Muscle pull dooms season for Dr. Oglesby, record-setting thrower

Dr. James Oglesby

The M75 world record in the shot is safe for now. Drat! Dr. James Oglesby, whose American records were creeping ever closer to a German’s WR, reports that his season has ended. Blame dehydration leading to a bum calf. “At present, I am on crutches,” Jim writes, “due to a severely pulled calf muscle acquired at a competition three weeks ago.” Jim says the day, held in Florida, was was very hot, and “I had finished shot put at 12:00, didn’t have enough shade, got dehydrated. Call came to warm up for discus — more energy and lots more sweating. Discus was stopped and called for another hour later, waiting, finally discus at 1:30, ran out of liquids warming up for discus.” Then on his second throw, “a severe cramp sledgehammered into my left calf just as I was putting all my weight on it on the turn. That’s all it took! My calf got 2 to 3 inches larger than the other and turned black and blue from posterior mid thigh to heel, and the usual pain as a byproduct. So I won’t be in Sacramento.”

Dr. O, a former M*A*S*H surgeon in Vietnam, looked on the bright side:

It wasn’t too bad a day for shot put, though. I threw 13.28 (43-7) (just off his recent American record of 13.38/43-10 3/4). I did later check the discus rankings, though, and it seems that my throw of 39.57 (129-10) on Jan. 16 is still leading in the country so far this year and No. 3 all-time American . . . So I guess I won’t be throwing shot put or discus for a while. I tend to learn lessons the hard way: Don’t get dehydrated or electrolyte-depleted or you’ll sooner or later pay the price. I’m still going to the gym for torso and upperbody work as well as right leg. Right leg strength is the most important for throwing anyway. so maybe this is a blessing in disguise!

A day or two later, I got an update from Jim:

On Monday I began hobbling without crutches. When trying to walk, I needed to raise up my heels a bit to prevent pain when stretching out my heel cord (Achillles’ tendon) and attached calf muscles. It’s hard to walk with heel on the floor and try to power up on ball of foot thus straining the calf. The calf is loosening up a bit each day, so I can see light at the end of the tunnel. I really don’t think that age had much to do with my injury. I have had muscle cramps before when dehydrated. Also used to get muscle cramps after 6- to 7-mile jogs when not taking enough calcium. Yes, I will be back stronger — and hopefully throwing longer.

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July 3, 2010

2 Responses

  1. G Dixon - July 3, 2010

    Put a dome and air conditioning over that damn track in Clermont! A little fire ant killer wouldn’t hurt either.

    Doc O, great watching you throw. Take care of the calf and see you in the circles soon.

  2. John - July 3, 2010

    A good warning to everyone. It’s better to head for the air conditioning when it gets too hot, and sacrifice just one meet in lieu of the remainder of the season (or worse).

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