Mumbai: Running became second nature to Avinash Sable since he began dashing through his village’s rocky roads and covering a distance of 6km to get to Mandava’s zilla parishad primary school from home.
And so, when he couldn’t for a long while, a question often crossed his mind. “Jo cheez mujhe lagta tha kuch nahi hai (something that I would think is really easy for me), I found it so difficult,” said Sable. “I thought, how will I ever do this all over again?”
This was last year, a couple of months after India’s top steeplechaser had surgery for an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus injury on his right knee in July. Earlier that month, a nasty fall competing in the Monaco Diamond League sidelined him to a long, uncertain injury and rehab phase, the kind the 31-year-old had seldom experienced in his career.
“Many times, mein khud se haar jaata tha (I would lose the will),” Sable told HT. “I felt maybe it’s too difficult, it won’t be possible.
“Often, it would cross my mind that if I don’t get fit in time for this season – with the Commonwealth Games (CWG) and Asian Games – I will lose everything.”
The reigning 3000m steeplechase CWG silver medallist and Asian Games gold medallist is a bit more optimistic now.
Sable is at the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) to address a little imbalance in his thigh muscles after an intense training block in Ooty this month. He was back up and running alright, but the desired strength and speed to leap over the hurdles was missing. And, the confidence.
“That is the main thing,” Sable said. “I’m able to run well and be myself on the track. But on the jump, which is the key in steeplechase, that’s where I might need a bit more time.”
Time, if Sable wants to make it to the CWG, is of the essence. The Asian Games is five months away, but in less than four weeks is the Federation Cup (May 22-25), the final qualifying event for the CWG.
Typically, the qualifying standard of 8:30.26 shouldn’t worry the serial national record breaker who has set the bar at 8:09.91. Charting a comeback from major injuries, however, can tie an athlete in a web of doubt.
“Shaping up for the Federation Cup, and getting the confidence back for steeplechase in four weeks, will be a big challenge,” said Sable. “The timing of 8:30 shouldn’t be that difficult for me, but since I’m coming back after a long break, I don’t know how I will return. That pressure and those questions will remain.”
Those questions were more frequent and intense mid last year, when Sable needed a walker to get to the mess of the SAI Bengaluru campus a couple of weeks after surgery. The rehab process began a few weeks later with a physio provided by JSW, and in October, he tried running.
“When I began running, I felt like I was running for the first time,” said the two-time Olympian. “I wasn’t even able to run with the slowest group in training.”
The running had to be paused after he again felt some pain. Sable had been through two significant injury setbacks in his career – the first when he began cross-country in the Army and the second before the 2018 Asian Games – but neither compared to this.
“So much time without running and competing, it was difficult to accept,” he said.
“If I don’t run even for one day, I feel like that day is incomplete. So, when I couldn’t run, every day felt different. I would go to the track and watch other athletes train and think: when will I be able to do this again?”
In December he resumed light training, which was gradually ramped up between January and March. The strength in his muscles and confidence in scaling the hurdles has improved over the past few weeks.
And yet, doubts and fear linger.
“When I’m not able to train how I used to before, thoughts eat into my mind: when will I get fully fit, when will I be able to go into competitions,” said Sable.
“There’s also the pressure of the competitions coming up. And, the fear that if I compete in, let’s say, the Federation Cup or the Inter-State, and if something doesn’t go right there, it will impact my main goals for this season – the CWG and Asian Games.”
