Mission 16/60 and Injury Update

Some of the scars left from the road rash after 4 months

It’s been 4 months (Feb. 14) since I rode off the side of the road and crashed on the bike. The skin on my leg is no longer of leg modeling quality so I’ve had to rethink my career options. Aside from the scarring (I chose healing speed over scarring prevention in order to get back in the pool faster), my shoulder is 95% better. . The AC joint (that boney knob that sticks up above the shoulder joint at the end of the colar bone) still protrudes higher on the left than the right but there is rarely any pain in the shoulder itself when I swim. Range of motion isn’t fully back to what it was and either is the strength. It will take work to gain back the 8-12% I lost so I’ve added back a 3^rd swim workout each week. Strength training is also progressing back to being balanced and even on both right and left sides, nearly at full strength on most movements.

It was not a perfect or smooth recovery but I think I benefited from a number of things. First, I was in pretty good physical shape (compared to other geezers my age.) 2^nd, I do strength training regularly, which I think allowed me to recover more quickly than I would have otherwise. Finally, I do some consistent fine shoulder movement exercises that I believe possibly helped limit how severe the injury was. What I guess I’m saying is that the older you get the more important strength training becomes.

Okay, enough “positive spin”. My long term goal ("Mission 16/60") for 2016 – when I age up to the 60-64 age group – is to do what I can to qualify for the Ironman World Championship in Kona. I believe my best opportunity could be at Ironman Texas in May of 2016, with Ironman Arizona in November of 2016 also possible but much less likely. I have some facts and logic to back this up but won’t go into it here. At this point we may be rethinking racing IMAZ in 2016.

I sometimes hesitate to share certain negative things. This is only because I don’t want the athletes I coach to have their own training impacted in any way. With that said, it’s been a struggle for many months to actually start feeling like myself or to feel like I'm gaining fitness. It started with the bike crash and the poor performance at Ironman 70.3 California (Oceanside). To be honest I’ve struggled to make progress on the bike and I sort of plateaued on my runs. It’s been a challenge to get things to shift. In part I believe this is because part of my past “success” has had a lot to do with consistency and sticking to a routine. Both of those haven’t been as good as they once were. There has also been self-doubt and the random thought now and then of wondering if I've reached my peak and it's all down hill from here. Those thoughts always creep in when I'm struggling on a ride or getting passed on the road or when I look at my mile run splits. When I'm thinking more rationally I do think it may be getting harder to wring more out of this 58+ year old body but I don't really think my best races have already taken place. 

I think I’m finally feeling like I’m getting back on track now, training more with heart rate instead of just perceived effort and refocusing on shorter term goals that I hope lead to long term success. Besides adding a 3rd swim back to my week I've also made sure to add an indoor cycling class to the week to have someone else lead me into the land of high intensity suffering. 

Right now there are 3 races on the calendar to point towards. My 4^th ½ marathon in a year – AFC (San Diego) – is in August. Silverman 70.3 is early October. The season ends with Ironman Arizona in November. I also still need to actually enter IMTX for 2015. Entries are open.

#roadrash #getsladed #sladecoaching