Trying to Get Back into the Swing of Things

I'm slowly trying to get my athletic life back in order after my biking accident. I took a major step today by getting back out on the bike, but realize I have a long way to go. I think putting something down in this blog may help, so here it goes.

My accident was just over 8 weeks ago, and as far as the collar bone and shoulder go, things are getting back to normal. I have no pain, am able to sleep pretty much however I want to now that I've been able to add sleeping on my right (bad) side into the rotation. I have limited flexibility in the shoulder, but am not far off, and probably need to get back in the pool to get it all back.

I really let myself go while I was out. I aloud myself to eat/drink whatever I wanted to, and was very inactive. As a result, I've dropped a lot of strength and muscle mass, replaced it with fat and then some with my weight up around 4 pounds, and feel generally sluggish.

I started running 2 weeks ago, and felt like I'd never run before in my life. Slow pace, HR off the charts, and all of the running pains I'd cured myself of are now back. Shin splints are debilitating right now.

I had my sights set on getting back into the pool at the beginning of Oct, but the pool my masters team swims in is having the winter roof (bubble) installed this week, so we are at a different pool, at 5:00am (I don't do workouts pre 6:00am), and it costs an extra $15 for the week = I'll wait for the bubble to be installed.

Today, I got out on the bike outside for the first time since my crash. It was a chilly misty afternoon and was quite pleasant out there. I figured if I wanted the roads mostly to myself, I should wait until the Cowboys game started. So I did, and it seemed to work. I rode the same route I was on when I had my accident, which was therapeutic, and the ride actually felt good. I believe after logging 75 mins out there that cycling and swimming will be my road back to greater fitness, not running. Running will just be a byproduct of the improvements.

I must admit, I was nervous as hell when cars came up on me from behind. I did a lot of shoulder checking and wasn't comfortable at all. I'm sure that will pass with time. I kind of appreciate the heightened vigilance. It will keep me safer in the long run.

So my goals in no particular order (both long term and short) are as follows:

1. swim comfortably
2. ride without fear
3. swim hard
4. train 5 hrs in a week
5. train 10 hrs in a week
6. get my body back to a fit 170
7. feel comfortable running again
8. race again
9. PR in a run or tri

I took a minute when I reached the place I broke my collar bone to take a look around, and to try to figure out how I may have ended up in the spot I ended up in. Here is a photo of the corner. I ended up just on the other side of this sign my bike is leaning up against.


So here we are. Baby steps is the key, and so is appreciating the process. If I add an extra hour of training each week, I'll be back to where I want to be in about a month.

Happy trails.