight. How did that happen?
So a week after my pulled hamstring (and with the support of a compression bandage and a rigorous ice regime), we went hiking for several days along the South Coast Track (SCT) in Tasmania (NB: We went a couple of days in and a couple out, not the end to end SCT route). Not a difficult walk but a kick start to a new way of thinking, with some attention on my fitness.
Looking back I can see a few extra kilograms in the photos but my mind at the time had a hard time recognising this. In the photo above you can see a compression bandage on my pulled hamstring, a bit of a saggy belly and some “man-boobs” but there was no way I would have recognised that at the time.
Started Running — Treadmill
We had a great hiking trip and when we got back to Adelaide after the holidays I got started running in earnest. I think my first milestone was an early morning 5km on the treadmill. I was so excited that I woke Toni up to let her know — she waved congratulations at me drowsily and went back to sleep. I was pumped! I had run 5kms non-stop and didn’t die!
I did all my initial running on the treadmill. I think that was for a few reasons:
- I was embarrassed by how slowly I ran and didn't feel like a runner so the privacy of a treadmill helped;
- The treadmill gave me control over my pace and a way to monitor progress in a way I didn't think I could outside (yet); and
- I was bored while running, using the treadmill meant I could watch something on a screen while running, I opted for a running app that showed a little avatar moving along on a screen through different landscapes — this seemed to motivate me quite a bit.
I think my first 5kms was a 35:00 affair at a heart rate of around 175 beats per minute. I should also mention that although I had quit cigarettes at around the same time, I had been smoking a vape and had the occaisional cigarette. Now I was experiencing the full impact of “smoking reduces your fitness”.
After that came the inevitable 10km milestone and then eventually a Half Marathon distance, all on the treadmill. I think that first Half Marathon took me 2:20 but I was so proud. I also look back now and appreciate the mental toughness it requires to run a Half Marathon solo on a treadmill!
I didn't know any better so I just did it. This is something to remember as your goals get bigger and harder!
One thing I do keep in mind today is that the treadmill helped to motivate me to not stop because to stop required a positive action to push a button, therefore the easiest thing to do was not stop. I find that returning to the “dreadmill” from time to time can be good for reinforcing mental toughness and particularly for practicing “not stopping”.
I eventually graduated to road running (and wondered why I hadn’t done this sooner but that is a whole different story) but I did feel relatively well prepared for the rigours of running outside in “the real” after a good few weeks on the treadmill.
5km times progression
My 5km times came down, this was the subject of my first set of goals , I wanted to improve at the 5km distance and put that failed park-run behind me. I managed to progress something like this:
- Jan 2019: First 5kms 35:00;
- Feb 2019: under 30:00;
- Mar 2019: under 27:00; and
- Apr 2019: under 25:00
I remember that 25:00 run — this was while I was in Ottawa, Canada for work. I was really quite jet-lagged so I would wake up at 3am and go for a walk or a long run in the cold each morning. At the end of the week I was feeling good and my conference had finished. I went out in a sleet/snowstorm (yes, it was -2C) in just shorts and a t-shirt and ran 24:55 on the footpath.
I think my heart rate hit 190 but it didn't feel like it normally did — that is when I got to experience the impact of colder temperatures on running, I could just do more. I had also started using the Strava app (www.strava.com) to track my runs and found that for this one the GPS route I had taken was only 4.99kms and the usual gold medal for personal best efforts was missing! Anyway — nothing for it but to go out and run a 24:xx when I came home (jet-lagged, fresh of the plane and with my old hiking shoes).
Soon after that I was able to log a 23 minute 5km and more recently in 2020 while training for a marathon, a 22:40 something 5kms. I would say that I’m probably able to run a 21:00–22:00 right now and can see a path to the mythical 20 minute mark eventually.
How Did I Do It?
There was no secret to it really. I just started running regularly. It didn't seem to matter how fast or how slow I ran, I just kept improving by running regularly. I tried to build up to around 25kms every week and started doing some reading.
My first big goal was to get to 25:00 for 5kms so I started a McMillan training plan that was available through the Strava app. That was my first exposure to different types of runs: long runs, tempos and other training run types. I did all of them to varying degrees and got a feel for where my limits were.
Once I had built up to around 40kms a week I noticed my improvements came faster and I was enjoying the longer runs (which in turn made my shorter runs faster and easier). I was regularly running 10kms in an afternoon and maybe even running the 8kms to work in the morning.
Most of this running was done around the 5:30 per km pace. I did get some good advice from a friend that suggested I slow down a bit in order to speed up. He also recommended I read “Running to the Top” by Arthur Lydiard, the famous New Zealander running coach.
The theory of that helped me along alot and I started doing most of my running at 5:45 — 6:15/km which meant I was less fatigued and could run more.
I learned about how much stress my body could take and what would keep me from being injured. All the while I was going out once or twice a week to sprint up hills in order to build up my hamstrings. After all those sprints I haven’t had a hamstring problem since, thank you Arthur Lydiard.
Fast forward to today and I know I can run 100kms in a week. I have completed my first Marathon after multiple Half Marathons and a 5km run now feels like a light jog. It is rare that I would run less than 7–10kms in any particular session. I do love that feeling of having recognised a weakness in myself and setting about addressing it through determination and goal setting.
I guess the message that anyone could take away from this is: even if you are a bit old, overweight and a smoker, it is totally possible to run and run well just through getting started, setting goals and having dedication.
Summary
So this was my journey, I’ll sum it up for you:
- Be young and fit;
- Forget about being young and fit and get old (or older), have some bad habits like smoking, drinking etc;
- Recognise that I’ve lost fitness by not being able to perform;
- Get injured, in this case pulling a hamstring during a park-run;
- Do something about it, quit bad habits and start to run;
- Start running on the treadmill;
- Run 5kms, then 10kms, then a Half Marathon;
- Move to running outside; and
- Improve 5km times from 35:00 to under 23:00.
Good luck champions and enjoy your running! I’d love to hear the stories about how you got started in the comments.
