It's Dangerous Out There

I used to laugh at my mom when she’d suggest that I pass up on “dangerous” activities before any major life event.  Scoffing at authority any chance I got, I usually disregarded her advice; she was only being an overprotective mother after all.  I think it was only once or twice that she had the last laugh (although she likely didn’t think it was funny nor was she glad to be right): “don’t go play outside, you are getting Bar Mitzvah-ed soon” of course led to a good rollerblading crash and knee-skinning.  But I digress.  

As I become more involved in triathlon I find myself beginning to worry about injuring myself doing anything other than swimming, biking, or running.  Surely anything can happen while doing any of those three things, but that doesn’t count.  This past weekend I went snowboarding up in Hunter Mountain.  Note: Yes, generally it is good for snow to have fallen in order to snowboard but it seems like that won’t be happening this “winter.”  We had to rely on the crappy manmade stuff which, having been brushed off by midday, gave way to the typical unforgiving iciness of the northeast.  

My boarding is progressing a lot (I’ve probably been out a total of 7 days in my life) and my confidence is growing too.  After a few smooth runs on a long blue trail (moderate difficulty) I decided to try my feet at an “easier” black diamond.  The guys who mentioned the trails difficulty left out the part about the moguls:  “seriously guys.”  The run featured a confidence-shattering series of falls, just as what little snow on the ground was fading to ice.  It was during the latter part of this run that I couldn’t help but get nervous about jeopardizing my ability to SBR.  I put in a few more runs in the afternoon with less success than I'd had in the morning (much of it caused by the brutal conditions). The soreness I’m still feeling and the bruises I am wearing are proof that the ground was rock hard: like falling on pavement.  Yesterday I felt like I’d been in a car wreck and today the pain lingers albeit it’s a bit duller.  I missed my typical back-to-back spin classes yesterday in order to rest my body, but I'll be swimming today despite the remaining aches.

I’ve never been one to let fear prevail or to skip out because there’s a chance something could happen, but I’ve known quite a few people who’ve had to miss a big event because of injury (large or small, tri-related or not).   I suppose I’ll just have to be smart about what to do when.  Right now I am still 8.5 months out from IMAZ and have a cushion to recover if anything was to happen.  As the big day gets closer I’ll have to be more careful and cautious.  I’ve already decided that I won’t be doing the northeast Tough Mudder (which I’d been eyeing for awhile) to minimize the chance of injury.  Injury prevention from training is already a big part of being a triathlete, this is just one more thing to think about.