Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Week of 05/06/2007 - 05/12/2007 (Angst and Consternation Week 3)

The catch-phrase for the present is: damage control.

Everything just feels worse this week. Which is surprising only in so much that the lack of activity I presumed would at least heal my injuries. Second metatarsal on left foot appears to be worsening alarmingly in the past few days, scared of potential stress fracture. While I have become morbidly obese from 3 days of southern meals and absolutely no exercise, but it can't possibly be enough weight to break a bone!

Meanwhile, I am still morbidly obese, my bike has still not been fixed and T-minus 9 days until the NEXT extended period of time away from exercise. Ofcourse none of this would matter if I DO in fact have a stress fracture and base training for XC 2007 is ruined already. Like I said, damage control.

Sunday 05/06 - Monday 05/07: Traveling, nothing. Unless the HR/blood pressure increase from a rage blackout can be counted as aerobically taxing. Every now and then I feel a burst of motivation to go to law school so I can do my own litigations. It's not the fact that my flight got delayed and I had to spend a day of training and of my life that I'll never get back at the airport... its the fact that I had to be insulted, point-blank lied to, and denied compensation for this inconvenience that is the straw that broke the camels back. Management will *definitely* be hearing about this one.

Tuesday 05/08: 65 minutes ellipticizing at 150-170 bpm in the PM. HR is alarmingly high from not moving for 4 days. Felt pretty rusty, L forefoot extremely sore and stiff afterwards. Core strengthening at the gym. Ran into Muren at the gym, apparently still broken from stress fracture like, a year ago. This is NOT encouraging...

Wednesday 05/09: 40.2 miles, 10 laps around the Rose Bowl plus commuting and an extra detour to make it add up to 40 miles. Just under 2 hours and 30 minutes, started at 6:30 am after sleeping in an hour. ~16.3 mph, HR still rather high, but mostly pleased. Feeling a lot more balanced now that I've logged a few days of training. Didn't hurt foot. Everyone that's out in the early AM is middle aged + 1 random PAA guy. Slightly peeved that I can't keep up with moderately rotund middle aged men...

Thursday 05/10: nothing. Poked by needles in the AM, work late in the PM. Exhausted and disgruntled. I am allergic to many of my favorite foods, apparently. Gah, I just want to be allowed to lead a medically normal life, is that too much to ask...?

Friday 05/11: 35.7 miles, 1 hour 58 minutes, 9 laps around the Rose Bowl plus commuting. Fastest ride ever. Indescribably fun, felt positive about my athletic future for the first time in like, a year. Got adopted into a random group of cyclists after trying really hard to drop them for a lap. Rode hard for 5-6 laps (avg. 19-20 mph) with the group until dusk, after which they peeled off one by one. Met a new PAA guy, Raul, a Cat 1 former Mexican National Team track cyclist, who taught me all sorts of cool training/balancing techniques. Learned how to balance while standing up on the bike properly.

A lot faster than I'm used to riding, but was surprised by how strong I felt throughout, even pulled the group through a few laps with Raul at the front. A novel feeling. Received a lot of undeserved compliments, first time to be called "a real cyclist" by competitive riders. Interesting. Was invited to the real RB ride, but I think I'll pass on that, after what happened to Kangway.

Saturday 05/12: 38.3 miles, 2 hours 51 minutes. Wilson to Clear Creek then attempted to find Oxy... got lost, piddled around Glendale for a while before back tracking and arriving just in time to see Kiesz run 3:56.24, a great race! Chill ride most of the way, but glad to see that I'm improving on the climbing front. Had to push pretty hard at the end to get there in time. L 2nd toe hurt afterwards, got a ride back home from Ian after the meet.

65 minutes ellipticizing and ~7 hours 15 minutes riding. Ellipticizing really hurts the toe now, so I don't think I'm going to do that anymore. Can ride flats more so than climbs w/o pain. Dr. Rossi confirmed likelihood of stress fracture... *frowny face*. Appt. with ortho doc next week--not soon enough.

1 comment:

Katherine said...

I like how for you "morbidly obese" probably doesn't even break into the triple digits.