And the start of the rest of my season begins.
With the stitches out and a hard cast covering my weakest link, I went for my first run in twelve days. I knew that the first few hundred meters would dictate how much fitness I had lost or how stale I had become in the preceding three weeks since the accident.
So when my legs flowed gracefully underneath me I knew my body had not reacted bitterly but rather appreciated the rest and relaxation.
With my fitness in top shape still, I need only to shed a couple pounds, return to the swimming fitness I had before and build on the cycling and running speed I have acquired this summer.
My Achilles heel surprisingly has not been the swim this season. I had always struggled with swimming but this year, having focused on the aquatic leg, I gained speed and form that I have never had before.
My anaerobic threshold in running and cycling has limited me however. Surprisingly, that element that makes triathletes fast is my weakest. So while I can hammer a sprint distance triathlon and perform at the verge of my VO2 max, when the race is lengthened, my speed suffers. I have never had a solid olympic distance race. So we’ll see how the rest of the season goes after the speed bump slowed me down. It kept me on my toes and I’m ready to train hard for another few months.