Down, but not out; fractured lateral malleolus

Doug Landau & his son Zach, immediately after the race where he broke his ankle

“It’s just a twisted ankle,” exclaimed Doug Landau upon crossing the finish line, ‘”tis but a a flesh wound!” His son, Dr. Zachary Landau, wasn’t buying it. After purchasing a bag of ice, and keeping the foot elevated, Dr. Landau took his father to the closest emergency room. At the ER, the ankle kept getting larger and larger, and an x-ray confirmed a clean fracture through the outer bone of the lower leg. Landau Lawyer was immediately put into a hard cast, and the objective findings were sent to Dr. Tom Fleeter, at the Town Center Orthopedics office in Reston, Virginia.

Dr. Fleeter had Landau in his office for the first appointment Monday morning, where the hard cast was cut off, as the leg was still swelling. Instead, has Land that was to leave that day on the Amtrak train to New York City, so he could pick up his nine-year-old mother, and fly to London, England, and support his brother‘s quest to run all the major marathons, a large air cast boot was placed over Landau’s lower leg. That way, the pressure and support could be adjusted as the swelling continued and then receded.

Doug Landau’s broken ankle, 30 minutes post race.

While some people can walk in this boot, Landau was ordered to be non-weight bearing and on crutches for the duration of his trip. This is the second time Landau has rolled the outside of his ankle. The first time occurred when Dr. Zachary Landau was born, after a running race and a tennis match. The recent bad break occurred during one of the wonderful Bishops Event running races. Landau and his son decided to run Easter Sunday in a 5Km foot race at South Run recreational center. Bishop‘s Events put on hundreds of races, and does an excellent job with the race directorship, timing and contributes money to many worthwhile charities. The race started on paved paths, but about halfway in, switched to packed cinder. While Landau enjoys running on anything but pavement, he hit a soft spot, and because he runs in the high outside of the foot, heard a loud “pop.” Helped his feet by two racers behind him, he calculated that is who he was at least 2 km into the forest, so he jogged back to the finish line He then went right to the new pro protocol for orthopedic injuries: PRICE. These stand for protect, rest, ice, compressed, elevate. He did not do a cool down run, as would have been his post-race procedure, but instead elevated, compressed & iced the leg as best he could as his son drove them home.

Dr. Thomas Fleeter & patient Doug Landau after putting Landau in an aircast, fitting him for crutches and giving him instructions for care of his fractured ankle.

Advised there was nothing that could be done surgically, and that the would be off running for at least two months, Landau never considered not traveling to support his brother. The itinerant lawyer was scheduled to get on the Amtrak train from DC to New York City, and then help his mom pack for England the next day. Airport staff put both Landau and his mother in wheelchairs, so he had to cover very little distance by crutch power! What is more extraordinary once they got to Heathrow, because of the enormous numbers of wounded after the world wars, the Brits have got ferrying disabled people around public transportation down to science. Landau and his mother were taking by a golf cart to get their luggage, go through Customs, and then out to one of those wonderful British cabs, with five seats in the back, so if Landau could elevate his leg on the back of facing seat.

Rather than a hard plaster cast that would not accomodate further swelling, Dog Landau wore a customizeable Aircast all over the United Kingdom!

Once at their hotel in London, Landau took several days off, then started some light exercise, lifting weights for upper body and core; one-legged exercise for the non-injured right side; had a little bit of walking with crutches, as they had already booked tours, shows, concerts, and of course, the raison d’etre for the trip: cheering on his brother at points along the London Marathon course.

One of the tours Landau signed up for was to visit Doug’s 1983 dormitory, classroom building, jogging routes and commute to the Cambridge University train station. Landau was the first American hire by the British solicitors firm Robin Thompson & partners. He initially started working in the London office and commuting from a flat upstairs! During his tenure, he attended Cambridge University, studying Legal History and Evidence. He would commute after classes in the morning, taking a train to London, and then back in the evening. He was able to do his critical homework in Evidence, which is one of the key courses for any future trial lawyer. In fact, the professor for that course, Rob Bacigal, not only wrote the book on the subject for Virginia, but was Landaus Criminal Law instructor in 1982 and one of his bar exam instructors in 1985!

Doug Landau made use of train station red caps, airport golf carts and other conveyances in order to stay off his leg and let it heal

Lawyer Landau & his mom got around London without much difficulty, but both were pretty exhausted at the end of each day. On the Sunday of the Marathon, they picked a shady spot at the halfway mark that was also at the 20 mile marker, at the infamous “wall” for racers. Ken Landau ran the Boston Marathon successfully as a young teenager, and then joined Doug at the New York City Marathon, where he famously claimed they were “the only brothers in the race!” The Brothers learned at the huge race expo earlier in the week that the field was supposed to be the largest field of any marathon. in fact, the 2025 London Marathon may have set a world record for the largest group of finishers, despite the mid-70s temperature, which is very high for any marathon, but especially so where so many English men and women seem to be overdressed for the occasion &/or in costumes!

Ken landau had not done another marathon in the ensuing for decades, but has now completed New York City and Boston again, as well as London. He has his sights and training plan fixed on the remaining “majors “ and the odds are that he will achieve this amazing goal.

