Sometimes, this is all you need.
UNKNOWN
This week started out the same as always. Just getting by on the trainer until you can get outside to ride. I started the week at 169 lbs and ended at 167 lbs. My CTL was 32.5 on Monday and is not 36.7. I was able to make pretty good fitness gains and weight loss this week despite beginning the week with a poor attitude towards cycling.
Wednesday I went back to my Dr for more x-rays of my collar bone. If it had healed enough I would be released back into the wild so to speak. I had prayed that I would be able to get back outside all week long. After reviewing my x-rays my Dr was confident enough to give me the green light to start riding outside again. YESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!
My legs felt horrible and were full of lactic acid however as soon as my wife got home I headed out to ride. I was so happy to get back on those country roads and push my legs. “Let’s go climbing” I said to myself. “I’m going to hammer this downhill.” “On the flats you have to keep it over 200 watts,” I kept telling myself. Towards the end of the ride I was fading and fading hard. I was spent. At first it felt great. I just rode outside for the first time in almost two months. Yes!!!!! I got home and looked at my power and heart rate numbers. “This is my power numbers with my heart rate!” I was mortified. What should have been a fun ride, enjoying my bike turned, into one of misery. That ride was not fun. There was no amount of e-stem that could help that pain in my legs.
I decided to take Thursday off to let me legs recover for a bit but they were still incredibly heavy. On Friday I had planned to do an easy two-hour ride outside but the morning was very foggy. I decided to stay inside on zwift and try to spin the legs out. It did not help. Power was very hard to come by and it felt like the longest hour on the bike I’ve had in a long time.
Friday afternoon I started thinking that I just needed a slower group ride in the morning to get me back in the groove of riding a bike outside again. I hadn’t done a real group ride since probably March.
Having the work schedule that I have and having structured workouts make for a lot of time solo on the bike. When most people are doing group rides on the weekends I’m usually working or still sleeping from working late the night before. During the week is when I do my structured work outs and you don’t want to be “that guy” at a group ride doing a set of 4×10’s. It’s just not ok.
The club I started riding with a long time ago was having a group ride early Saturday morning and the pace is usually pretty chill. I decided I would wake up early and ride with them. Then I realized our team was having a beginner’s ride on Saturday Morning down Natchez Trace Parkway, I’m in!!!! Riding with teammates at an extremely chill pace, on one of the most beautiful roads in Tennessee, now that is what I had been missing. With my legs still feeling like crap I was looking forward to the slow pace and chatting with teammates old and new.
On Saturday Morning we met in the parking lot after the first climb and I was excited to ride. It was very hot, sunny, and humid, however in the shade it wasn’t bad. We didn’t have any newbies show up so we headed out. There were many cyclists out and I was enjoying every second of it. Catching up with old teammates and laughing about. It was just awesome. After we turned around about 45 minutes into it we hit a climb back out of a valley. Now this is supposed to be a chill ride but a teammate hit a pretty moderate pace up the climb. My legs were feeling alright so I grabbed his wheel and went with him. Pushing over 300 watts up the climb I was getting gassed and thought I would be completely done at the top and would just draft off everyone else the rest of the way in. This was not the case however. For the next 20-30 mins my legs just opened up!!!! The lactic acid was completely gone. My legs wanted to pedal harder and harder through the rolling terrain. Pushing harder and harder up each kicker. I let them go and had several PR’s on Strava towards the end of the ride. I was feeling guilty about leaving the group and I hoped no one would get mad. At the same time my legs have not felt this good in over two months, I better take advantage of it.
Back at the parking lot I apologized to the group and my coach for riding off. Everyone was cool about it and know of my situation. Michaelee was happy for me knowing that I had not been enjoying riding for a while. This ride had it all. Great teammates, scenery, and the legs finally responded. Riding bikes was fun again!!!!
Sunday I had a different mindset after the great ride on Saturday. The goal was just to go out get an hourish in and enjoy the country side. I set out on no set route and just kind of winged it. I thought my legs would be tired after yesterday’s ride but they weren’t. I still didn’t want to push it too hard and kept a moderate pace trying not to get my heart rate up too much. It felt much better to have this mindset of just relaxing on the bike, enjoying yourself, and letting the fitness build itself. That it will do by simply riding your bike every day. You can’t force it like I was trying to do.
Changing mindsets are not easy. They almost have to organically happen. You know you need to change, you want to change, however you can’t. Why is this? I don’t know. It’s like a speeding train. It takes a while to get going, but once it does it flows very nice and is able to maintain its speed. Stopping it doesn’t happen easy and is almost impossible to do quickly. It’s one of the hardest things to do in life, and trying to stop one mindset and starting another one is very scary. I often tell myself that if something scares you, you should run towards it. That is the scariest thing of all.
Cat4Dad 