The Last Day of the Last Week

before school begins anew.  I am looking forward to being back, but will miss the summer.  It takes about 4 weeks to really settle into the lack of bells and routine, so I have been basking in unstructured life for the last 3 weeks.  It seems to soon to be subservient to the relentless ringing of the computerized bell; two days back it will seem as though we never left.  However, that is not to say that I dread school or the kids - in fact, I am looking very forward to both - but rather than I will miss this schedule-less life I have just become accustomed to.

Part of the benefit of being unstructured means that I am able to do things on short notice.  Sonja and I were able to go over to Victoria for a night earlier this week to say hello to the triathletes coming back from Beijing, and goodbye to two close friends, Adam and Trevor, who are moving to the East Coast for school (Law and Physio, respectively).  The pictures that follow are from the very cool Fernwood Inn Pub (highly recommended).  It was a very fun night being around some of the old training group, but bittersweet as we realize that these gatherings will become fewer and farther between as we, cough, grow up.  

Simon and Jasper during their tame moments.

Kirsten and Colin trying to feign interest in what Adam was saying.

Adam really wanted to see the medal.

Adam's reaction to being denied the medal.

Trevor stepped out when Drew and Jen weren't looking.

As for my training, I got x-rays back and spoke with my chiropractor, Dr. Pelly, about them.  He thinks that the foot is pretty healed and that it is now up to me to listen to my body as I come back to full training.  I am waiting to hear back from my M.D., but until then I am going to stick with the Turbulence Training gym routine I have been using for the past weeks and add in running over the next two weeks until I can get up to 30 minutes on a treadmill.  After that, I am going to take it outside and increase the frequency of 30-40 minute runs over the following two weeks until I am back running 4-5x/week, at which point I will start to increase duration.  I figure I will be at full training within a month, which I think is still a conservative projection for healing.  I will be aware of my foot and I will not jeopardize the healing at all.  I am hoping to race a bunch of cross country races, and while they will not be pretty races, they will be fun.

UPDATE: Just got off the phone with the MD and he said that the foot looks good and that I can begin to run again, but not back to back and wait until I am pain free when running before going too hard.  I detailed my plan and he thought it was a good one.  He also added that running is the worst thing I could do for my foot, but you have to do what you have to do.  So, I will give it a go tonight and give you an update.