Triage: to determine priorities for action.

Triage as a word means the determination of priorities for action in a state of emergency.

I don't think my triathlon career was in a state of emergency for anyone....BUT ME.

Hawaii 2011 reinvented myself as a triathlete. I had taken 3 years off. I was burnt out. But training for that race I loved it all over again. So much so, IMC 2012 I really set a course for doing everything I could to be ready, while ensuring an resolute balance in my life at home. I had finally figured out what makes me tick. Balance. Love. Family and a huge sense of self worth in the challenge. So I charted the course, plotted and planned. And in a training camp with Meredith and Gatsby in Lake Placid enjoyed the journey, the wine, the dinners, the love, the family and the test of myself as an athlete to get ready for an Ironman. I nailed a nutrition plan 100% committed to liquid diet for morning and race day. There was no room for GI distress. I had so much, so dialed, and all my family on the ready I just could not wait to prove to myself what I can do.

Then at mile 2 on the run in Penticton the same pain in my right side abdominal wall as Hawaii kicked in. I did everything but to no avail. It was a torturous 4 hour 26 minute marathon. I was saddened and frankly pissed off.

I spent the fall not really committed to anything sport related. I took care of home, Meredith etc. and pondered all the WTF questions one has after failure.

Triage: to determine priorities for action...

Enter my sister. Joanne sent an article on sport hernias. I read it. I went to go see Dr. Grant Lum in Toronto. I got an ultrasound from the best in the business in this space. Those results pointed me to Dr. Irshad, an expert in Sport Hernia surgery.

December 4th is knife day. A small day surgery to fix a sport hernia in my abdominal wall. A few weeks down time. A rebuild of core and mental strength. 2013 game on for a season to test the limits of what I can do after finally fixing what is the ailing issue. It is not mental; not nutrition; not poor fitness; not too much wine (though I could argue I should lay off a bit!!)...it is actually an acute injury. It is real. It is physical.

I dream of what may be around the corner. I want to shock myself. I really want this to work and go for it.

If it does not. That is life. These aging lines on my face are not that of age; they are smile lines. I have had a good run. Sorry, a good swim, bike, run!!! But I know I have more lines to give and more lessons to teach myself in the depth that is the Ironman test.

Yours in sport,

Rhys