yo yo yo yo yo yo yo, that’s 7 yo’s coz its been a while. hope all you sweaty exercisers out there are doing fine. i am doing fine again as well.

after the bummer at IM Texas, i had to take care of that strain which took approx 4 weeks with no running, but all the swimming and the cycling, strength and special calf strengthening exercises. since about 2 weeks i can run again and i am building the mileage.

this weekend is actually lux 70.3, our national LD champs as well, initially i wanted to do that of course and would have been fit to do so, but my coach and i decided that was not the best of ideas to race that race in the long run regarding the density of my remaining program ( IM Zuerich, Mt. Tremblant WC 70.3, then very possibly Kona, plus the Dubai 70.3 and Bahrain 70.3 ). bummed out about not being able to defend my national LD title but hey, it will be there next year, and health is the priority. i wish all good luck to everyone who is racing, especially Tom, David and Pascal. dajee, Bouwen! 🙂

wanted to share a couple of thoughts about the time when i was injured: while in Texas i was pretty much down, i treated the calf on my own for the first couple of days. after a few days i got straight into treatment with real good physios who analyzed the situation right and gave me the right exercises to strengthen it again. calf injuries are potentially very very   tricky and i took more time off and approached the whole thing very conservatively instead of rushing back into things too quickly and risking of injuring it again. since it is not a broken bone, you cant really put a timeline but depending on the gravity of the calf strain ( i had grade 1 ), my recovery process took 4 – 6 weeks if you want to do it right. but now it is all good and i am very happy that i was patient about it.

i also learned a whole lot of new training techniques for strengthening which i did not know before and i took something good from it as well. where one door closes, another one opens.

also during a period of ( run ) downtime, you actually how much you appreciate the whole sport and it makes you mentally satisfied and stronger. also very happy i did not let my pride take over and race while i was injured. never race when you do not feel 100%. you do not do yourself a favour physically and psychologically.ironman and 70.3 is not a sport where pride has a spot. you have to check that at the door.

peace out. 🙂

O – dawg