Friday Tri: Being Sidelined

You are going to be sidelined. Accept this as a fact before you begin and maybe you will have a better chance dealing with it when it happens. People who exercise, even those who exercise at a much lower level, are going to be injured. It happens in every day life, taking a step off the curb or even shopping with a rogue cart. You may just end up with a cold. Or it could be something like unexpected surgery.

When I was training for my first Ironman about 5 years ago, I ended up getting nervous and hired a coach for the last three months of my training. The first thing the coach did when I sent him a log of my training? Told me to take five days completely off. No running, no biking, no swimming. You think this would feel great, right? But for me, it felt like I was being put in prison. It's not just that I'm more than a little OCD and need to have my happy exercise numbers to write down and look at. It's that I depend on the regularity of the routine and the endorphins I get from working out on a daily basis.

No matter what the reason for being sidelined, though, I think it is important to figure out other ways to get at the goal you are headed toward. For me, training for the Ironman, I spent the next five days practicing how to change a tire on my bike. It took me at least a day to come up with the idea, but when I did, I went at it full force. This wasn't exercising, but it was definitely something about the race that I didn't feel prepared for. You don't get a flat often at races, but there are always a handful of people at the side of the road during any given race who are changing a tire. As you pass them, there is a sense of guilt that it's not you this time, and a sense of relief, that it's not you this time.

If you know how to change your own tire, you are not also subject to a terrifying fear that you would have no idea how to deal with this situation. I tend to depend on my husband for techie stuff. I love my bike and I like useful gear, but he's the geek. He likes doing this stuff and he doesn't like seeing me frustrated. What this meant is that he had always done all the tire changing since I started biking. I realized when I was stopped with a flat and had to wait until a nice cyclist in a car came by to help me that I really couldn't change a tire on my own.

After changing a tire on the back and the front three times each every morning, I felt more prepared for my race. I got it timed (because I have to have my numbers) down to under 5 minutes on a front tire, more like 8 for a back tire. In an Ironman race, 5-8 minutes isn't going to make much difference. And more important, my confidence in dealing with my own problems at a race went up enormously. My lack of sympathy for competitors who don't bring their own stuff to fix a flat also went down. I know, pros don't want to waste the weight, but when the World Champion has to wait for another competitor to throw her a tube, that just seems silly. You can't assume bike support is going to be there to help you. You need to be able to do it yourself.

My point here is that just because you are injured and can't work out, that doesn't mean that you are going to be doing nothing. Maybe all you will be doing is visualization exercises to help you deal with the pain of the final sprint of a race. That's not nothing. That stuff really matters. Maybe you will spend the time reading articles about training, or researching what gear might really make a difference. Maybe you will watch videos about proper swim technique. Maybe you'll figure out how to do dry land swim training. There is always something to be done, no matter what your situation is. Don't get frustrated by it. Find what you can do and do it.