Working with an injury

After two days of cycling it was back into the pool. My glute injury was ok but I was aware it was there so I went swimming rather than run. I used a pool buoy to take any strain off my legs and possibly glute muscle. It's important to practice the distance I'm going to be swimming in the 70.3 Ironman in 12 days time so this is what I did in the pool. I then swam another 200m unaided and felt no problem with the glute. So tomorrow I will test it out on a run. On leaving the pool I spoke to another athlete who is competing in the 70.3 and he said "that's all the had work done" - that's a sign of someone who is tapering before the event and therefore peaking at the right time. Me, on the other hand, will not be ready as I peaked on 19 May. At best it will be a good training day but that is dependant on my glute injury. This isn't a negative attitude but a realistic one. The athlete, who is a fantastic swimmer and 15 years younger, did say he hoped to do it in under 6 hours. I'd certainly settle for 5 hrs 59 mins and 59 seconds and knowing he is aiming for this will motivate me to push through the pain.