Being Injured is Haaaaaaaaaard

Dark are the days spent injured, and negative the thoughts.

Have you ever seen those joke-cards that say "How do you keep an idiot busy? (turn over)," and then on the other side it reads the same thing? In this scenario I'm holding the card and my execution of marathon training plays the part of the idiot. I didn't do it right the first time so I flipped the card over and proceeded to do it all wrong the second time.

I ran across what I consider to be an apt description of my situation. Derek Sivers writes, "To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions." 

My idea far outweighed any currency I had to bargain with. Thus, when it came time to pay the piper I turned out empty pockets. Instead, what he took from me was what little motivation I had left, along with the courage I would need to pull the plug. What followed was a sloshing symphony that featured a booming crescendo of injuries + excuses.

Ultimately, I was no longer motivated and vastly under-prepared. Yet, I still gambled, despite taking necessary precautions such as not bringing any race-gear (to Berlin), not even my running shoes! A pre-registered race t-shirt, a pair of pajama shorts and my nike frees (which I had never run in) would ultimately pave the way for instant pleasure followed by 1 1/2 months (and counting) of disaster.

I ran the first 13.1 miles of the marathon (with my friends). I jumped out (knee already hurting) and planned to rejoin after they had looped back around. At mile 23 I hopped back in and finished the the last 3.2 miles of the race with them. The knee hurt, considerably, but I was so happy that I could run at least some of it. That day (and the rest of the trip) was FANTASTIC.

Oh, the rest of the trip? Yes, I recall it now... walking around 8 miles a day on a bum knee + ankle. The ankle got weirdly swollen and made this funny noise when I walked that I can only compared to the sound your body makes as it slides around on one of those inflatable sit-up balls. It was a kind of intermittent resistance, as if you were rubbing rubber on rubber, but some parts were dry and other parts were wet... so it skipped, like a record. That eventually went away, but the knee stuck with me. Hell, I even got "the hobble" down really damn well by the end of the trip.

Once we got home? Not good. We're talking Sean having to stop and take a break every 1/2 block on the way to get in his car 3 blocks away to drive to work b/c that damn knee hurt so much. Doctors were visited, R.I.C.E. was used... blah blah blah. When the fuck will I learn? Heh. 

* * * * * * * *

Anyway, the knee has shown signs of improvement as of late in the tiniest ways and that has me very excited for the winter. I can now swim without using the pull-buoy (to keep my legs from kicking) and I even performed a few sets of pain-free lunges. There are no plans in the schedule to go for a test-run anytime soon. 

If I can take away anything from the last knee injury, it's that cycling in the winter does my body VERY good. It will help me build muscle back around my knee and get those tendons happy again. Between that and swimming, I'll be in good shape a couple of months down the line enough so that I can begin to build the running base back up.

That's the plan. 

What else is in the plan? More triathlons, capped running distances (13.1) and a quest to locate the source of my will-power.