Scott Marr knows a thing or two about sports-related injuries. Not only is he a sports medicine physician at OA Centers for Orthopaedics, but he is an elite, Masters-level triathlete recovering from an injury of his own.
Several weeks ago, he tweaked his back while playing hockey (a sport he plays weekly), only to suffer a hamstring pull a few days later while on a training run. “The two are interrelated,” says Dr. Marr who works with endurance athletes as part of his practice. “I tweaked my back, and favored it while running, only to pull my hamstring.”
Dr. Marr is currently training for the USA Triathlon National Age Group Championship in Portland, Oregon on September 20. He qualified for the USAT Nationals with a 3rd place age group finish (30th overall) at last year’s Lobersterman with a time of 2:16:57 and then again by placing sixth overall (AG 2nd) at the Mooseman international distance triathlon this past June with a time of 2:06:31.
“With the hamstring injury, Kurt and I have had to make some adjustments to my training program,” says Marr in reference to his multisport coach, Kurt Perham of Personal Best Multisport. “I haven’t been able to run for the last 10 days.” Instead, Scott has been doing more work on his bike while the hamstring heals.
Dr. Marr plans to test out his running legs this Saturday at the Urban Epic Olympic distance triathlon in Portland, Maine. Last year, Dr. Marr could be found in the OA medical tent at the Urban Epic assisting injured athletes. This year he hopes to avoid it, despite the hamstring injury. “I have been resting the hamstring. I should be fine.”
That said Dr. Marr was not too excited to hear about the length of the swim course at Urban Epic. “I have a good feel on the bike, and I know that on the run I only have to suffer for a finite distance. But the swim – I just have no way of guaging the effort. A long swim is definitely not to my advantage.”
Like the Mooseman, the Urban Epic is a preparation race for his big race this coming fall in Portland, OR at the USAT Nationals. “My goal is to finish the course in 2:10. If I finish in 2:10, that should put me in the top 10 in my age group,” says Marr in relation to the 40-44 year old age group in which he competes. “I’ve studied the course in detail. I have an erg file of the bike ride on my Compu-trainer. I’ll be ready.”
Something tells us, he will be.
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