An ounce of prevention is worth 322 pounds of OUCH!

Excuse the delay between posts, work has been hectic, training has been about the same, and on top of that I got a new video game.

Preventing injury is a topic that you hear a lot about, and there are ways (ice, ibuprofen, a gradual increase in both intensity and duration of workout) to help limit exposure to injury opportunities. Unfortunately, there's simply no way to prevent injuries. Sooner or later, they're gonna get ya.

I've been fortunate through my 3 years of road races and first tri season; my most serious injury was road rash in my parents driveway after 28 miles on the bike. I slid on sand pulling into the driveway at the end of my ride. Growing up that driveway was stone and gravel, so I'm thankful they paved in a few years ago. One of those big rocks we used to have there could have been very painful.

That's not to say I haven't dealt with my share of injuries. Most of them have been the mild annoying kind that don't stop you from competing, but they stop you from training and competing at your best. In particular I've had sore knees, rolled ankles, tweaked neck, tweaked back, etc.

But one of the issues I've been dealing with almost chronically (it comes and goes) is heel pain. It comes from my hard strides walking, but I get a lot of pain in the bottom and rear of my heels. In particular in my left foot. The worst part is that it hurts worst when I stretch it, so any time I move my foot in a way that stretches the foot, it causes pain.

So, now Im trying to prevent further injury by taking a day off. I want to make sure I don't aggravate it on the bike or running, because the longer this sticks around the harder it is to train.

Hopefully, I'll feel good tomorrow morning so I can make up for not being in the gym tonight.

Tibits:

• Got our official notice today that we'll be riding for Wheelworks Multisport in 2010. I'm stoked and can't wait to participate in team races.
• When I asked about comments the other day, I had no idea that the comments weren't working prior to that. I've started getting feedback, so if you're interested in responding, I'd still love to read it
• I know I've been teasing this for a while now, but we're going to finalize on our race schedule for 2010 any day now.