Triathlon Training: Week 9 - Knee Issues Leads to Rest and Supportive Friends

I did not make a blog post yesterday about my training. It felt odd. I have felt odd to be honest. Last Tuesday I had the worse pain I have ever felt hit my knee while doing a training ride(read the story here).

I swam on Wednesday and was able to complete the workout, but decided to rest the rest of Wednesday as my knee hurt throughout the day. I took all of Thursday off despite waking up at 4 am ready to run(my knee felt much better). I knew deep down that running would not be wise after 24 hours of being in immense pain and not being able to move my knee. If you train then  you know how gross you feel when you don't get a workout in. I felt blah all day wishing I was out running with the CRAZIES Thursday morning. I kept myself from doing anything that night also even though the bike was calling my name.

This morning I had a wonderful opportunity to swim with my swim coach, but I did not do it. I listened to my body. I listened to my mind. More importantly, I listened to my FRIENDS! We use the word friends all the time, but I think when you get down to the core of what a true friend is they are in limited supply. Having a few days of rest and finally getting over my little pity party for myself I started to realize how lucky I really am:

- I have a body that is able to withstand large training loads. This injury is just a minor setback and nothing major(at least that is the plan with resting and taking the smart road)
-I have a group of friends who I train with in all the disciplines whether it is a running group, swimming group, biking group, or just excellent people who are either a professional triathlete or experienced athlete.
-I have true friends

What do I mean by true friends? Being injured and stubborn I am one who jumps back in the saddle too early and just pushes to soon too fast. I don't always learn from my mistakes as two years ago I pushed too much and ended up with a stress fracture that just plagued me forever when I first started running for the first time.

I shared my story of my injury on my blog and also to some of my friends. We all have those "friends" who just tell you this or that and provide the general jargon of friendly exchanges. What I have is something greater. I have friends who are not afraid to tell it to me straight. That is sometimes the hardest thing to do - to tell a friend straight up - and also - to listen the advice of someone who tells you the honest truth.

My good friend Chad told me what I needed to hear.....rest. He gave it to me straight and it was what I needed. My wife Amanda told it me straight(she is also my best friend obviously). Another great friend Jane told me the same. How lucky am I to have people tell me what I needed to hear even if I did not want to hear it? I can only hope that I can be the same great friend in return.

I have listened. I have rested. My knee feels much better. No pain at all on this Friday morning. I finally get to go to the doctor today and double check things and hopefully do some Active Release Therapy to make things even better. I hope to jump on the bike tonight if things go according to plan. I want to ride nice and easy and get back in the swing of things.

I hope to maybe get an easy run in tomorrow morning and see where I am. Then Sunday it is off to Muscatine for the Try Melon Indoor Tri. It should prove interesting to see how I do considering the week I have had and how many workouts I have missed.

During my rest I have revamped my training. I will take the next 3 weeks to build up a base and just enjoy the training. Come 4 weeks I will start my 20 week Half Ironman training plan. I will start at a very moderate level of training(much lower than what I am doing now) and slowly build my way back up and do things right and not force the body to do more than what it is not ready to handle. Come July I will be ready to tear up my first Half Ironman.

Sometimes these setbacks can be just what the mind and body needs. The injury is the body communicating that something I am doing is not working and it is time to adjust. I will do just that.

In the end I thank my great friends for keeping me on the straight and narrow path of rest to do what is right. GETTING IT DONE! sometimes means not doing much but listening to the body and many times that is the hardest part of training.