Weekly Training Notes #13
A designated recovery week, but unfortunately I had also to recover from aggravating my injury. I took a rest day on Monday, and had a very easy commute-only day on Tuesday, but on Tuesday evening, over the course of an hour or so, my shin went from tingly to numb, and my hip progressed from quite painful to excruciating.
I can only assume this was a reaction to the previous weekend's exertions. The gravel ride + round trip combination totalled 10 hours, and maybe that just put too much strain on my body.
In any case, I had a very uncomfortable couple of days, but thankfully by the end of the week I'm feeling much better. My thigh is still weaker than it was a week earlier, and I still have some shin numbness, but things seem to be improving rapidly.
If I relapse for a third time, I'll go to a physiotherapist to see if I can find out what's going on and what I can do about it.
On Thursday I felt like I was in good enough shape to do my threshold ride. As discussed last week, I extended my ride following the threshold blocks, doing over 100 km in all. I think this will work well for the summer: an extended interval or threshold ride on Tuesdays and Thursdays plus a tough group ride on Saturday. Three solid rides, with the remainder of the week being nice and easy.
Extended midweek rides will become a cornerstone of my summer
The Saturday group ride went well. Just under 4 hours, with a good amount of higher-intensity riding. No sprinting, but some decent VO2max-level work and plenty of sweet-spot as well. I also kept things moving along at tempo pace for the solo final hour, rather than letting myself fade out too much. Another ride where I felt like I'd done myself justice.
That's been the story for the last month or so; previously I think I'd let my hard rides get too easy, which had a negative effect on my fitness progression. No more: the last few weeks have been very good, which makes my injury all the more frustrating. But if I keep going like this, then once I'm fully recovered I could find myself going quite fast.
To avoid excessive strength loss during my recovery, I decided (tentatively) to try a little lower body weight lifting. Just a single session this week, and limited to squats only; nothing that would put any kind of lateral strain on my back or hips. I also kept the weight fairly conservative. They went fine, and I'll probably do two days of this next week.
A 2-hour solo recovery ride on Sunday completed a week that, if not for the aggravation of my injury, would have been just about spot on.
Designation: In-Season, Recovery Week Time: 14 hours | Distance: 400 km | Low:Medium:High Intensity: 68:29:3 Weight Training: 1 x Lower Body, 1 x Upper Body | Walking: 8 km
As ever, if you want more detail follow me on Strava, and see my full training plan.