Here it is the middle of the week and I'm thinking about what to do for riding this week and what to do over the weekend. I'll have a 3-day weekend and had previously thought about doing the RRR Century again on Monday. Not sure now that I developed some pain/issues in my left knee/leg.
I think it's an IT Band problem, so I've been doing stretches for that, icing, and taking 800mg ibuprofen 3x/day. I rode a little bit (15.5 miles) on Monday focusing on keeping the power in zone 1 and using a fairly low cadence (less than 80 avg.). Did pretty well, some pain/discomfort, but when I felt that, I would ease back off a bit. Today, it's feeling great - I'll probably try to get out for 1-1.5hr later this evening. If it doesn't bother me much this evening, I'm considering riding to work tomorrow and maybe even Friday. I have access to showers, so I could freshen up once I got to work...may try to do this at least 2x/week - just something to decrease the gas usage.
I have an appointment on Saturday with a guy who is going to look at my fit on the bike and make sure that it's decent and not part of the knee pain issue. I really feel good on the bike, so I don't think I'll let him make any drastic changes from what I currently have. The only problem I have on the bike is that it does not handle very well in curves on descents. It feels like it's going to just plow straight through and won't turn. That makes me really nervous & cautious. It's no fun at all descending when you are apprehensive about the bike handling.
So, with all that...what will I do this week? I should be doing 3x10min intervals 2x/week up till the first week of June, where I'll go back to the speed intervals (3 @3x1min and 3 @3x30s) in final preparation for AoM. Depending on how I feel this evening, I may try some of these longer intervals on Saturday. And, if I'm feeling really good after that, maybe I'll reconsider at least doing some part of the RRR, at least a metric if not the full century.
That's all for now I guess....................
2 comments:
Knee problems are such a pain. I know someone that has one from weak quad muscles, someone from overly tight hamstrings and someone from a glute issue!
Have you ever used a foam roller?
Something helps me on descents is using my hips to steer. I figured this out through mtbing. They are still my weakest area though! (esp in crits with a sharp turn)
they are!! it sucks big time! i think a lot of my problems are due to tight hamstrings, so i've been trying to do more stretching. i'm doing some stretches for the IT band as well.
i do have a foam roller but have been pretty slack about using it. i guess it might help if i got busy with it. :)
i did fine descending prior to the adjustments made to the bike (25mm to 0mm offset post and 90 to 110mm stem) and was often the first one down or running a close second. i'm going to try running a little less psi in my tires (go from 100-105 to about 90 or 95)and try to make sure i'm scooted back a bit more so there's more weight over the rear of the bike.
thanks for all your suggestions nickel!!
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