Week 21 - A slight change...

I have to admit this isn't how I imagined I would be writing this week's update. As I'm sure most of you now know, I had quite a bad crash this morning out in the Peak District. Basically what happened was, out testing my new wheels, I was descending at about 73kph, 10kph more than normal, took a corner too wide, hit a pothole on the edge of the road and went down. Not entirely sure what happened, but I think the bike went out from under me, my forks took the hit snapping on both sides and my front wheel tub came off at one end and it ended up in a bush down the road, with me following it. More importantly, though I really don't want to admit it, is I took quite a hit. I've ripped the skin off my right elbow, hip, shoulder and back, left knee, taken a chunk out of my left thumb, got some bad bruising and fractured my collarbone. First and foremost, I am very lucky. I was doing 45 mph and had 2mm of lycra protection from the road which didn't stand a chance. My helmet is nearly in 2 pieces and certainly saved me from some serious head injuries. So always, ALWAYS wear a helmet, it is not worth taking the risk.

Now obviously this puts my Ironman in some serious problems. I have no idea how long my shoulder will take to heal. From the looks of the xray it is a clean break, and nothing is out of alignment. I am young and my bones heal quickly, but I will take it a day at a time. Currently I am still planning to compete but will be going for finishing rather than my sub-11 hours time. Hopefully I will be back on the turbo trainer i a week or so, as soon as I can move properly with no pain, and I have built myself a great endurance base, that should carry me to the finish with a few weeks out. Running will take longer as I can't jar it, so that and open roads will be 4-6 weeks depending on what the doctors say. Swimming will be the problem. If I have to do it all breast stroke the entire way, so be it. But it all depends on how quickly I heal. I will update you all as I know more information and get back to training.

Thank you to all of my friends and fellow triathletes who have offered their support, and train safe!!!!

Tim