Each week I try to review and reflect on my previous week on the bike. This allows me to see how my fitness and ability is progressing on a wider timescale than day to day. For previous weekly reviews please click here.
The good news was I got back on the bike after a couple of weeks in pain. I’m super grateful not to have missed out on the Bank Holiday weekend for riding my bike.
However I’m still not fully recovered, and I have injured my right knee after Saturday’s ride. The fun never stops.
Here were this week’s rides:
- Wednesday – It’s Gettin’ Better (Man!!) (Outdoors)
- Thursday – Punch It Chewie (Outdoors)
- Friday – Building Up The Buttery Biscuit Base (Outdoors)
- Saturday – Much Ado About Hoole (Outdoors)
All outdoor rides this week. That’s kinda cool for a couple of reasons.
Firstly it’s nice to get out when I’ve been stuck at my desk working. Getting away from the computer, some sun and some fresh air is lovely stuff during the day.
And secondly it was good to put the crash behind me, get outdoors and not lose confidence.
Falling off sucks, but it’s part and parcel of riding I suppose. The punishment, aside from the bruised / broken ribs and knock on effects, is that I have to currently take it super easy whilst my body recovers. Not helped by taking a covid jab early in the week delaying riding even longer.
Being forced to ride slow is both a blessing and a curse. I don’t feel like I have to constantly better myself, but at the same time I feel like I’m barely braking a sweat. And worse, in many ways, is the feeling that all the hard work and effort I put in over the last few months if being whittled away.
Weight is a lagging indicator from my personal experience. So three weeks ‘off’ is not likely to show much in the way (err, no pun intended) of change. This may come later. I suspect not a lot will happen. But I definitely have / did over indulge whilst laid out sick.
Mostly when riding I feel like I can eat what I want. I don’t. But I feel like I can. If I want a beer, I’ll have one, and two isn’t going to do much when my average ride is 600 calories. However when all I do is lie on the sofa or sit at my computer, it’s dangerous territory. Fat camp. Be interesting to see if anything comes of it.
I have felt noticeably weaker when out riding again. Particularly my first ride back, I was sweating hard whilst barely doing much. This might be due to over layering, but I suspect even a brief respite had had a significant impact on my fitness.
There will be lots of hard work required in the forthcoming weeks and months to put this back to where I was. Let’s just say I’m not exactly thrilled by the prospect of that, but at least a lot of it should be outdoors.
Is there much point posting the Training Status graph?
Grim reading.
The longer rides this week have definitely helped, but it will be a while yet before the good times return. Already covered that, I suppose.
So yeah, overall just happy to be back out there on my bike.
I’m looking forwards to getting into my short sleeves and breaking a sweat. As I write this the majority of my rib pain is largely unnoticeable. It gets worse after I sneeze, which thankfully isn’t very often. Certainly I’m past the point where I’m questing whether I can ride.
More concerning at this immediate moment is my newly acquired right knee pain. If I can’t push due to ribs its now due to knee. How long this might take to heal is anyone’s guess. I don’t think it’s anything too concerning, just got to be sensible.
Is that all of my ailments? All of my moaning and complaining? Probably not. Basically falling apart now I’m almost 40. Wonderful.
For the week ahead then it’s all about building back up, better. Isn’t that a Boris Johnson thing? God knows. Build back butter. Well, the less said about that clown the better. Hopefully I’ll get outdoors at least some of it, but turbo would almost certainly be the most sensible strategy for the short term.
Beyond that, no immediate goals. Those will come in time.