An eye toward putting his days of being a patient behind him motivates cross country senior standout Spencer Martin to take the patient approach to getting into top shape

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

A force for the Chesterton cross country team since freshman season, senior Spencer Martin has battled so many injuries during his career that he would have a head start on most students in Latin or Anatomy classes.
“There were a solid six days where I just didn’t run because I was actually having trouble walking, so I took a break for a second,” said Martin, whose shin problems had acted up, and not for the first time.
He said he didn’t feel much relief from the rest but did find it elsewhere soon enough that he was able to compete in Saturday’s Larry James Invitational at Sunset Hill Farm.
“My PT (physical therapy) helped the most,” Martin said. “I got dry-needle (therapy) in my leg and it works wonders.”
Martin termed the condition from which he has suffered at multiple points in his career as “posterior tibialis tendonitis, big words to say my shin throbs.”
It wasn’t throbbing after he placed seventh at the Larry James with a time of 16:34.10. He hasn’t always shown as much discipline in racing in the wake of injury and him not running as fast as he could have in a meet so early in the season and so soon after injury showed he has matured.
Runners often find that trying to stay with a specific competitor, ideally someone with a slightly faster history than theirs, can be helpful to get through hilly 5,000-meter courses, but Martin said he doesn’t do that anymore and he especially avoided that Saturday because he was coming off an injury.
“There is no point in going out with someone if it’s going to cause you more pain,” he said. “My strategy for this race: My first 2K was tempo and then my next 3K was to race. I wasn’t going for a place. I wasn’t going for anything. Coming out without any pain in my shins was my goal.”
He achieved it.
“Not much, not much at all, actually,” he said of shin pain during the race. “There were just a few times when I stepped on uneven ground. When you plant wrong and you’re already struggling it’s kind of hard to come back.”
Martin’s health is key to the Trojans getting back to state as a team after finishing sixth at the regional last season. Only the top five advance teams advance to Terre Haute.
Finding that sweet spot where logging big miles and staying healthy intersect can be difficult and varies from athlete to athlete.
Senior Nick Jakel, the team’s third-most accomplished distance runner, is out with a stress fracture and won’t be back any time soon. If Jakel can return in time to get in top shape, and Martin and defending DAC cross country champion Ryan Nix stay healthy, this could be a special season for the Trojans.
“It will be a special season, most definitely,” Martin said.