Case Study- Fred Melo (age 42)- injured and compliant vs non compliant.  

When you have been in sport as long as I have (30 years for some of you is not that  much, I understand) you’re bound to have some injuries, illness, aches and pains come  up. I worked with Fred based on experience, because I knew what this injury would  require: PATIENCE! (Patients need patience) 

I have chosen Fred Melo as our model compliance athlete, versus any non-compliant  athlete (I have a few in mind…). 

Fred’s background comes from years of cycling; but to be honest, he is a well-rounded  athlete. A well- rounded athlete means he is body-aware of his abilities, and can also  adapt to new modes of exercise and/or stimulus rather quickly.  

He came to me and we built up his fitness in swimming and running. Initially his FTP  dipped a little as he picked up swimming and running. However, over a full year, his  FTP was back to peak and he was running and swimming very well. Swimming a 1:48  pace for 2100m open water, riding 2:40 for 56 miles and running 8:05 pace for 1:45 for  a half marathon off the bike.  

Fred was training very well, and hitting some new PR’s over the spring as he was  getting ready for Boulder 70.3. In the very end of April he reported he got a fracture in  his tibia. 

Due to the nature of the injury, on average, total recovery is 20 weeks  What comes next is, in my opinion, the textbook training for recovery: 

1-We immediately stopped running and he was put in a boot with very limited walking. 

2-We did NOT aqua jog, and found any possible way to skirt around running through  pseudo running, running on an elliptical or an antigravity treadmill; he simply stopped.  3-There was a total elimination of lower leg stress from strength training; we allowed  the body to heal and didn’t force training.  

4-We dialed back the bike intensity to more volume of z2 and mostly on the  trainer. We added more swim frequency and he kept up core work, Dave Scott’s hip  mobility exercises and continued with upper body strength.  

This went on for 6 weeks as prescribed by his doctor. 

The first run back was June 6th and this was only 10 minutes’ worth of total run time;  he repeated the 10-12 minute runs 3 more times over the next week. We then went to  15 minutes 3X a week, then to 20 minutes 3x a week, which was a nice, steady, and  gradual ramp back up to our 60 minute runs.  

From the start of his tibial fracture to the first run of 60 + minutes was only 12 weeks. 

Although his big race plans have changed for 2024, we are now eyeing early 2025. The  fact that he is back to full training now and missed the minimum amount of time  required, rather than skirting around to “try” to run, and risking delayed recovery is  huge. When it was time to run, he followed the plan and did not do 3X 10 minutes and  then run 45-60 minutes and rushed the build up process. He remained patient with the  run ramp process. 

I had a broken collarbone in 2002, foot surgery in 2009 and a broken foot in 2015. Each  time I let my body heal. I came back slowly and steadily and each subsequent race  season, I had such a great season; I literally forgot 6 months prior, I was out of  commission.  

I do know athletes who broke their foot the same time as I did and were in a boot twice  as long as I was and who missed far longer a season than necessary because the  mental aspect of go, go, go- didn’t allow them to heal quickly.  

The beauty of being a triathlete is that if you get injured doing 1 sport, you have 2 other  sports to keep your fitness and keep your mind engaged.  

It’s important not to choose a race after an injury and rush the training to build back  fitness.  

Reduce your expectations of performance and adjust your goals. If you feel the need to  race once recovery has begun and you’re cleared, you could, for example, aqua bike  the heck out of that next race, or do a relay. 

Lastly, go hard in a race that your strengths and fitness allows and cruise the discipline  that you're recovering from injury from, and use it as a training run if you’re still coming  back. 

Be patient and focus on your other disciplines while you heal!

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