5280 Swim

The recovery process continues. Not running has been torturous and I'm anxious to get back into it. I have a second follow up this Friday and I am hoping the prognosis is as good as the last one. That should mean progressing to just a hard-soled shoe vs. the whole boot. I'm curious as to what the timeline to running after that would be.

In the mean time, my cycling has increased significantly. My cycling time has almost doubled. For someone who does NOT like to cycle, this has presented mixed emotions. My dislike is predominant, and as usual, after about an hour and a half to two hours, I'm mentally dead. My only thoughts are for the ride to end. Some of it comes from getting "lost." It's not that I don't know where I am. I just don't know where I am relative to where I want to be going. For this reason, instead of taking 54-W to Chapel Hill and wiggling back via back roads, I ended way up 70 in Durham and traveling 98 across Falls Lake all the way to Wake Forest.

On the other hand, by needing cycling in order to fulfill my workout addiction, I'm certain my tolerance is growing. And on my long ride this weekend, I had a bit of a personal revelation. My plan was for either 60 miles or 3 hours, and I did not want to overshoot both. Having gotten off track however, I knew I would. When I knew I was past both those marks, and still 10 miles out I considered just stopping and calling for a ride. But at that point I realized how much I would regret it later: It wouldn't really be a big deal, especially to me as a non-cyclist. But I knew how much more of an achievement it would be to keep going and just finish. It felt like a very cliche epiphany, but it helped.

Sunday was a good morning where I competed in an one mile, open water swim. The 5280 (yes, that's the name. I don't know why) was held at Beaver Dam on Falls Lake. Out of about 100 swimmers, I finished 13th overall, 1st in my age group (out of two). I got a [beer] glass. A somewhat low key event, I decided to do these swims, hoping that eventually longer and longer events will get added. This is part of the Triangle Open Water Series, with three more one mile swims and one two miler. Next up is the Jordan Lake One miler June 12.

I did get back to the Farmers Market! I love the fresh produce and picked up some peaches and a variety of summer squash (zucchini, yellow, pattypan). Yum!

Recovery

Two weeks ago I suffered a fractured metatarsal. It's linked to the toes; when you picture a skeletal view of the foot, it's one of the long bones that goes the length of the foot. I don't exactly know the cause, but can take a good guess. At the time I was running in my minimalist, Vibram FiveFingers, mostly on pavement but transitioned to section over gravel. At some point I noticed my foot was hurting ALOT. Not enough that I couldn't stop running, since I only had about 1.5 miles to go. The rest of the day I stayed off it (trying to be smart, but also because it just hurt a lot), hoping it'd feel fine the next morning for my long run. It did not. Being restless, I went that Sunday morning for x-rays which diagnosed a fracture. The treatment? Four to six weeks of NO RUNNING. I was devastated. Seeing an orthpaedist the following day reaffirmed the hospital's diagnosis and treatment, putting me in a hard-soled boot to wear around. This meant no competing the May 14th Half Ironman at White Lake.

A follow-up this past Friday was hopeful. The doctor said the healing looked better than most do at this stage; I should be able to be in a hard-sole SHOE in another two weeks. He also said I could start getting in the pool (though I had already been going that whole week, after being off completely the previous week) and biking (since the shoes are... HARD-SOLED). Biking again yesterday, it felt good to sweat again.

I still went down to White Lake for the half on Saturday and the spring the following day. Originally I was against going; it would've just made me miserable. However, I decided it was more important to support my friends in both races. Besides, I at least went in for the swim portion; just to get my money's worth.

I predicted my misery correctly. However, I was overwhelming excited of Elaine and Stephen would completed the half Ironman, a first at that distance for both of them. And for Meredith who did the sprint, her first triathlon EVER and at FIVE MONTHS PREGNANT!

Frustratingly, it's making me ponder finding another race for the fall. As before, I was ready to move past doing triathlons, realizing that I wasn't particularly fond of the bike and wasn't really prepared to invest the necessary time and funds. However, having missed my race, there was certain feeling of unfinished business. I'm still not sure what I'll do, especially until I can definitively know when I'm back on the road.

I have signed up for a 1 mile swim next weekend at Falls Lake. Should be fun.

Fractured Metatarsal

Too depressed for another standard update. I've fractured my third metatarsal, one of the long bones in the foot. Don't know what caused it; noticed while running Saturday afternoon.

No running for the month of May

Meaning no White Lake Half Ironman.