It’s always hard to restart a blog after a break, trying to find something of interest to myself, let alone anyone else. There has been a lot that has happened the last few weeks that I’ll come back around to, but I was reminded today to focus on what I can do, rather than what I can’t.In retrospect last Friday (I think) I must have compressed a nerve in my wrist while lifting, I seem to recall a little pain at the base of my thumb whenever I moved it. Then I changed my handlebar position a little, and lifted the brake hoods up a bit, total change probably ¼-3/8 ” difference at most. However, just riding it up and down the street a couple of times was perhaps not the best test when I went out and rode for 4 ½ hours the next day.
By Saturday evening I had a severe pain at the base of my thumb and whenever I moved it, I figured it was just something I had pulled and it would go away, so I promptly compound and ignore the problem all week by swimming, lifting and continuing to ride, until yesterday when I finally noticed it was getting worse and had spread to my wrist, and across the base of my palm to the other side as if it were carpal tunnel.
So now I need to wear a brace for a week or two and to rest it as much as possible, My initial thoughts this morning were “Waaahhh !!!” and a pity party, invite one.
But as I have thought about it, it just means I change my focus next week, I can still ride the bike on the trainer, so that’s covered. I can still run, so I can do a heavy running week, which I have new shoes for – it is rather cool to realize I’m on my third pair of running shoes for the year, having completely worn out the first two pairs.
I can still do all the core exercises and workouts, and have more time to do them, and I can do some intense lower body weight workouts too instead of just squats/leg presses.
So ‘losing’ one thing means that I have the opportunity to gain in several other areas. I've watched a few people on a triathlon mailing list I used to subscribe to actively find reasons, or excuses not to train, which given the choice of sport just seems bizarre to me. While I look forward to racing in September immensely, it is and has been the journey and the training that gives me everything I could possibly want or need from the sport, the race itself is just the icing on the cake. As always the metaphor of life being a journey not a destination rings true again.
Now once more I am stoked for the coming weeks training. One door truly does open when another one shuts.Plus this weekend is a trip to a nice sandy beach tomorrow, so I will finally be able to try some barefoot running.
