Overcoming Injury

So I was super sick the last two weeks of January, and I could barely manage to wake up and go to work.  So I missed 9 days of workouts in that span, and when I finally got healthy, I came back into training WAY too aggressively.  Biked 8 hours on the trainer after only 2.5 hours total the previous 2 weeks.  That was not smart.  And I'm paying for it.  I overworked my left hamstring and caught a bout of high hamstring tendonitis.

I hate being hurt.  Exercising makes me happy.  Being fit makes me happy.  Racing makes me happy.  And when I'm injured I can't do any of those things.

I think, though, that every time I get injured, I come out of it a better person and a better athlete.  Like in the summer of 2008 when I messed my right ankle up badly.  I had 11 weeks to prepare for an Ironman, and I became so focused and so on top of things that I was able to get a Kona Q.  I don't know if I'm capable to holding that intensity during all of my training throughout the year, but I do know I can do it for blocks at a time.  And now, I'm taking a serious look at the quality of my training, and I'm realizing that one thing that I am missing is regular core and strength training.  I really think that this element of training will make more so much better, and now that I've had some time to rest and think about how to approach my own training, I know that this is something that needs to be included several times a week.  

I have 9 weeks until USAT Duathlon Nationals, which is not long at all.  But I also prepped for an IM in 11 weeks, so this shouldn't be any harder than that.