Everyone into the Pool!

Or at least me!

Using the kickboard is certainly better than nothing and heaven knows I can use the kicking practice.

Approaching the end of the kicking lap.

I finished up tonight's swim with one more lap of "freestyle" with emphasis on the free.

Here's a video of my current swim stroke.

http://good-times.webshots.com/video/3033865730038836306ojeVMr

As you can see, the best I can get out of the left arm is about a half of a doggie paddle stroke. Occasionally, I forget my limits and ask more of the left arm than it can give at the moment. That prompts an involuntary yelp of pain underwater making the swim more interesting I suppose since it's hard to predict when that will happen. Tonight's swim "workout" was 1 easy breast stroke lap, 4 mostly one armed freestyle laps, 1 kicking lap and 1 last freestyle lap for a total of 7 laps. That's two laps more than last week.

Progress.

Starting Over Again Sucks

But it beats the alternative. I actually ran a bit last week but that was just a test. Today I did an hour on the trainer and then, a few hours later, I went out for a three mile trail run on the trails above my house. It was pretty hard work covering the three miles. My legs complained a lot towards the end but I ran the last mile over my favorite part of trail without stopping.

Here's a shot of the foothills where I have the privilege to run and crash my mountain bike.

As you can see from the heart rate and elevation trace above I walked the steeper uphills. I had a great time running the flats and downhills though. This was the first time I was able to get my heart rate much above 140 and it sure felt good.

There's even more good news. The trainer ride went so well that I decided to see if I could ride the bike outdoors. The answer was a resounding YES! I'm back, baby. The trick now will be to keep from doing too much too soon. Not that I've ever done that before, of course.

It'll be a while before I can do much more than flail about in the pool but for now at least I can ride the roads. I'm thinking I'll wait a bit before I get back on the trails with the bike.

The Terrible Triathlete

"The bone is healed."

It's hard to believe that underneath this angry looking (and feeling, I might add) thin red scar is a 4 inch long piece of titanium secured to my clavicle with 6 one-inch long screws.

I saw the doctor two days ago and he said, "The bone is healed." That's the good news. The bad news is that the muscles, ligaments and tendons surrounding the shoulder and upper chest are in terrible shape. That's where the pain and stiffness are coming from. That and the fact that the surgeon cut through my trapezius muscle making moving my left arm in almost any direction quite painful still.

The good news is that the pain gets *almost* imperceptibly better every day. I find myself doing some things pain-free or tolerably painful almost every day that I couldn't do a few days ago.

Today's 51 minute trainer ride will likely be my last one until the weather forces me inside on the occasionally inhospitable-for-riding this winter. The ride went very well. I even did some riding standing on the pedals that the shoulder tolerated reasonably well. I'm not ready to go flying down some mountain trail just yet, but I think some easy road riding is in order.

Tomorrow I plan to resume my triathlon training schedule, albeit at a reduced level both in terms of distance and intensity. This week's plan is :

Sunday - 2 miles trail running/walking
Monday - 1 mile easy track workout
Tuesday - Back in the pool. I'll try to do 400 yards of kickboard, one arm drills and just messing around in the water.
Wednesday - 3 miles easy running/walking
Thursday - Same as Tuesday in the pool as I try to get some range of motion back in my left shoulder.
Friday - One hour easy bike ride, OUTSIDE!
Saturday - 3 miles easy running/walking

We'll see how it goes. I don't have great expectations and if I need to cut any of the workouts short I will. Then, I'll just build from there the following week. I'm also going to start Physical Therapy next week or as soon as they can get me in.

The 2009 triathlon season continues tomorrow, sixty-six days post injury.

The Terrible Triathlete