Injury Loves Company

It is possible that I have discovered the secret recruitment strategy of tri-athletes…Injury. My aggravated-knee syndrome (rumored to be IT band syndrome) that surfaced approximately three weeks ago, due to some extensive running, prompted me to see a physician (also known as my co-worker’s physicians-assistant-to-an-orthopedic-surgeon’s wife). Her diagnosis left me with a prescription of anti-inflammatory drugs, ice, and non-pounding exercise. According to her, “swimming and cycling are great!” So for the last two and a half weeks, I’ve been following this prescription to the letter.

This wasn’t the first time I had heard about the benefits of swimming and cycling. In the expert marathon world, it’s called cross-training. Basically another way to improve the time of race completion; something I have yet to consider as an important aspect of the goal. While I’ve dabbled in some cycling over the course of my amateur training schedule, it’s been mostly for transportation purposes or leisure activity. And, I can honestly say, I haven’t purposely swam laps since high school. In an effort of desperation, I turned to these two solutions to heal the wound. They were solutions; nothing more, nothing less.

After a week of serious dedication to these “solutions,” I noticed the subsequent personal enjoyment that started to emerge. I found myself scoping out high-end performance bikes and searching for new swim gear. Wait. Am I cross-training? Is this what it feels like? Or am I still just trying to fix my knee so that I can return to running?

It is my opinion that a true tri-athlete has a passion for the meaning behind the name. And I can confidently say that I am not on a dedicated level that is comparable to the one necessary for the greatness behind the title. I have too many other passions that I make room for in my life. So, for now, I will settle for the title TRY-athlete. I have taken a strong liking to swimming and cycling because of my injury, and I do think both sports will serve as cross-training tools to keep me running longer. But mostly, I just like to try new things, and try my best, and see where it goes from there.