trainer ride. My first workout since the accident. I'm still unbelievably sore and my shoulder is very tender. The entire area is still stiff, but I am starting to regain some range of motion and I don't have to mentally prepare myself before, and concentrate on, every single, simple motion.

For the first time, I'm starting to feel a little more confident about the possibility of still competing at IMLP. If there's one thing IM training has taught me, it's that you can only deal with what's immediately in front of you... not what's coming up or what has passed. And right now, what I have in front of me is a shoulder injury that I need to focus and concentrate on making better.

So, here I am. 20 days before Lake Placid and I'm typing this with an ice bag on my shoulder and my first dose of advil settling in my stomach.  On our ride yesterday, literally 7 miles from my house, I flipped over the handle bars.  I saw A friend of mine running on the road, I looked back to see if it was her and I don't remember anything else.  Bobby says, and I think I agree, that fatigue probably played a part in my loss of control of the bike.  Thank God he was with me.

Cindy came to the scene and took me to the hospital.  There, I found out... not much.  There are no real, visible breaks in my shoulder.  They said (the DR and the Radiologist) that there looks like there's a bone spur on my scapula (shoulder blade) but they are not sure if it's a bone chip or not.  Al I know is that it hurts like hell and my range of motion is relatively non existent.  

All I can hope and pray for right now is that resting and icing my shoulder will make it get better, at least to a point where I can swim again.  The DR said that I should just rest my shoulder while we are on the cruise and see an orthopedic specialist in a week when we get back, especially if the pain is still so intense.  

All I know is that for the last 6 months I have been training and for the last year I have been thinking about nothing other than the IM.  If I cant do it this year, I know I am going to be totally devastated.  

1000
150x10
50x4
100
200 easy

My legs are exhausted. I don't feel fatigued or overly sore... Just my legs feel dead. I had no real spring in my legs during this ride.

I haven't taken any time off since the alpe d'huez ride on Sunday. And I'm at around 7 hours already this week.

I think a day off is in order for tomorrow. It's probably for the best anyway. We're having a BBQ tomorrow with 20 17&18 year olds. Awesome kids that I had in class and went to DC with for a weekend.

All I had time for today

300 pull
150x2
100
2000

Easy run as I continue to recover from this weekend while training easy. We leave for the cruise a week from today and my goal is to amass as much volume as is possible and safe from now till then. This is really the last really big week for me volume wise. I will try to train every other day for an hour at a time while on the cruise and when we get back I'll attempt to string together a few big volume days during July 13 and 14. But really, the bulk of it is behind me. On the 14th, my birthday, I'm going to do a 2-3 hour ride and a :45-1 hour run.

My plan for the rest of this week looks like this.. brick tomorrow, 1-1.5 hour bike on Thursday (I will swim one of those nights), maybe a 45 min run on Friday. 100 mile ride on Saturday, 2 hour run Sunday and a 1 hour ride early on Monday before we leave for the airport for the flight to Seattle.

I was 187 this morning.  11 pounds lighter than I was when I started IM training back in late December.  This has been quite a journey.  I've learned a lot about fitness and myself through IM training and I truly believe now, more than ever, that I am in the best shape of my life if for no other reason than the simple fact that my body is able to handle more punishment than ever.  I mean, when I think back to when I first started, I would have never thought I'd be able to string together three days like this and be able to put up the kind of volume I have over the course of the last four out of five days.  following up the toughest bike ride of my life with a brick and a 4,000 yard swim the next day and then to be capable of putting together this run this morning (albeit rather slow) is a testament to what IM training has made me.  

I know there is a chance that my fitness will diminish a bit during the 8 day vacation..  But if I can really put in some quality volume over the course of the next week, the cruise will be more of a recovery week than an early taper... at least that's what is going on in my head.