From 'surviving' to pain-free: How runner DeBues-Stafford overcame serious injuries
Multiple Canadian record holder 12th in Diamond League return on Friday in Italy
Gabriela DeBues-Stafford was in the best running shape of her life until she couldn't put weight on her left leg in the warmup area minutes before a women's 800-metre race last summer at the FBK Games in Hengelo, Netherlands.
Realizing there was a serious problem, the Canadian athlete called her coach Trent Stellingwerff, who knew a physiotherapist at the Continental Tour event. But when the injury didn't respond to treatment, DeBues-Stafford headed home to Victoria.
"I was hoping it was a glute strain," the two-time Olympic middle-distance runner recalled over the phone recently. "I think I could have done the 800 but didn't want to put my leg into a race that could make a bad injury worse."
Nine days later on June 15, DeBues-Stafford announced her 2022 season was over due to a stress reaction in her sacrum, a single bone comprised of five separate vertebrae located at the bottom of the spinal column, connecting it to the pelvis.
An MRI simultaneously diagnosed the Toronto native with osteitis pubis — an inflammatory condition of the joint between the left and right pelvic bone.
"Being in pain was difficult," understated the four-time national champion. "I felt I was constantly running at the limit of what my body could do and was limited in [my] training."
These days, a pain-free DeBues-Stafford is running 100 kilometres a week and gaining fitness. On May 6, 343 days after her most recent race, she ran four minutes 6.71 seconds for second place in the 1,500 at the Sound Running Track Festival in Walnut, Calif.
After winning an 800 event a week later in Victoria, she flew to Italy last Sunday to prepare for Friday's Golden Gala meet in Florence, where DeBues-Stafford competed on the Diamond League track and field circuit for the first time since a 3:58.62 third-place effort at the Prefontaine Classic on May 28, 2022 in Eugene, Ore.
WATCH | DeBues-Stafford 3rd in final 2022 race before serious injury:
"I think I was in PB shape [then] or was going to be there towards the end of [last summer]," said DeBues-Stafford, whose best time is 3:56.12 from the 1,500 final at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar. "It's kind of crappy I couldn't take advantage of that, but we'll get back there. I have faith."
She was the 12th athlete to cross the line among 14 finishers on Friday, clocking 4:03.64, three seconds faster than a month earlier in the California race. A step in the right direction, DeBues-Stafford wrote in an Instagram story.
"I'm continuing to gain confidence in [my] body and workouts are starting to click," she told CBC Sports earlier this week. "I just need to get rid of the jitters and compete with the best in the world … without putting too much pressure on myself. I'm excited."
WATCH | Foot speed, punishing kick make DeBues-Stafford an elite runner:
Kenya's Faith Kipyegon took Friday's 1,500 in 3:49.11 to shatter the world record in the distance of 3:50.07 by Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba from July 17, 2015 and become the first woman to break 3:50.
The 29-year-old two-time Olympic champion and two-time world gold medallist broke away from the pack quickly and never slowed down, turning the world record into a seeming foregone conclusion over the final 100 metres.
DeBues-Stafford's former training partner, Laura Muir of Great Britain (3:57.09), outpaced Australia's Jessica Hull (3:57.29) for second.
The 27-year-old DeBues-Stafford, who was fifth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, first noticed the signs of her first bone stress injury after moving to Victoria to train in April 2022. She was having trouble after runs of 90 minutes to an hour 45 minutes with tempo work — running a pace you can maintain for a certain length of time.
Not all pain is necessarily bad pain. You get really good at training through [it].— Canadian runner Gabriela DeBues-Stafford on her two injuries
"I'm guessing at some point the [sacrum] started to get compromised, and it was a matter of time before it broke," said DeBues-Stafford, who became the first Canadian woman to run under four minutes in the 1,500 on Aug. 29, 2019, clocking 3:59.59 at the Diamond League Final in Zurich to lower her national mark.
She remembered Stellingwerff, a senior exercise physiologist, voicing concern about the pain she was experiencing on long runs.
"It was hard to communicate the level of pain [I was having] and sometimes you undervalue the type of pain. Not all pain is necessarily bad pain," DeBues-Stafford said. "You get really good at training through [it].
"There was intense pain in April and May [but] I ran through it. It ebbed and flowed. I was having trouble putting on pants pain-free while bent over on one leg. Now I realize that's a common symptom for people with sacral stress reactions.
"Once you experience pain," she continued, "it's too late and you need to rest. You can train through a lot of injuries but not bone pain."
Cortisone shot a turning point
DeBues-Stafford didn't run for seven weeks after diagnosis but was able to walk, do physio and hiking at Week 6. She later began a walk/run program and took 45 days to reach one hour of running continuously. At that point, she started light workouts, but it was "several months" before full workouts.
DeBues-Stafford was dealing with two injuries that required different treatment — the osteitis pubis needs rest but strength work in the gym, while the sacrum also needs rest but took priority since "you can't do anything with a broken bone."
"Just surviving," is how she remembered the toughest days in her recovery. "Training was so mentally exhausting to get through that there wasn't energy to do [much else]."
DeBues-Stafford endured significant pain when the many muscles around the sacrum atrophied or wasted away and lost effectiveness. It caused the osteitis pubis to become inflamed, but it was calmed by a cortisone shot last December, a "huge turning point" allowing her to move better and make gains in the gym.
Nowadays, she splits her long runs, going 80 minutes with tempo work, followed by another 30-minute workout a few hours later.
DeBues-Stafford has also worked with a dietician post-injury and is training at a higher weight. In turn, she has more energy and is less hungry, which is important from a fuelling standpoint.
Natasha Wodak, the Canadian record holder in the marathon, is also coached by Stellingwerff and has joined DeBues-Stafford on training runs since last fall.
"We've meshed well doing workouts together," Wodak told CBC Sports recently. "She's a great person all around. She has such a strong work ethic and comes to workouts very professional and ready to work, which I like. We can have fun but at the end of the day this is our job."
The goal this season for DeBues-Stafford, who holds seven Canadian indoor and outdoor track records, is to race for a medal in August at worlds in Budapest, Hungary.
"I'm not going to beat myself up if that doesn't happen," she said. "It's going to be about getting back to running sub-four [minutes] again, getting back to feeling I can hold my own in competition and feeling more like myself. I believe in my [support] team to make that happen."
DeBues-Stafford returns to the track for the women's Dream Mile on June 15 at the Bislett Games Diamond League event in Oslo, Norway.
Diamond League calendar
- Paris — June 9
- Oslo, Norway — June 15
- Lausanne, Switzerland — June 30
- Stockholm — July 2
- Silesia, Poland — July 16
- Monaco — July 21
- London — July 23
- Shanghai — July 29
- Shenzhen, China — Aug. 3
- Zurich — Aug. 31
- Brussels — Sept. 8
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