mytrilife

Focus matters

I'm long overdue for an update to my blog. It's been a crazy month of June.. and it's not even over yet...

After my last update, on May 27, I raced the Coronation triathlon here in Edmonton. The legs were a little flat and heavy from the long rides in BC, but I managed a solid 7th place against a good field for a small sprint race! A couple ITU elite guys, plus some solid veterans of the Edmonton triathlon scene showed up to make it interesting. Racing up and down Groat Road in Edmonton was a lot of fun. Races like this are why I love the sport...

The next weekend, Heather and decided to head east of the city out to Elk Island national park. Our route was about 90-100km only, but we were both quite tired, so we kept the pace easy. Riding through the park was rough... the federally maintained roads are pretty ugly. Plenty of potholes and debris. A couple of flats left us with no spares about 30km from the car. We decided to push on anyways, praying we wouldn't have to hitch back.

After a fuel stop in the small town of Lamont, we went in a big loop around the park to avoid the rough roads back through it. The day was hot, humid, and both of us were suffering. Our build up of training to our big races had left both us a bit shattered. To make things worse.. there are ZERO hills east of Edmonton.. the riding can be monotonous.. and easy to lose focus. We finally made it back to the Yellowhead hwy and started the last 20km section back to the car.

I was riding in front of Heather about 40m and looked back to see her taking a drink. I grabbed my own bottle and slowed down to wait for her. I kind of stared ahead of me, wishing I was back at the car so I could end the ride. All I heard was "Oh shit!" and felt Heather's front wheel hit my bike and knock me forward. I looked back to see her crashing extremely hard right onto her chin and face. Apparently, she had her head down and was in the aerobars, and didn't look up in time to realize that I was moving much slower in front of her.

The next hour was a blur. I flagged down a motorist and I picked up the car and got Heather to the hospital. After some pain meds and an x-ray, the bad news was given.... she had broken her jaw in three places. Just as painful as the broken bones was knowing that her season, the one she had worked so hard for, was now at an end.

So, after a 4.5hr surgery and 6 days in the hospital, a wired jaw, and now elastics to hold her bite together... the scars of surgery are starting to heal. She's able to eat marginally solid food again, but it will be a while before steak is back on her plate. Her big race was supposed to be July 1, but the race director would only give a partial deferral of her race entry to next year. So guess what? She's going to compete! Well.. let's make that participate. As long as the weather is ok, and she feels strong enough.. she's going to complete the race as slow as needed to make it to that finish line!

As for me, my next race is this weekend. I've decided to throw in a 1/2 Ironman this season.... just for fun. The Prestige half is on Saturday at Wasa Lake (about 30min north of Cranbrook). I'm hoping the weather finally clears for some hot, dry racing. I'll make sure to get a post-race report up asap.

And for those that are wondering, we're still in Edmonton, but may end up in Calgary.. or the Kootenays (Castlegar).

posted by Greg @ 6/19/2007