We will all get knocked down from time to time in life.  Sometimes it might be physically, mentally, at work, at home, financially, spiritually, emotionally. For the most part what's great about humans is that we have the capability and capacity to bounce back.  This doesn't always mean we will but mostly we have the opportunity and ability to. 

I've been knocked down a few times in life and I think I've always come through the other side stronger and with more knowledge (doesn't always mean I applied that knowledge in the future).  At the time it's happening I don't always think about the knock down in the moment as an opportunity, but at some point theres a trigger that says "OK" what do I do, how do I overcome, what's the plan and I go formulate, and put into action the "plan". 

If you follow this blog you know recently I was actually knocked down, well more accurately fell down.  In the moment I thought I might actually die, then I though no I'm just going to be in the hopital for months (all of this happened in a second), then in the moments following hitting the pole I realized I was alive and really not that seriously (life threatening) injured. 

The crash has forced me to put a big part of my life on hold at least temporarily.  I really love training and racing trialthon but for the time being neither is happening.  What's different this time is that from all the knockdowns in life I'm taking a different approach and frankly handling this one really well.  In the past this would have devastated me, other than the physical devastation there would have been mental and emotional devastation which would have been far worse and acutally much more damaging.  I could have been mad, disappointed that I didn't finish, that I didn't have a good day in the race, or that I didn't qualify for Kona.  I mean my expectations were that finishing an Ironman isn't a problem for me, qualfying for Kona is a no brainer and that I should be able to race to a PR.  Not doing any of these could have crumbled me.  I've talked to a few people who had a rough day at IMC that didn't go perfectly for them, that didn't meet up to their expectations and I can feel the bitterness, the dissapointment and to some degree anger and I know where their heading and it's not good.

So what am I doing to to deal with this knockdown. 

I'm healing physically it's been 11 days since the crash and I still hurt, my legs are swollen, black and blue and sore but they get better each and every day, my ribs are sore but again getting better.  I've just come to the realization that it's going to take a couple more weeks before I can begin to train again in the meantime I'm doing what I can to speed the recovery, massage, icing, and now walking.  Yep walking is my workout, and that is very hard thing to do for someone who truly races 140.6 miles.  I know when I start back it will take a while to get back to where I feel fit again but it won't really take that long.

I've just said my season is over.  I had hoped to race Silverman in November but now I'm not planning on it.  It still might happen but my expectations are that it won't and I'm Ok with that.  Instead I've started to think about and plan for next season, laying out the races I want to race and the challeges I want to take on.  Kona is always in the back of my mind as it's such a special race but honestly I'm not planning any races that are qualifiers.  Instead I'm looking at mixing things up a bit and racing a mountain bike, road bike, paddle, run relay solo, in addition to several half Ironmans, some sprints, and maybe an international Ironman race (Western Australia sounds nice).  I always race better when I'm doing it to have fun, this season was mostly fun.

I'm going to Kona.  I had already booked my trip to Kona for October with the expectation that I'd either be racing or relaxing.  So I'm going and will be relaxing, spending time with Kristen, hopefully feeling good enough to do a little bike riding, some swimming, a little running and some paddling. Taking pictures of the race and taking in the race as a spectator (I still believe that everyone should experience the Ironman as spectator, TV just doesn't do it justice). 

I'm focusing on work. Work is always there and it's always busy, part of why I started doing triathlon was to get in shape after several years of too much focus on work (working 6 days a week 70-80 hrs a week for a couple of years).  I can use this time to buckle down for a few weeks and do a little above and beyond effort and get ahead of the curve.  At Microsoft we always seem to be just behind the curve no matter how much you work, that actually probably won't change but hey it's worth a shot.

So I'm in a good place overall.  Went to the doctor yesterday and he said he didn't think I had a broken rib, offered an x-ray but I declined as the prescrption was the same no matter what, rest it so I thought I'd do my part to reduce the cost of healthcare.  I expect to get a little irritable, that's just a fact that exercise is my outlet but I'm taking it all in stride and moving forward.

A couple of announcements coming up in the next couple weeks regarding coaching and charity events so even though there might not be much in the way of updates on the racing front there will be a few blog updates. Now I need to go enjo
 


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