And so it goes... injury numero uno of the season makes a showing as an annoying, but very notable, pain where my calf and achilles connect. The strangest thing is that by my research, it seems that I have "tennis leg"... most common amongst soccer and tennis players due to the sudden forward acceleration that's required in those sports. Since I haven't been working on my speed lately, this doesn't make any sense. Additionally frustrating is that I don't feel any pain until I start running (and additional soreness after running). As I was explaining to my girlfriend recently, this is very risky with how my mind works. I noticed that I was very tempted to push on with training and 'B' races as if nothing is wrong bc, well, it doesn't feel like anything is wrong! Fortunately, I know this is stupid and selfish, so I'm not acting on this instinct. Proof of my being responsible about this injury comes in the next tidbit <insert emoticon patting himself on back>
Though timing of this injury is very convenient with respect to Kona (plenty of time to recoup and only minor adjustments to training), it is not convenient timing for my olympic tri in Chattanooga, TN this Sunday. I was really looking forward to this race bc: 1) it's a new race for me 2) it's one of the top olympic tris in the southeast, and I wanted to grade myself amongst some stellar athletes 3) it's my first race where I feel fit and ready to race. Sure, all of that may seem to be insignificant reasoning... but, not to me... I was very much looking forward to competing! Though I'm definitely bitter about this sudden turn of events, I have not loss sight of my goals for this season. I'm in all this for Kona... every little thing I do this season is preempted with the question of whether it will affect my path to Kona. If the answer doesn't allow me to do a race... well, I have to swallow my pride and deal with it... there will be plenty more important olympic tris in my future, but this could be my only chance at racing in Kona, ever!! All of that may have seemed a little dramatic with my next bit of news, lol. Fortunately, I don't have to cancel my registration for this weekend's race since they have an aquabike (swim-bike race) category race as well. So I just transferred my race number from the triathlon to the aquabike category :) This will be my first aquabike ever, and I'll admit, I'm pretty excited about it! Though I'm looking at getting a swim PR, I won't consider my bike time to be a PR tho. My reasoning for this is that I plan to go crazy all-out on the bike, since I have no reason to save room for a 10k run afterwards... this said, I don't think it's fair to consider that to be a true PR.
Other than my calf/achilles issue, training is going really well!! I'll cut back on the running for about 5-7 days total and work my way back into running early next week... until then, plenty of RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, & Elevation) and a foam roller to make sure I don't accumulate any scar tissue. Endurance Planner is giving me the opportunity to modify my schedule iteratively until I like what I see... which is a huge help in times like this.
I said I would talk about bit about "finishing strong", but since this post is already a bit long, I'll wait till next time for that. Until then... stay active, and enjoy each and every day to its fullest!!! (sure, that's a bit deep to end with, but I think it's a good recommendation)
PS... hoping to have some pics from the race in my next post... get excited!
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