Dr. Damhoff Blog Series: The Return Of Jack Sebok

Jack Sebok and his parents (Dr. Damhoff photo credit)

On the morning of August 26th, senior Jack Sebok, our top runner, our team leader, our rock solid team captain who had never been injured in four years or missed a day of running, told Plainfield North head cross country coach Andy Derks that he thought he had a stress fracture. Unfortunately, and much to the dismay of our coaching staff and team, Jack was correct and he was diagnosed with a stress fracture of his 2nd metatarsal. On October 17th, 53 days and 73 cross training sessions later, Jack stepped to the line for our cross country conference championship. There was not a kid on that line that had worked harder this season up to that point than Jack. As his coach, I'm 100% confident of that.

My favorite quote to say to athletes is that when you are injured, you have to work twice as hard as when you are healthy. A lot of athletes mope around when they are injured feeling sorry for themselves. Not Jack, he along with his parents did everything in their power to maximize Jack's recovery and his fitness during his time of injury. Almost every morning, Jack would head to the YMCA while others slept to put in the work. He would then come back in the afternoon with another cross training session. Jack never once lost focus during the time of his injury. He diligently logged every single workout on his training log making it easy for us as coaches to follow his progress.

As a coaching staff, we are very grateful for the knowledge and expertise that Jack's doctor, Dr. David O'Brian, showed in Jack's recovery from his stress fracture. Without his help, there is no way that Jack would have run this cross country season. If you have an athlete with a suspected stress fracture, I highly recommend Dr. David O'Brian because he understands our sport. A key part of Jack's recovery was an Alter G treadmill. For those unfamiliar with what an Alter G treadmill is, it was designed for astronauts to prevent atrophy (muscle wasting) in space. Since space doesn't have gravity, your leg muscles don't work like they do in earth and as a result they waste away. The Alter G creates a vacuum that allows you to train at a specific weight. It is useful in sports rehab as an athlete can continue to run at a certain percentage of body weight and use some of those muscles that would otherwise atrophy in a walking boot. Jack was able to progress week by week in weight on the Alter G.

Sebok on the move in his return (Dr. Damhoff photo credit)

When the morning of conference came, as much as we were confident in Jack, we were all a little nervous. Would he have foot pain? Would he be able to run near the front? We weren't quite sure what to expect. When the gun went off, Jack went to the back of our pack for the first mile coming through in 4:55 as we had wanted him to do. He then started to roll coming through two miles at the front of our pack at 10:19. Jack executed his race plan to perfection finishing in a key 10th place running 15:37. Most importantly, he felt no pain in his foot. Not a bad opener for a guy who has only run 11 days and 19 miles in the two weeks leading up to the race.

At 7:30 am the day after Jack's first race back, he was back in the pool cross training for an hour. He followed that up in the afternoon with 15 mile bike ride. No matter how perfect your plan, you will always have to deal with adversity. Jack handled his adversity this season and because of it, he is stronger both mentally and physically. As his coach, I have no doubt that you will see him on the line for the state meet at Detweiller in a couple weeks as he will get faster each week. Hopefully, the rest of our team will be with him.

-Dr. Brian Damhoff