Well, race day is 16 days away, and I have much to tell you all about. While the blog has been quiet over the last couple of weeks, life has been anything but. First of all, my left leg is improving by the day; a consistent cocktail of physiotherapy, stretching, massage, water running and my foam roller have helped me to get to the point where I can run comfortably, so much so that I ran 10k in a session last weekend. I know that from the perspective of having an Ironman looming in my future, 10 k may seem like a pittance, but for me, it was happy moment, I feel more like a triathlete, and less like a cyclist who swims, or a swimmer who bikes. So that’s the leg sitrep.
In other news, I had my first fall on my bike a few weeks ago, and while it was at a relatively low speed, it hurt both my body and my pride – after coming to a stop sign I was turning a corner on a rural road and ended up too close to the edge, so I slid off the road. What a weird feeling, it was definitely one of those slow-motion moments, ending in a rather hard connection between my left elbow and the road. On top of that I got caught in my right cycling cleat and my riding buddy (Thanks J!) had to come and unclip me. I sat down in the shade to lick my wounds, have a drink and a bit of a snack to quell the woozies, and waited for the pit crew to collect me. I wasn’t badly hurt, I had full range of movement, but my elbow was quite sore and I didn’t feel like I would have been able to support myself on my handle bars well enough to feel safe. At home I iced, took some anti-inflammatories and iced some more, and then it was off to a wedding – which was fabulous by the way! Congrats to L and M!
The next morning, I’d lost some range of movement and the swelling had increased, so we went to Emergency, just in case. After some xrays, the physician informed me that there was evidence of a microfracture, and I wasn’t to swim/bike/run for 7-10 days. I totally freaked. What do you mean none? I don’t have that kind of time left! Cut to the next scene, post-freakout - I negotiated with the Doc to stationary bike and water run, at minimum. By Tuesday, I was back to running outside, and after a visit to the orthopaedic surgeon who said “I don’t see any break here, so you can just go back to what you’ve been doing, cause you’re going to anyways”, it was business as usual. Yay!
On the weekend of June 25, my riding buddy and I had our initiation to the Lake Placid Ironman swim and bike courses. What a great couple of days, it really helped us put into perspective the things to come, and gave us a great sense of comfort, because now we’re prepared for what’s ahead. I’m not saying it was an easy breezy weekend – it was hard work, but now I feel ready to plan and pace appropriately.
A test run of the swim distance in open water this week showed that I'm ready to cover 3.8 kilometres very comfortably, with lots of energy to spare - which will be hugely important on race day.
So here we are. Race day is about 16 days away, and in an average day I experience excitement and nausea equally, thinking about July 24. In a lot of ways, much of the hard work is done, the question of whether I've done enough lingers, but at this point, I have to be confident in the work I've put in since January.
My main focus for the next two weeks will be to get to the start line feeling healthy and rested. In the words of one of my training partners on Tuesday “For the next 18 days, we are china dolls. Encapsulate yourself in a bubble.” I’m not breaking out a roll of bubble wrap or anything, but I will definitely be approaching everything I do with a little extra care and attention.
I’m likely to be pretty giddy over the next few weeks, so you’ll probably see a few extra blog posts as we get closer to the day! Have a great weekend all. Have fun and be safe!
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