Injured one week before the race!

RUN: about 1 mile?
SWIM: 4000y straight through, mostly pulling
BIKE: 17.5 in 1hr on the trainer

Today's plan was to swim then test the ankle on a treadmill run. To double the fun, I was also going to test the bee-kini in the swim and run. It's a bit of a gamble to try to run one day post injury, but I was going to be with TH, and she sees through the bravado. Or bullshit, as DH corrected me. HAHA!!

Plan's changed a bit with the pool, so we just did a short run around the 'hood. It didn't hurt much at all, it's a little stiff and just the shoe touching the area under the ankle bone was a little painful. TH could see me limping though. She advised to stay off running the rest of the week.

I want to run. I almost ran again later in the day. I just have to KNOW how it is. But I kept her advice in my head. No Running. And because she said that, I didn't run anymore. She's right. I know it.

But maybe I should be Queen Cleopatra instead of a bee for this race. Queen of Denial.

It really doesn't hurt all that much. If I plant the foot and rotate I get a sharp pain, but that only happened once and I've been walking around and up/down stairs all day.

So I went to the Y and swam, again I just had to know--can I swim? Try as I might, I still kick a little bit in rotating. I went with a pull buoy. The first 1000y my shoulders and arms hurt--this gave me a scare about how little swimming I've been doing the past 3 weeks. Did I de-condition? Will I have the aerobic capacity to swim but not the muscular adapation?!??

No, I was OK. By the time I hit the first 1000y I warmed up. I think swimming along the rec area and L-shaped wall I was swimming funny and distracted, thereby messing up my stroke. Once I moved over, I plugged along just fine.

In fact, I plugged along for 4000y! Most all of it was with the pull buoy, I occasionally tested without it but found it hurt the foot. I felt like a bit of a fool in the pool--swimming 80 mins with a pull buoy and I couldn't help but wonder what others were thinking. Why do I wonder about that? Who gives a sh!t what others are thinking?!

Plug plug plug. For the first time since early June, I did a straight-thru long swim. I didn't watch the counter and let myself lose track of time and distance. I just swam-swam-swam. Easy  pushes off the wall slowed me down but I just swam-swam-swam. I wonder how much of it was just nerves. Planning, thinking, wondering, packing, getting ready for the race. With my face in the water, the quietness, the isolation -- it's a great time to think and get lost in my own head.

I felt great after the swim! I've been wanting that confidence boosting swim, and I have it DONE.

Afterwards I did a trainer ride just to extend the aerobic workout and keep testing the ankle. No problems there, not even the clip in/out. But we'll see on Tuesday how it is in the real world. My left ankle is my dominant ankle when I clip in/out!

Afterwards I K-taped it to help reduce swelling (what little there is) and tried to stay off it with limited success. Without the pain to remind me, I just get to doing things. I started packing for the race, starting with the bee outfits!! Then my tri club gear!