Landau and his mother made it home safely several days later, but Landau sustained another blow to any training. In addition to being diagnosed with COVID the day after he landed, and despite being masked, vaccinated, and reasonably healthy, he had to isolate in his mother‘s apartment, and so could not go home to Virginia. Additionally, on the Friday, when going to pick up at a CVS drugstore, exhaustion caught up with him and instead of utilizing proper crutches form, the crutches banged against both armpits. The result was that by the weekend, Landau had ulnar neuropathy on the right side, such as he had weakness, pain, and numbness from the elbow to the pinky and half of the ring finger, and on the other side, he had radial palsy, with numbness, tingling, and extreme weakness from the shoulder all way through the hand. Landau’s “crutch palsy” was so pronounced on the left, that he he couldn’t generate the strength to even pump the anti-perspirant bottle. It was then decided that he needed to start walking on the foot, with the walking boot, and drop the crutches before causing more damage and permanent arm symptoms.

Doug Landau & his mother enjoyed touring his classrooms, dormitory and grounds at Cambridge University

Landau celebrated Mother’s Day as best he could, got a ride home laid out in the back of his SUV driven by his wife. Upon arrival in Virginia, he re-calibrated his training. He got the help of a personal trainer at the gym, as he could now lift more weight than he could carry! In addition, because he couldn’t make a fist or cup his hand, he swam with regular hand paddles at his forearms, so he could get some propulsion (with two or three pool boys to hold his legs up). Landau was not able to go to the USAT Multisport Festival in Omaha Nebraska again this year, where he enjoyed competing in the very short, super sprint races. Many of his friends did very well there. He is not signing up for any races in the near future, but he has already paid for his entry in the USAT Age Group National Championships in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the second week of August. The big A+ race, and long range goal, is to gain fitness so us to be competitive in Wollongong Australia, the third week of October, 2025, for the ITU Sprint Triathlon World Championships. Landau had copped the very last spot, thanks to roll down, at last year’s National Championships held in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Ken & Doug Landau and their mom enjoy ice creams after the London Marathon Expo

Landau is all too familiar with how recovery ability degrades over time. At 65, he tried to make sure he took his vitamins, stretched and had adequate protein intake. However, his diet for several weeks around his London adventure was not optimal, and he put on four additional kilos! Because of Landau‘s education and training in the fields of physical therapy and occupational therapy, Dr. Fleeter did not prescribe any at their facility, since his patient would know what to do. Landau started training in earnest in June, now that his right hand is 98% recovered. His left arm is recovered, other than some occasional numbness on the outside, and weakness. Landau is urently e is able to ride a static bike, road bike, swim with the Worldgate Masters team occasionally, lift weights with some impressive poundages, stretch, erg rowing and do his planks. He’s not yet at the point where he can run, although he does wear his ankle brace religiously, or tape up his ankle, so as to only allow for plantar and dorsal flexion of the left foot. At Landau‘s most recent orthopedic physician’s visit, x-rays revealed a clear line all the way through the bone, no displacement, mineralization, healing, but still a lot of swelling and reduced ROM. He is looking into racing in an AquaVelo event, which is just the swimming and biking.

2025 has been a rough year for injuries for Landau. After being knocked down at the start of a 5km in Palm Beach Florida and cracking his toe and cutting up is knees and then. crashing on his bike trying to get his swollen foot into his triathlon biking in the second Duathlon of the Endorphin winter race in Richmond in February, Landau feels like he can write a book on recovery from sports injuries, and how to keep up when you’re down.

Critical to bouncing back is keeping a strong mental outlook. In addition, having a wonderful network of friends, family, coaches, teammate, etc., also helps motivate you when you’re down. When injured, it’s a good time to work on technique, weak spots, flexibility, and other aspects of your training regimen. “I was so relieved to get off the handy-cycle; the stationary hand bike that was so boring, and on which I cannot get my heart out over 120 BPM. At least with the static bikes, I get my heart rate up, can go for a long session, read my emails, watch Super League Triathlon videos to get motivated, and build, or at least maintain capillarization of my major muscles and efficient fat burning systems. I have run in the water nearly every Monday since my son was born, with a flotation vest or belt, and so I now do that once or twice a week, while watch my grandchildren. I highly recommend aqua therapy where your feet don’t touch the ground. You can work on greater range of motion and your hairstyle doesn’t get wet, so your hair stays perfect, like a “Werewolf of London!”

While he does not propose to coach anyone or be a trainer in any capacity, Landau has often sent helpful articles, sports medicine research, and other durable medical equipment to clients to help them continue on their journey back to the best health that they can achieve. He recently left a client KT Physio tape, which he had been using after his on the job injury. Likewise, Landau has given an anti-chafing material that he gets from TeamUSA, and other items to clients, friends, and teammates.

Bottom line, Lawyer Landau hopes to be racing after his 65th birthday, July 4th; competitive by August, as well as a lean and aerobically fit, and then back racing it on the Kinetic Multisports circuit from late July until October. Stay tuned…

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