Originally Posted by
hhnngg1
That's a freak accident. Swimming is really safe, relatively. The deaths that have occurred (several per year) are invariably due to a cardiac condition that occurs in the water - there hasn't been a single verified drowning incident in a person with a healthy heart in triathlon races for a long, long time, and broken bones in the swim are pretty rare.
Road Cycling is far, far more dangerous, in comparison.
And at the OP - even if you could find aerobars that fit well, you'd still need your hand to brake regularly. Probably wouldn't work out for you.
I've done a few Tri's already and swimming is still the part I am weakest at IMO. But I am trying to get to the podium in the next few years (hopefully) and can freestyle it the whole way but am really slow compared to the podium guys in my age group (and even slower compared to the elites). I am still very uncomfortable with the mass wave starts (which is all the races I've competed in). I hope I don't get kick and have a broken nose as a result or something but the bumper car type jams really mess with my rhythm too much. My very last tri on the swim portion, even though it was only 1/4 miles was horrible because of how crowded the water was. My time was almost 2 minutes slower than the last race because of how crowded it was.
To the OP, take it easy on the hand and let yourself heal properly. You'll regret it if your injury never fully heals right (I've still got a pinkie finger that doesn't feel right completely after almost 2 years from a dislocation from playing football).