I fell off my bike a few weeks ago, and as I discussed in my
K-Town race report, my ribs took the worst of it. As far as I know, I didn't
suffer a broken rib, but I'm learning that even a bruised rib can take some
time to heal. I believe this is largely because it is very easy to aggravate.
Sleeping, twisting, moving my arm certain ways, don't even get me started on
sneezing, and oh ya, pretty much any form of physical activity. As athletes we
tend to push the limits regarding when to return from an injury so we miss as
few days as possible. I was on the side of too soon a few times with my ribs which probably set
their recovery back a little more than it would have otherwise been. Needless
to say, my training has been very inconsistent leading into Wasaga Beach, but
my training all winter and early in the season was good so I figured I would
see what happens at Wasaga.
I got to spend the night in Collingwood the night before the
race, and with a late start time of 10:30am, I was able to get plenty of sleep.
I did Wasaga Beach last year and the swim was very challenging because the
waves were strong. I expected the same this year. And combined with my lack of
swimming in the weeks leading up, my main focus for the swim was to get through
it without any rib pain, which was a success.
The same thing that happened last year at Wasaga Beach on
the bike happened to me again this year: my legs felt weak and tired. I'm not sure if this was from the wavy swim or from being out of shape,
but it was frustrating and very mentally draining.
Shortly after starting the run I felt some pain in my foot
(something that happened a couple weeks ago from trying to run with sore ribs because my gait was messed up). I dropped out of the race after 5k because I decided it
wasn't worth worsening my injury.
Despite the race not going well I still had a great time,
which shows me that my enjoyment of the sport isn't necessarily dependent on
performing well. I was hoping this wouldn't be the case, but unfortunately I'm
going to have to end my season early and pull out of Barrelman, which was the
focus of my training over the past year. It's very disappointing, but I've
learned that I don't just enjoy the racing, but the process of training and
preparing, which is a very satisfying realization. Right now it's about resting
up and getting back to it. Next season the vast majority of my
season will once again be geared towards competing in the Multisport Canada
Recharge with Milk Series and Barrelman
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