Wear your bike helmet!

Recently, a friend's daughter had a bad spill on her bike. She wasn't wearing a helmet. She suffered facial and cranial fractures as well as bleeding in her brain and was placed in ICU. She is now awake and recovering and will be released in a few days.

All I can say is:

1) Wearing a bike helmet can save your life or from severe injury!

2) Thank God she is alright!

Too often, when I am out cycling on Montreal's glorious bike path network, I remark on all the cyclists either wearing their helmet incorrectly or not at all.

Too many loose straps or helmets not covering the forehead. I especially HATE seeing children with incorrectly worn or loose-fitting helmets or missing them altogether. And how many parents do NOT lead by example ... I see their children wearing helmets, but not themselves!

Pray tell me, dear parents who refuse to wear bike helmets, who will take care of your precious children as you lie with brain damage in the hospital emergency room or ICU?

Yes, this is my major pet peeve about cycling ... incorrect or lack of bike helmet usage. Wearing a bike helmet properly can save your life ... and remember you only have ONE life.

Here's a helpful video on how to fit your helmet ...



On a more personal note, my leg is healing, and after a day off training, my short 36 km bike ride (with helmet!) yesterday helped to loosen my tight calf muscle. It's still sore to the touch but I managed a short 25 min. jog around my neighbourhood today and my leg was alright. Woohoo!

OUCH !!!

I got kicked in the pool today ... UBER-HARD!

You'd think that if you're doing a furious breast-stroke, you'd be careful about your wide kick. Nope. Some man sharing my lane swimming in the opposite direction to me was totally oblivious to my passing him. I am sure he could see me as I approached and it would have been considerate to take care not to kick me. I, on the other hand, was watching the bottom of the pool when suddenly ...

OOF! P-A-I-N!!!

Geez, even getting hoofed in the face during Ironman was less painful. His kick had me stopped in the middle of the lane, standing in the pool, clutching my calf. I swam precariously to the lane end and waited for a reaction from the guilty party while I massaged my leg and grimaced in pain. The oblivious breast-stroker swam back to the end of the lane where I was standing, touched the wall, turned around and continued on.

You'd think I'd get at least a "Sorry, are you alright?" Nope. What ever happened to good old courtesy? If I had been in less pain, I could have put some effort into chasing him down to tell him to be more careful about other swimmers in the pool ...

Now I've got a huge muscle cramp in my calf that won't go away, making it difficult to walk ... boo hoo hoo!

On a more positive note ... though my hip's not yet healed, I've managed three short 4.5-5k runs in the past 10 days. A wee bit sore afterwards but manageable and no longer the lingering sometimes sharp pain I used to get after a run. I think I'm finally on the mend ...

This actually makes me think I might still be able to get in a race or two this season. Ideally, I'd do a Half Ironman come early September (idea of an IM is completely out) and a marathon in October but I might be getting ahead of myself. It's hard to think that the only race I might end up doing is a Sprint Triathlon ... not that I have anything against that distance, but with my bum hip, I'm sure I won't be able to do any effective speed training without reinjuring myself. Besides, I totally suck at transitions ... Sigh.

Let's see how training goes in the next little while ... cross your fingers for me!