Since my first Professional race at the shortened Muncie
70.3, my training had been focused on getting ready for Ironman
Louisville. Since Muncie was basically
an Olympic distance, it didn’t provide the race day simulation that I had
expected, but it was very helpful in seeing where I stand against the other
professionals. Mainly, my swim
needed some serious help and focus before Louisville. With that in mind, Coach Bonnie Karas from Fraser Bicycle
and I developed a plan to do what we could in the 7 weeks between the races
while still developing as needed on both the bike and run. To sum it up: more swimming!
Everything was going according to plan and my times/paces
were peaking in all 3 disciplines, until my last weekend training…..This is when
10 minutes into my ride, I needed to avoid a deep pothole in the road, and I instead
hit a baseball size chunk of asphalt, that I didn’t see until after I hit it! This
shot me into the bushes on the side of the road, bending my front wheel in
half, which then launched me over the bars, back into the road landing on my
back and cracking my helmet in 4 places.
Not exactly that way you want to end your final training weekend! Luckily, a scraped back, road rash on
my hip and really stiff neck were the result. No doubt I was really lucky that my injuries were so
minor. As a side note, I will
forever wear a helmet when I ride.
Without a helmet, who knows what would have been the result. Equipment-wise, besides a broken helmet
and destroyed front wheel, my bike was fine with only a few minor scratches
where it hit the pavement.
This unexpected little twist changed my whole outlook
on race week. Instead of resting, packing
and preparing, my focus turned to injury repair and damage control. I was doing everything I could think of
to heal my wounds and loosen up my neck: ice, heat, massage, ointments, and
ibuprofen. Everyday I was getting
incrementally better and while neck didn't seem too limiting in my range of
motion it was definitely a nuisance. After a few short training sessions,
at least I knew that I could still swim, bike and run at my expected paces, but
he big question mark is how would it feel after 6, 7 or 8 hours into my
day....and would it hold up to 112 miles on the bike? There was no way to know until race day, so I just focused
on what I could control in the final days and knew I would just deal with it on
race day as required.
