Hello,

Since I have been racing for many years I have grown very good at injury management and staying relatively fit while injured. 

This summer, a few weeks after IM LP and 3 weeks before IM Louisville I got hit by a motorcycle at the half way point of my weekend long ride.  I had a good pace going, as my IM recovery and subsequent build up for Louisville was going better than I could have hoped.  I was about to turn left for a nuture’s break when a motorcycle was passing me and BOOM we collided.  I went down hard and he went flying as well.

I rode the 85kms home after having the ambulance attendant check me out and refusing to spend the rest of my Saturday in the hospital (getting checked out further).  I wanted to finsih my training and just be home.  I did make it home, but not quite the pace I was maintaining heading out.  No transition run on this day.

Miraculously was able to run the following day, although the first 30min was a walk/ jog.  I could barely breathe!  However, once I got "used" to the pain I eventually did not have to walk and ran for another 1.5hrs. 

Fast forward to the next day when I could barely get out of bed and my 8km commute to work was anything but normal.  Because the pain was almost unbearable,  I went across the street to the Ottawa University medical clinic to get my back and side checked out.  The doctor told me to take it ez (respect the pain) for 3-4 weeks and x-rayed my chest, ribs and back.  I proceeded to get an additional 3 opinions, as I just wanted to know if I could take the pain, could I continue to train without further incidence or complications?  Luckily, this was the 2 week span of the summer Olympics and I proceeded to watch swimming and track for the much of my days. 

I was still hopeful that my back or ribs would be healed in time for IM Louisville in just over 2 weeks.  However, on the Thursday (5 days after the accident) the university doctor called me and told me my x-ray results showed 2 broken ribs- #5 and #7.  He said there was NO way that I would be able to race an ironman in the next 2 weeks+.  After 1-2 weeks I could ride easy and I decided to go to Louisville for support, as Marie was racing and Timex would be there as well, in some capacity.  Timex, Trek and Tristan were all amazing as I had another 9.9 frame before the end of the week and able to ride it on the weekend.  Incredible!!  

Luckily, I did not bring my race wheels and uniform, as I may have towed the line, because watching an event may be harder than racing.  I was able to ride majority of the course in the days prior to the event 130-160k on consecutive days and ran 2-3hrs while watching the race on race day after biking around to the optimal view points.  The bike course is actually similar to WI and guaranteed hot race conditions, which I like.  I gave splits to Marie and Surgio Marques who were both "running through their fields".  Motivating!

I did race IMFL on Nov 01, but my lack of swimming and bad positioning caught up with me and I had the worst swim of my career in 58min, but more importantly 8mins behind the contenders I wanted to be starting the bike with.  The good news is that I met my goal bike time of (4:30’s) 4:35 and was on sub-3hr run split until the last 4-5miles.  My goal run was sub 3:05 and I finished in 3:08. My overall goal time was 8:30’s and I finished in 8:47 and was 7-8mins slower than expected in the swim.  Not all bad considering the issues I had in the weeks preceding the event (lots of traveling for work= hard to train consistently).  

I found out that one can begin "regular" training or race 5-6 weeks after suffering broken ribs.  This is information that would have been good for me to know, but respecting the pain is the best advise I can recommend.  Broken bones will heal, they just take there due time. 

On another note, I had a collision with the biggest and fastest swimmer in my age-group swim club and his shoulder hit the front of my chest at the same level as my previously broken ribs.  I got diagonosed as costochondritis (inflammation if the cartliage that holds the ribs to the sternum), by the same university doctor.  It can happen from a single blow or repetitive stress.   I am better now after 3 weeks of not getting my HR up… hard for me.  Patience, confidence and staying positive were very important to keeping some basic level on conditioning.

Happy holidays to all,

Dave