Highlands Today
Pushing It To The Limit
Mark Pinson/Highlands Today
Sebring sophomore Connor Bauer has been successful in cross country and on the track in long distance events.
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Published: May 5, 2008
SEBRING –– Yearning to be the best has been a trait that's woven into the fabric of who Sebring sophomore Connor Bauer is as an athlete.
His training schedule as a distance runner showed his dedication to the sport and crossing the finish line on top is all that was on Bauer's mind. But that tunnel vision led him down a dark corridor that saw him push the boundaries of what is considered too much and could have cost him much more than just sweat.
"I never thought I could work out too much," Bauer said. "I always thought that you could get a pulled muscle or break a bone, but not sitting in a hospital wondering if you'd done permanent damage to yourself."
Bauer, who was preparing for the Class 3A-District 8 track meet, where he was one of the favorites in the mile and two-mile runs, began feeling more intense muscle pain a few days after a heavy workout.
In the journey to see how far he could push himself, Bauer did some cross-training after a heavy running schedule.
A hard upper-body regimen that included pull-ups and squats was determined to have caused the protein dump from his muscles into his system.
"I worked out on Saturday and that night I just felt like I had a hard workout," Bauer said. "I was okay on Sunday, but on Monday the pain set in. I couldn't raise my arms up and was in a lot more pain than I'd ever been in before. I couldn't even put my back pack on."
The worsening pain and darkened urine prompted Bauer to phone Sebring athletic trainer Todd Bobo on Tuesday, who immediately told him to go to the doctor.
"I'd had an athlete in Lake Placid complain of intense muscle pain and he wound up in the hospital," Bobo said. I had a feeling that Bauer was afflicted with the same illness."
After a trip to the doctor and a blood test, Bauer was immediately admitted to the Florida Hospital with rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle fibers resulting in the release of muscle fiber contents (myoglobin) into the bloodstream. Some of these are harmful to the kidney and frequently result in kidney damage.
Sebring track coach Rene Crenshaw was shocked when she got the call that Bauer was inPlease see LIMIT on Page 3B E
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the hospital and in guarded condition.
"My immediate thought was to his health," Crenshaw said. "I had never even heard of this condition and was hoping for the best. Connor and the rest of the distance runners are a tight-knit group, and you could tell that they missed him [at the district meet]."
Bauer spent the next week in the hospital, as the doctors worked to flush all the protein out of his kidney's with intravenous fluids. The protein shocked his kidney's and the potential for kidney failure was in the back of his mind while lying in his hospital bed.
"I'm glad we caught this early enough," Bauer said. "I thank God that I got checked out or I might have been in worse shape. I was in the early stages so it wasn't life-threatening, but if I would've ignored the warning signs, I could've been fighting for my life.
"I never thought that working out could cost me my life."
Supervised workouts are the norm in the Heartland, but knowledge is an aspect to preparation that should be stressed to every athlete no matter the sport.
"All coaches want what's best for our athletes," SFCC athletic director and head baseball coach Rick Hitt said. "Working out and becoming physically prepared for your sport is a process that the athlete needs to be cognizant of.
"You always have a handful of athletes that are looking for that edge and there's nothing wrong with that. I applaud a kid that wants to put in the extra time and effort to make himself better, but at the same time, there should be a level of caution and not so much concern about the bottom line that we forget what's most important and that's the athlete's health."
With the battle to be the best and prove to himself of his abilities, Bauer says that this event has changed him and his athletic outlook and understands that his condition, although rare, is something that many kids in the Heartland need to take seriously.
"The kids need to know that if I had waited just one more day," Bauer said. "That's all it could have taken to permanently damage my kidneys or even worse. The best advice I have for kids is to know your bodies limits. Remember, there is too far."
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