Was it a good idea to ride on a bad leg? Probably not. Yesterday, at some point, I managed to “pull” my bicep femoris. Yes, that’s a medical term I had to Google. Basically the top of the back of my left leg. It’s sore.
Sometimes I get injuries I can ride on with no issues. However this one felt sore as soon as I got on. The initial few minutes warm up were at such low wattage I thought I was never going to make it through a climb up the Innsbruck KOM. However, after a bit of spinning I figured I’d just go for it, take it easy if needed, and let it take as long as it took to get through it.
Fortunately though, after a few minutes, the tension seemed to ease and whilst the early stages of the event were taken at a fairly relaxed pace, I did manage to slip into a fairly comfortable rhythm, and my wattage average increased noticeably.
The last time I did the Innsbruck forward KOM I really went for it and put in my best performance (to date) on the bike. Today I was neither wanting to do that, nor really in a physical condition to even try. That said, I did use the Garmin unit to set a lap start marker at the bottom of the KOM, and as far as I am aware, managed to keep up a 3.5w/kg average for the climb. Pretty pleased with that, all things considered.
Looking at the critical power graph, the difference between this time and last was vast when it came down to wattages. But that’s cool. I can’t really complain on the quality of the workout today. But it was a very wet / sweaty session. It’s still roasting outside (by northern British standards) and turbo sessions are sweaty affairs at the best of time. Today I felt like I was getting changed from swimming after the ride. Ewww.
There’s another one of these Specialized rides tomorrow night so I’m going to get involved in that one, too. The weather is due to be more of the same (one degree hotter, predicted) but fortunately tomorrow isn’t quite as climby, just two laps of Richmond to get through.
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the ride today, hard work as it was. I really feel like I’ve made good progress in my fitness over the past 6 months, and climbs like this really highlight this. A year or so ago, the thought of holding a 3.5w/kg average for a climb would have appeared as madness. Today it felt normal. Its still hard work but it’s not too hard.
