Staying on Track: Q&A With Nate Brannen
6/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
As the University of Michigan men's track and field team headed into the final stretch of a successful outdoor season, expectations were high for senior/junior Nate Brannen. Already a two-time NCAA indoor champion in the 800-meter run, Brannen had grand plans to finally move up to the 1,500 meter, the event which he had long considered his strongest. Predicted to win the NCAA title by many running enthusiasts, Brannen's season was unexpectedly cut short by a fluke racing accident, leaving the U-M captain with a new set of unrealized dreams.
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Following an indoor season in which he recorded the second-fastest mile in collegiate history (3:55.11), anchored the distance medley relay to its second straight NCAA title and added standout 800- and 3,000-meter performances at the NCAA meet, Brannen was the fittest he had ever been and was primed to establish himself among the nation's top 1,500-meter runners. However, fate stepped in and dealt Brannen a severe blow. Just a day past the one-year anniversary of a bad ankle injury that eliminated his chances of making the Olympic Games in Athens, Brannen found himself in a strikingly similar situation.
Coming around the bend in the 1,500-meter final at the Big Ten Championships (May 13-15), Brannen and teammate Mike Woods came together, causing the U-M captain to hit track with just 150 meters remaining in the race. Brannen picked himself up and managed a fourth-place finish after sprinting past several competitors down the final stretch, but it wasn't long before he realized something was very wrong. The injury was a mid-foot sprain, and it would keep him from competing at the NCAA Mideast Regional, thereby ruining his opportunity to represent Michigan at the national meet and chase his third individual crown.
Forced to the sidelines as his teammates prepare for next week's NCAA Outdoor Championships in Sacramento, Calif., Brannen sat down to talk about the fateful race, his current training plans and a recent string of horrible luck. Q: At what point did you realize that you had done serious damage to your foot Q: What is a runner's philosophy towards injury and injury prevention Q: How difficult is it to be a runner who can't run Q: If you are not able to run, what is your current training regimen Q: As a leader and a team captain, how can you continue to support your teammates as they prepare for the NCAA Championships Q: After competing in the 800m over the last three years, you had planned to make your breakthrough in the 1,500m this season and establish yourself among the nation's best in the event. Do you feel as though you were robbed of that opportunity Q: Michigan is sending its largest contingent of qualifiers to the NCAA outdoor meet in several years, how tough is it not to be included in that group Q: Do you think this injury has cast a negative shadow over your season Q: So, maybe you are just the unluckiest person in the world Q: You drew on the famous quote, 'That which does not kill me, makes me stronger' after your ankle sprain last season, how have these injuries made you stronger Q: Based on your recent experiences dealing with injuries, what kind of advice would you give an athlete struggling through a similar situation
A: "I can't remember what exactly happened in the race. I got tripped, got up, finished the race and walked from the line pretty disappointed that I had fallen. I really had felt that it was my race to lose, and that's exactly what happened; I lost it for myself. I walked around the bend and about 50 meters later, I started feeling a sharp pain in my foot. Within 5-10 seconds after that, I couldn't really put any pressure on it, and after another five seconds, I could absolutely put no weight on it at all. That's when I knew something was definitely wrong. Just the shooting pain I had, I didn't think it was a sprain; I thought it had to be broken. Later, I found out that sprains are generally more painful than a break. The first day or two after it happened, I was pretty optimistic that I could come back. After a couple days of realizing the injury wasn't healing as I would have liked, I knew I wouldn't be running at regionals."
A: "Injuries are a big part of track and field. You just have to be smart about your training and take precautionary measures to avoid them as much as possible, such as ice baths everyday, letting your legs recover on off days, not pushing it too hard in workouts. There's a time to go hard, and there's a time to ease off. With running, it's really a 24-hour thing, seven days a week, in which you are just really cautious about everything you do. People always say you dont want to be all about running all of the time. The best thing is to balance everything, doing everything to run fast and train well by keep your body healthy, but at the same time, not thinking about it every minute of the day. You need to have a social life and spend time with friends to counterbalance everything. Those hard workout days won't seem as tough and you can just get through things a little easier, because running doesn't dictate your life."
A: "When I was driving into the track today, I passed a high school kid running on the sidewalk, and I got upset. It's not that I'm mad that he's running or angry at any other runners, but it's hard to see someone running down the street with such ease when I'm hobbling to my car or to class. It's something you take for granted when you can do it, and when you're out, that's when you realize how important it is to you to be able to just put one foot in front of the other and run down the street on any given day."
A: "My plan is to go into the pool every morning; I've been doing a workout every single day since the injury, and then get on the elliptical in the afternoon for a half hour or so. Basically, everything right now is just geared towards maintaining fitness, staying strong and keeping the muscles firing. The biggest thing is staying mentally focused and ready to come back pretty strong."
Q: Do you feel isolated while training separately from your teammates
A: "That's one of the the hardest things about this injury. It's so tough to watch them running and socializing out on the track when I'm cooped up in a pool, doing a workout by myself, or in the training room where the only connection I have to them is through a glass window. There's no interaction going on; I can't hear Ron yelling splits, and there's nobody cheering me to finish my pool workout or my elliptical run. I'm on such a different schedule right now, because I can only get into the pool a couple hours each day. Unfortunately, that's at 7-9 in the morning. So, I'm here doing a pool workout while everybody else is sleeping at home. Other than the occasional locker room talk, I feel like I have no connection to the team."
