I suggest you look forward to a PR in every race, and feel sorry for the people that hit the plateau. Poor guys. Every season they have to ask if they should continue to not improve, retire, or turn to performance enhancing drugs. Pathetic really.

I was training a lot 2 years ago and burned out a little which caused me a injury to my hip, I went to get it checked out and was sent to a podiatrist. He gave me inserts. They gave me tendonitis in my ankles, a herniated disc in my back and a groin strain. I went to the sports doc who examined me thouroughly, mentioned the inserts but I guessed he missed that information. I spent 12 months getting rehab, and taking anti inflamatories and pain killers, and was eventually sent to a meziers practioner and then a chiropractor who told me ditch the inserts. I did, he cracked me back into shape and told me if I had seen him 12 months previously I could have avoided a lot of pain. I started training again, too much to fast, and within 3 months had popped a disc this time in my neck. This one required pretty fast surgery as I had crushed a nerve in the back of my neck and I was out of action again for about 4 months, Last December I joined a triathlon club, I finally found one that was serious, and not full of know it all jocks. I have been learning to do things correctly, to stretch more often, to go slowly, that swimming isn't about power it's about the technique of sliding through the water, that biking 100k is not something you acquire over night but keep turning those legs, that sleep is important, very important, and that no matter what the races will be there, but your body needs you to listen.
My advice don't set huge goals, just treat this year as base work, get to know your body again, learn patience. Some peoples philosophy here is suck it up and punish the body to obey, mine is respect the body and listen to it, it will teach you a lot and bring you much farther than if you beat it with a stick.....
But hey, I am doing my first race this Sunday and I am not ready, I don't know if I will ever be ready, but it's one step at a time, cardio will come in time. You will get into shape soon, enjoy the big strides you make and don't punish yourself over the bad days.

Without wanting to sound simplistic....just keep moving forward! One foot in front of the other, keep turning the crank and all that. Find a training program that is a start from zero, fresh off the couch program and get moving. Seven months should be plenty of time to be able to FINISH an HIM. Just remember you're starting from nada and avoid doing too much, too fast...
Oh... welcome and welcome back to Trifuel!

Good for you man. If you look at it, at least you can still move.

Glad you recovered from the bike wreck. Too many of us riders don't make it. So you've won that battle. I have hit the reset button a few times. I was a runner in HS, and rowed and was very active my freshman year of college. I moved, discovered beer and liquor, got a non athlete girl, and got lazy. A year and half and 60 pounds later, I got going again. It took a long while, but you CANNOT HURRY it. Take your time. I later got severe shin splints trying to come back from being sick for a month, and had to take it very easy for almost the whole off season to recover. I think that was harder mentally- knowing what you want to do, and you recently could do, but having to force yourself to be much slower than that.

With a HIM as your goal, just work on consistency and distance. I wouldn't worry about speed work, anything faster than a tempo workout is way too fast for you at this point. Just get out there running 3-4 days a week. Gradually extend the length of your longest run- no more than 10% longer a week. Measure in time instead of distance- it makes working the math out easier. Same with riding and swimming.

Take it easy, and you'll get there. Good luck.

PS- what kind of bike and how did the wreck happen?

Good luck to you Slag!

Youch! That's a heck of a way to crash!

I haven't made it to the track yet, I will one of these days.

Those of us who have gone through a pregnancy or two or three can relate to the feeling of having to start all over again (frequently with 25 - 50 extra pounds left to lose). It's best if you don't panic about it and realize that just as you built your fitness originally, you CAN rebuild it. Take it easy, avoid injuries, don't increase by more than about 10% per week and you will get there! Put one foot in front of the other and just keep going.