Bringing the Tour of Watopia 2020 to a close, I managed to fit in the Shorter Ride this evening to ensure I filled in the final circle. Honestly, all throughout my recent illness, it was nagging at me to get this done. Like getting the final sticker in your sticker book. I imagine.
Setting out today I was determined to keep things nice and green. Or blue. Either way, ideally fairly laid back, not looking to push myself too hard on my first ride in the last 10 days. Partly this was to ease myself back in, but partly because I was (and am still) genuinely concerned I’m not yet fully recovered.
Had it not been for the Tour of Watopia, I don’t think I would have ridden tonight, truth be told. However, tonight being the last day to get the Tour done, and actually – for once – feeling like recovery is finally on its way, I decided to get involved.
In truth I found this one a bit of a struggle – not as much as I expected – but certainly for an average of 175w (according to Strava) – and that being about 2.7-2.8w/kg (I can’t be bothered to do the maths) it felt much harder than usual. No way I could have raced, or done the longer ride. This was enough.
Whatever though. As much as I felt rough around the edges, getting back on the bike and doing 26km felt absolutely amazing. Sure, it wasn’t a world beating session – far from it – but it felt so good to be able to ride again. I genuinely cannot wait to get outdoors at this point.
What I’m planning on doing over the next week or so is to ease myself back in. I need to be more sensible with my riding, so will be using ERG mode to keep myself in check. I don’t have any plans to enter any more organised events in the near term. Just stick to structured workouts with a set intensity. No silliness.
Right now I can feel a bit of tightness again in my lungs. I’ve not had this all day. It’s definitely come on as a result of the exercise. I’m not overly worried about this, but it’s a warning shot across the bow to be more sensible. And I wasn’t sensible in some parts of this ride. I knew this would be the case.
Anyway, I’m planning on getting another easy session in tomorrow, and ideally both Saturday and Sunday. No climbing. No sprinting. Nothing crazy. Just riding, enjoying getting my fitness routine back in order, and – hopefully – saying a big fat F.U. to this illness. It’s been a shocker.
All that said, I’m really happy to have finished the Tour. I’d have been gutted not to get that final ride in. Let’s hope I didn’t do more harm than good.
Welcome back to the pixels! Definitely ease yourself back into riding (indoors or out). Even if you didn’t have COVID-19 (I know you’ll never know), you don’t want to create so much stress that you end up depressing your immune system and make yourself vulnerable. You’ll regain your fitness in due time and short order.
Cheers – I wish I had followed your advice. I rode the last stage of the Tour and really suffered for it the next day. Saturday was bad, too. Sunday was alright, and then today I’m off again. Hopefully figured out what it might be though, so got some tablets now. Been rough tho.
Glad you got the final stage in! Congrats on finishing 👍
It came at a cost 🙁 Will post up the weekly review later and explain more.