A: "Even though I'm injured, I try to be down at the track everyday at practice time. So, I'll stretch with the guys, and when they head out for a run, I'll do my workout and my treatment. I still want that connection even if it's only for 15-20 minutes. I wasn't planning to go to regionals, because I knew it would be pretty tough to sit on the sidelines and watch everyone run the 1500 and know that I really should have been in there and qualifying for nationals. It was especially hard to pack my bag and leave my singlet and spikes at home, but it was really important to me to be there for my teammates and give them as much support as they've given me over the last four years."
A: "That was a tough thing to get over. This was my first year focusing solely on the 1500, and my first chance to prove that I'm one of the best 1500 runners in the country. I think I've proven myself as an 800 runner, and this was my first chance to prove that I'm better at the 1500 and that's where my future lies. It was so disappointing to lose that opportunity, but everybody keeps telling me, and I'm trying to realize now, that after my mile during indoors, I don't really have to do anything to prove myself. I've proven that I can run the 1500; I just need to give it time and I'll be back."
A: "It's hard to watch so many guys preparing to run their national championships while I'm sitting on the sidelines. For a lot of guys, it's their first time being there; Rondell Ruff is a senior and making his first trip to nationals. To be there with the team would have been so much greater than it has over the last few years when it's just been myself and Willis or Ellerton. The atmosphere is more positive than it has ever been on the team right now, and it's really hard to deal with watching that from the outside. I know I should have been one of the guys going and added myself to the list as one of the largest groups we've ever sent to nationals. I'm still hopeful for top-10 finish from our guys who are going, because we have a pretty solid group, but who knows what we could have done if we would have had everyone going and actually sent the strongest team we could have put together"
A: "I would say both yes and no. I generally try to live in the present, so that makes my outlook a little more negative. I don't really look back at what I've done in the past; I look at what's going on right now, so that's the reason things may seem a little bit worse than they really are. I had good seasons during cross and indoors, and those are the things that I need to try realizing for myself. I have done quite a bit since I've been here, and I've had good success and a lot of good fortunes. It hasn't all been bad. That's what I need to focus on, not just the bad times."
Q: Your last two outdoor seasons have been marred by fluke accidents that have severely disrupted your training regimen. Is that type of accident easier or harder to deal with than training-related injuries
A: "The stress fracture that I had my freshman year was definitely easier to handle, because I knew what I did, and I knew how to fix it. I knew I probably shouldn't have trained so much in spikes during indoors, so I just changed that, and every year since, it's been fine. To sprain my ankle last year the way I did -- stepping on a root during an off-day run -- was pretty hard to take. This year again, hurting my foot basically a year to the day with another fluke accident, that's pretty hard to take too. It's not really something I can look back on and change, whereas getting a stress fracture or becoming anemic, those are things you can change and never have happen again."
Q: With the number of injuries you have experienced over the last several seasons, do you start to question your durability
A: "Not at all. My injuries so far have all just been fluke accidents and not really running-related things. So, I haven't yet questioned those things. Every year when it comes to the time I was injured the previous year, I start getting worried that it will happen again, and unfortunately, it does. I think they have just been misfortunes on my part to this point. I don't question my body or my durability, because I've never really had any serious injuries related to running or overtraining."
A: "I don't know if I necessarily have bad luck; I just call it bad luck now, because it seems like everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. I really was never injured in high school; I was basically healthy all the time and training really well. I ran well as a high school athlete and did a lot of things that many people weren't yet able to accomplish. So, I guess you could say I was really lucky then and fell upon some bad luck now. I look at everything as a blessing in disguise; there has to be something I'm getting out of this whether I was training too hard too early and now my body has time to rest and be ready later in the summer. Who knows the actual reason, but I'd like to tell myself it's not just bad luck; there's a reason that everything happens. Hopefully it's for the betterment of my running and me in the future."
Q: How do you stay motivated to continue training when you have had to endure major setbacks in four consecutive outdoor seasons
A: "I think it has to do with the ability that I see in myself, because I know I haven't fully reached it. One of these years, I'll have full three seasons of being injury-free -- coming off cross really strong and going into indoors with a good base and outdoors as fit as I've ever been -- but for once not being injured. I'm just excited to see what I can do when I don't have to overcome these barriers every year."
A: "It has definitely made me mentally stronger. Staying mentally tough to hammer out pool workouts and later get on the elliptical to complete two-a-day workouts, just trying to maintain as much fitness as I can. You never know how long an injury is going to take. You could be in that pool another few days or another few weeks, and that's a hard thing to mentally deal with. It wouldnt say its made me better or worse as a runner, but it certainly has changed aspects of my training."
A: "Just stay as focused as you can towards your goal. My goal right now is to make the World Championships, and everyday I'm in the pool, working my butt off, I'm thinking about that. All of this is so mentally draining right now, but I just keep thinking its going to pay off when I finally reach that goal. Make sure you definitely have a goal for doing what you're doing and stay focused on that. Just see the light at the end of the tunnel. Don't necessarily look at what you're doing right now, look towards where it's going to take you."
Players Mentioned
