"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