Silver Lining

As we have all heard numerous times, every cloud has a silver lining. I have come to believe that every injury has a silver lining. Remember that shoulder injury that I might have? I believe that maybe having a shoulder injury has been a good thing for a number of reasons. I am thankful for all it has done for me and taught me.

Firstly, I have a legitimate reason for not leading the lane at masters swimming. I mean, who wants the gimp with the taped up shoulder on the front. I might bail part way through the set and mess it all up. Just showing up at swimming with a shoulder 'injury' makes me look like a hard core crazy triathlete who never rests. Quite frankly, it might be found intimidating to my middle of the pack competition;) (rather than them finding out that I quite frequently blow off workouts in favor of naps). Another great thing on the swimming front is now I have a reason to do the whole workout with toys. As a triathlete who usually scoffs at relying on toys I have now learned the benefit. Of course, I am not using paddles, that would be REALLY crazy. Instead I am wearing fins and using this time to learn how to actually use my legs in the pool. I can go so much faster now, I  should probably consider swimming up a lane or two. I also don't get any grief from the coach when I decide to end the workout early to go get a pedicure, I just glance at the shoulder and I am free to go.

Amazing, the shoulder has done wonders for my biking. I am now forced to use my core for stability as I am unable to bear much weight on the shoulder. This keeps my hands nice and light on the bars and I am pretty sure that will prolong the fatigue at Leadville at least until mile 40.

My running is also reaping the benefits of this soft tissue thing I have going on (I really hate to succumb to the injury label- unless it gets me out of doing something hard!). I have a tendency to hold my shoulders high while running and my arms cross over the midline. Well, right now I have a built in reminder to not do either of those. Each time that I do, I have some discomfort.

As for the tape job itself, it has opened many a conversation with people who would have no other reason to talk to me. I have gotten to meet some really 'interesting' folks. I have also had the chance to see how AWESOME  I am going to look when one day I get a HUGE tribal tattoo on my shoulder! For now, I am going to continue to focus on the silver lining- until I get struck by lightening.