Bad News

75 Days

Last weeks totals
Swim: 6500 yards
Bike: 136.2 miles
Run: 25.4 miles
Total time 14:38

Of all the things that an athlete can get - sore muscles, satisfaction, exhaustion - the one thing that they don't want to get is an injury leading up to a race. One thing that I've been surprised to find is that for some reason doctors don't understand that the ability to recover from an injury in time for a race isn't good news. Recovery 12 weeks from a race is good news. Being healed by race day means nothing more than you're healed but now unprepared for the race and could possibly re-injure yourself due to the lack of preparedness.

I say all this because Kati has found herself with a nice little injury. She had an MRI done with the speculative diagnosis being a torn Labrum in her hip. This diagnosis was squashed by the orthopedic surgeon that we visited with to see if she just needed physical therapy or if surgery was in order. The surgeon explained that a torn Labrum is common for football players, gymnasts and dancers who take falls or get hit while their legs are in unnatural positions and that runners just don't get torn Labrums. This was good news as well as bad news because we had received the original diagnosis about 5 days before we met with the orthopedic surgeon, that was five days in which Kati was able to prepare mentally and emotionally to the idea that her race might be done. Now to get the news that it just might be either Tendinitis or a stress fracture may just mean that the door still has a crack of light coming through or could still be a game ender. Now we didn't know what to prepare or hope for.

Before we even started training for this race Kati and I made an agreement that if one of us was unable to continue training or race due to injury that the other would press madly on. Talking six months ago it seemed like the appropriate thing to do. Why should both of us sit out when only one of us can't race? But actually having that decision to make was much more difficult than I ever would have imagined. Kati has been my rock during this training. For some reason being out on a 5 hour bike ride is much easier knowing that Kati is out there too, even if we aren't riding together. I know that she's out there suffering through the same cold and the wind and that she's having a good time and somehow that knowledge strengthens me no matter how many miles we are away from each other.

I'll tell you one thing though that I've said before and will continue to say. This chick is a rock. Through all of the "I'm out, now I'm in" she's been able to find a silver lining that few would have been able to. Where most would have used this disappointment to fall into a hole of self pity she has used it to reflect on all the great races that she has done and begun looking forward to training for the Ironman race she might want to do in the future.

Through the next ten weeks I guarantee that she will continue to be my strength and motivation.