Monday, July 21, 2014

Getting back to normal...


A whole lot of healing has taken place in the last few days!  I went to bed Friday night and woke up Saturday morning with a ton of new skin :) So that was great.

Saturday, I went for a short run.  I stayed in my neighborhood, since I wanted to stay close to the house just in case I needed to stop unexpectedly, and I really had no expectations.  I just wanted to run.  It was super slow (start around 9:00 and ended closer to 9:30)..but at least it was running.  For the most part.  The good news is that the road rash didn’t bother me; I could feel it a little, but it really wasn’t an issue.  The problem was my back!  I don’t know if it’s a delayed onset, or if I really didn’t notice it at all because I was too distracted with my lack of skin, but man..my back/neck/shoulders all hurt like crazy.  Running didn’t help, my lower back kept seizing up, so I just tried to keep it easy and natural.

Still, though, 30 minutes running outside was great for me, mentally!  I also got on the trainer for a few minutes, just to see how it felt—I wasn’t sure if the position would hurt my back, or if the road rash on my leg would be aggravated by pedaling.  I was happy to find that, at least for a few minutes, nothing stood out and things seemed to feel pretty good.

The other awesome part about Saturday was...new (bike) shoes!  My shoes were not only super scuffed up from the crash, but the left clip got complete smashed in, so it actually isn’t functional anymore.  I had to wiggle and squeeze my foot out of my shoe after I crashed, and there was no way I could use that shoe any more.  I had already been planning on getting some tri shoes, but now I needed new shoes ASAP!  I was looking around, and luckily Kyle found a pair of shoes that were exactly my size!  :)  Talk about perfect (I mean, all things considered).  So, I was able to get some really awesome shoes right away and not deal with ordering them, etc.  Sooo lucky.

Naturally, on Sunday, I had to go out and test the shoes!  I also just wanted to be on a bike.  I got Megan and Allen to go with me, and to keep it nice and easy…things seemed fine for a few minutes on the trainer, but I wasn’t sure how it would be for an actual ride.  We stayed on the trail (even though I really, really wanted to keep going once I started), and tried to keep an easy, high cadence.  I did push and get a couple hard efforts in for a minute or two at my favorite spot, which felt great.  Overall, the road rash is fine!  Itchy, but didn’t really affect the biking.  My back was sore, but as long as I was just taking it easy, it’s fine.  I did get out of the saddle a couple of times and tried to kick it up, and that’s when I really noticed my back (couldn’t accelerate too well) but that’s fine.  My legs were stiff and sore, and not exactly in top form, but I can live with that.  Mostly, I’m happy because I think I can at least try to return to my normal training schedule this week (minus the swims for a couple more days).  I know I won’t be fast (especially running) and I won’t push it, but I will at least feel better getting some time and miles in.

And just to be clear: the shoes are amazing.  I am 100% in love with them!  They are ridiculously light compared to my old shimanos, which was obvious as soon as I was carrying both of them to swap the cleats.  Even with the cleats on, they are lighter than the old shoes (without cleats).  I hadn’t really thought about how that would feel on the bike, but as soon as I clipped in and pedaled—wow, my feet were light as air!  What a huge difference.  I had no idea.  And they are so stiff, and comfortable, and and and…I love them.  :) 

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