We’re in Squaw Valley, California.

It was a few minutes before start time – about 630am – last Saturday morning, the 28th of September, 2019.

I had been training all of 2019, working up to today’s race.

30.7 miles, 70 obstacles, 9400 feet of elevation gain.

Starting at around 6500 feet elevation, climbing up to around 8500, in cold, winter-ish weather.

I went up, down, up, and down the mountain … taking on various obstacles along the way … and feeling strong! …

.. then, around mile 10, I go to hop over an eight foot wall. Simple obstacle that I’ve done literally hundreds of times.

And all of sudden, I feel a sickening pop and rip in my left shoulder. I fall off to the side of the course in pain. I knew right away something was seriously wrong.

I took off my shirt, and looked down at my chest, shoulder, and arm muscles spasming. The muscles in my armpit were retracted and pitted in, a very strange sight and feeling.

I tried to do a push up just to see if I had any strength left, and feel immediately to the ground in severe pain.

I knew was done.

They cut my racing chip, and I got driven down the mountain to the medic tent.

Turns out it’s a torn pec. Fortunately, so far, they’re saying it’s a grade two tear – which likely won’t require surgery. But I’ll be off most all upper body strength work on that side for the next four to six weeks. And it really sucks that I wasn’t able to finish the event I had trained and suffered so hard for all year.

LESSONS LEARNED

What do you do in situations like this?

If you train hard, it’s likely that you’ll deal with injuries sooner or later.

I think you have to:

1 – Stay positive.

I trained really hard in 2019 for this, and am currently in probably the best overall shape I have been in for years. I also got to experience some of the race and the amazing energy of the World Championship weekend up there last weekend.

2 – Figure out why it might have happened.

There’s now way to know for sure, but I have a feeling that shoulder / pec was already tweaked. So I’m thinking about, why? And what could I do next time in my training to help prevent it?

I’ll be doing a program like PreHab Revolution most likely, and really focusing on that next time, in ADDITION to all my other hard training, for one.

And also really listening to my body and taking extra steps with nutrition, sleep, recovery, hydration, and more.

3 – Keep training and do what you can.

I can still train lower body, train abs, do cardio, and train my other side limb in the meantime.

THIS IS SO KEY. I see so many people just STOP working out completely when they get an injury like this.

But in most instances, you can still train the rest of your body.

I’ll be doing a program like this while I heal => PreHab Revolution

RECAP

I trained hard all year for the Spartan Ultra Beast in Lake Tahoe last weekend. I completed about 10 miles, then tore my pec going over a wall, and was knocked out of the race.

It’s disappointing, but I am going to focus on staying positive, staying fit how I can, and coming back stronger in the future.

If you are dealing with an injury, hopefully this post will help you.

And here’s to a lifetime of health and fitness!

– Forest Vance
ForestVance.com