German injury (Achilles) from OSU website

Jon Stevens (Gatorade All American in HS in 1998, 1:48/ 4:05 in high school) ruptured his Achilles in the last 100 of the Penn Relays (?) DMR or 4x8. Pretty much ended his injury-riddled career. That guy was amazing to watch in the Bay Area in the late 1990's.

Back to Stevens' injury- it was a complete tear. I am a big German fan (Fernandez, and I guess their beer, generally) and hope the injury isn't that bad. I'm also quite impressed with his cross country season. People don't seem to realize that he was not doing much mileage in high school and to compete in 8k and 10k races with people who've been running some serious mileage for quite a while (even the other frosh phenoms), he did outstandingly.

Hope he's not out too long, but it sounds like he just might be.

Side note: watching Dunbar's post 9:01 3200 interview was a breath of fresh air. I do root for German, but German's interviews are much more self-centered and not as mature as this Dunbar kid's. On the other hand, success does depend on how seriously you take yourself sometimes, and the dude's only 17.

Sorry, I never post on here. I had to get some stuff off my chest. Godspeed.

He had this type of injury in High School. I'm a fan and i believe he will be stronger than ever after this.

What an absolutely terrible break for German and for Oklahoma State. I am wishing for a speedy recovery for German. Unfortunately, this is not his first injury.

1. German probably still has my strassborg sock that I loaned him when he tweaked his achilles last year and had to withdraw from Arcadia. He still has my aquajogger too. So, yes he has had achilles problems in the past. I don't know if it was the same achilles or if it was hurt before hand. The fact that it was wrapped at regionals gives some indication, but I saw him run with it wrapped a few times in HS without any ruptures.

2. German ran up to 70 mpw during his base phase in HS, not 40-50. 80 probably wasn't that big of a jump. We shouldn't speculate on the Cowboy training program or coach Smith's overworking him. If he was spiked in the achilles, that has nothing to do with the training.

3. No, I wasn't German's coach, but I coach at a rival high school and we run against Riverbank probably 15 times per year if you include cross and track. I know German and his HS coaches pretty well.

stevens' injury was beyond horrible. these pictures don't really do it justice.

http://www.mensracing.com/photos/pennrelays01/pfr04.jpg

http://www.mensracing.com/photos/pennrelays01/pfr05.jpg

So the course was Rupp proof but not even German proof. Its a shame, he did look like he was moving up quite well on the live feed, and a top 5 finish was not out of the question.

see above - injured due to spiking, not overtraining

too fast too soon wrote:

Is this a huge surprise to anybody? . yadda yada

good post. please come back and post again.

DHornet11 wrote:

he did look like he was moving up quite well

Is there a video of this anywhere that's not microsoft.

Thanks

"We were looking at a very high finish – probably second or third – but injuries are part of the sport and we have to accept that" - Dave Smith

Apparently he can't understand basic math, because even if German had won they still wouldn't have been close to Iona

ponytayne wrote:

I actually have had a sudden achilles injury. During a pretty hard tempo run, i was headed downhill on a sidewalk, there was a block that was raised up a few inches. I stepped on that with the front of my foot but heel was well raise...POP. Well, that's what it felt like was a pop. I had to drop from ~5:30 pace to stopped while going downhill on pavement on one leg. I'm surprised it was the only injury i got out of the ordeal. Nevertheless, i stood there in disbelief thinking, 'this happens to sprinters, not distance runners.' It was apparently not a really bad tear, but it did keep me completely out of running for 8 weeks.

Same thing here... mis-judged distance/height of curb and POP! I had to walk/hop about 1/2 mile and by the time I got home it was swollen and black from heal to base of calf. There was no prior injury and attempt to train through a budding problem. In fact I was in solid race shape. Crutches and 12 weeks off before I could start up again, but I managed to recover.

Day Man, do you know how to read? "We were looking at a very high finish – probably second or third" is not the equivalent of Dave Smith saying "if Fernandez doesn't drop out we would have been second"

His comment is/was a prediction, before the race started. And if Fernandez did finish, it appears they would have been 3rd.

distancepirate wrote:

I hate to sound like a naysayer, I'm a german fan.

BUT,-I've injured my achilles before, and I've been around a fair number of achilles injuries, and I've NEVER seen one just 'happen' during a race.

Achilles injuries are overuse injuries- they creep up, and slowly get worse and worse.

Unless he had already injured it, OK state kept it quiet, and he just tried to gut it out- that makes sense.

But a 'sudden' achilles injury is something I've never heard of (in running at least). Anyone else?

Here's my opinion: you're a moron.

as someone with a minor achilles ache that seems to be ok with different shoes, this thread is definitely gonna make me feel more cautious.

distancepirate wrote:

I hate to sound like a naysayer, I'm a german fan.

BUT,-I've injured my achilles before, and I've been around a fair number of achilles injuries, and I've NEVER seen one just 'happen' during a race.

Achilles injuries are overuse injuries- they creep up, and slowly get worse and worse.

Unless he had already injured it, OK state kept it quiet, and he just tried to gut it out- that makes sense.

But a 'sudden' achilles injury is something I've never heard of (in running at least). Anyone else?

Here's my opinion: you're a moron.

usually you'll blow out an achilles during normal activities which you're accustomed to ONLY when the tendon's integrity is compromised -- mostly overuse related.

you can blow a healthy achilles during any quick, sharp movement where the tendon is loaded and range of movement is extended abnormally. eg, exploding forcefully forward off a strong backward step; doing this movement on an incline makes it more dangerous. you see this injury commonly in football offensive linemen while they are back-stepping under duress while pass blocking.

to blow your healthy achilles while running, you have to step in or on something, such as a pothole or curb, in a high velocity and weight bearing fashion, which takes the tendon way beyond normal very quickly, thus, for an instant, putting an extraordinary load on extended fibers.

if german had a compromised achilles, he may have had to only make an awkward footplant on an uneven surface and...pow! the tendon's shredded.

german also runs quite high on the forefoot, so his achilles and calves really absorb and bear a lot of movement energy. watch him run; his heels barely touch the ground. that's a lot of footstrike energy being transmitted through the achilles.

Somebody stepped on him from behind i think. don't think it blew on its own if that is even what happened. looked like someone hit him from behind, not on purpose.

the430miler wrote:

can somebody please tell me what his fernandezes 3k, 5k, and 8k splits were?

thanx.

No, but I did see something that looked like Hawaiian Punch running down the side of his leg in the video around the 5k mark. Do you think that the root of his problem could be that he runs in spikes that are too aggressive for his body and stride? This could have gradually worn the tendon down over the season and made it vulnerable to a major injury. Should he try a different spike plate? Should he put a more cushioned insole into the spike? Would it be the best thing ever?

OK this is weird, I walk up this morning to a terrible pain on my calf/achiles muscle. My calf tight up so much for 5 minutes, it almost made me cry, never in my life have I experience so much pain on my lower leg. Of course it isn't relevant but damn what a coinsidence.

Ahh, nothing like a painful calf cramp to wake ya up in the morning.. http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/back/backlowerleg/calfcramp.htm

whatanightmare wrote:

OK this is weird, I walk up this morning to a terrible pain on my calf/achiles muscle. My calf tight up so much for 5 minutes, it almost made me cry, never in my life have I experience so much pain on my lower leg. Of course it isn't relevant but damn what a coinsidence.