I rode a lot this past weekend, which was nice. It doesn’t aggravate the injury, I got some exercise, and the weather was nice. I’m dismayed that I wasn’t able to participate in the triathlon, but the weekend wasn’t a total lost.
Since cycling was fine, I had time to ride the course for an upcoming triathlon. This was a triathlon I’d planned to do last year, but ended up volunteering for because I couldn’t get a wetsuit in time. In retrospect, the water was 17 C/63 F. I remember less than five people who swam without a wetsuit – I’ll be one of those people this year. Back to the cycling – the route is extremely rough. Two laps – the course is only one – and I felt more beat up than when I rode 200+ KM. There are hills on the course, but not terribly bad. More importantly, there were some spots with rolling hills – if you pushed hard enough on the downhill of the first, you could use the momentum to roll over the next. This was a big thing to me from the previous triathlon – I didn’t know the course, and I’d been told there as a hill. But the “hill” turned out to be a very gradual slope. So gradual, it reminded me of riding on a railway – 3% maximum. There was a section I rode faster the second time around, knowing what was ahead.
I wanted to swim on Tuesday, but found myself visiting a friend. The more time to heal, the better. And I didn’t have to make dinner. So Thursday, I turned up for swimming to assess my progress. It was less painful. I don’t remember needing to stand up, but compared to everything else I’ve done to date – swimming the front crawl really does a number on me. I can’t tell what is occurring, but the pain does not seem like a muscle strain. It’s not like “finding muscles I didn’t know I had”, but at the same time – I’m not detecting rib movement. I miss swimming…
I’d sum up the past week as “I feel fine, until I’m not”. I’m feeling better, moving more freely. But I have not sneezed, or coughed. I’ve come close, and I do feel I can get away with more than previous times. At this point, things are more dangerous to me because I’m likely to overreach and set myself back. The forecast for the next week calls for more Advil/ibuprofen… 😉
I talked to someone else who’d had broken ribs, and was able to run. They suggested trying a little distance to see how things are. For them, running was relatively OK but cycling was off the table. Moral of the story – explore what you can do, very carefully.
My Warfarin Diet 