A Split Second

"The Weapon"

"The Victim"

A split second is all it take and all those long hard hours of training and money invested to do an Ironman can be over. Lucky for me I survived to do another Ironman. Friday nights mishap just reminded me how careful one must be leading up to an Ironman, no matter what you do.

As they say getting to the start line is almost the hardest part of an Ironman.

Friday night I decided to change the battery of the PowerTap Hub which is build into the back wheel as it indicated it needs replacement and I didn't want to loose my power reading halfway through Saturday's ride. I took the back wheel off and placed the bike on the bike stand but didn't see that it was not properly on the stand and as I let go of the bike it dropped down right onto my big toe.

As I do whenever I change the rear wheel I put it in the small chain ring and this meant that the big chain ring had no chain on it otherwise it wouldn't have been so bad. First lesson learned was always wear shoes when you work on your bike, being barefoot didn't help. Another lesson was when you clean the chain also remember to clean the chain ring. It was really painful trying to get all the grease out of the wound while I was cleaning it with antiseptic liquid.

O and another lesson learned, when the battery indicates that it needs replacement do it when you have enough time, not at the last minute as you prep your bike for your ride.

The outer wound is not as bad as the hurt inside the toe. It is feeling better today but inside it is still very sore. When I woke up Saturday morning it was so sore I couldn't step on it and needless to say doing my long bike ride was very uncomfortable and sore not to even mention the brick run afterwards.

The chain ring could have easily landed on a different part of my foot and I could have had a more serious injury. At this stage I think it is just bruising and will monitor the pain to see if the pain inside is getting better. Taking Anti Inflammatory pills is just doing the trick to get through the training.

The winter is approaching fast and I woke up early on Saturday to start my long bike ride at 6am but this is how it looked when I stepped outside and with this heavy mist I didn't want to risk my life. I had to postpone my ride by 2 hours for the mist to clear

The same scenery after I came back from my bike ride after the mist cleared

After the bike ride I put on my K-Swiss shoes but the upper seam was pressing right against the toe and luckily the Newtons don't have an upper seam and I could do my brick run in them.

This morning it is feeling better and after covering it with plaster I was testing different running shoes to see which one won't hurt my toe on the long run. I didn't want to use my Newtons as I only have about 60km's left on them and want to save them for IM. I can't get a new pair before IMSA as there is a world wide shortage of the Distance Racer model, but that's another blog post.

Eventually the Zoot racers were fine and I was quite happy with them and my run, maybe I can even take them along as a back up to IM. Everything on the run just fell in place and getting a rhythm from the start was awesome. It was probably one of my best training runs.

Me taking an "Ice" bath after my run. With winter approaching fast I've turned off the pools heater as we don't swim anymore. No need for the pool to be at 30c when we don't use it, just chasing the electricity bill up. Getting in a pool with sub 20c temperature was "refreshing"

After my "Ice bath" I did some "Ice brushing", something the physiotherapist told me about this week. As I don't want to pour buckets of ice into the bath he said this is a good alternative. You take a polystyrene cup and fill it with water and put it in the freezer. Then after your training you simply break the polystyrene and you're left with a cup of ice.

You then take this block of ice, cover the one side with a handkerchief, not to get frost bit on your hands and start "brushing" your sore muscles. I've never taken an ice bath and as he explains with the muscles getting "bruised" after a training session the ice brushing is good for recovering. Been doing this after yesterday's brick session and today's run and it's not bad.

Luckily this week is a taper week and I have Tuesday and Thursday off with no training. Couldn't come at a better time as Kim is away this week for work and it's me and DJ alone again. Luckily my Mother is there to help out again.

Yesterday's Training:

Brick:

Bike: 4h02. 122.4km, 132bpm ave, 3409kcal, 30.3km/h

Run: 25:43min, 5.3km, 145bpm ave, 4:51min/km, 420kcal.

Today's Training:

Run: 2h00, 26.8km, 4:28min/km, 139 bpm ave, 1841kcal,

Swim: 1h09, 3.5km.