« Back To Main Directory
Inactivity, Knee Pain and LT Intervalsby The Bike Messenger
Published: 02/28/2010Wow, what a winter. I managed to almost negate any fitness that I had accumulated through the early cyclocross season last year. After working my arse off for the entire spring/early summer last year to get myself back down to something that could be considered less than a linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles, I managed to go back the other way this winter - though I didn't sink all the way into my previous hole, I managed to rappel half-way down into the cavern. This includes both muscular fitness and weight.
Oh sure, I rode, here and there, for 20 minutes at a time, but that was about it. So watching the Olympics and hearing people talking about all the spring racing they want to do - combined with the fact that the calendar is going to flip over into the month of March tomorrow morning - I figured I'd better start working on some fitness if I wanted to be able to keep up with ANY group ride this spring.
Over the past couple weeks I have ridden a handful of times, never too intense, the occasional burst of power, but nothing even remotely resembling an "interval". Ok, so a couple weeks of light base riding is good enough, right? Time for some lactate threshold testing.
I know my baseline wattage numbers on the CompuTrainer's ergo mode when I'm in and out of shape - so I can usually get a pretty good idea of where I'm at by jumping on the erg for a couple 7 minute LT intervals. I setup a 5 minute warmup, followed by a 7 minute LT interval (at an estimated wattage that I'm too embarrassed to publish) and a 2 minute interval. Rinse repeat 3 times. Yeah, so the erg was setup for 3 by 7 miute LT intervals with 2 minutes rest between each one.
The warmup was, well, at warmup wattage...same wattage I ride during the 2 minute rest interval between efforts. So that was actually pretty palatable. Needless to say, the interval effort was less than enjoyable. In fact, I barely made it through it. Yes it. That's one. Not 3. Not 2. One. Mentally and probably physically I couldn't continue. Oh this is going to be a long spring. Usually after a dozen of these LT interval workouts, I'm back to my old self laying down the power in an elite cat 4 way! :-)
Oh, yeah, and the knee is bothering me again. Nothing new there as this comes and goes depending on how much ibuprofen I abuse and how religious I am with ice and elevation. My most recent orthopedic visit showed that I had a case of Patellar Tendonitis. Of course, the doctor said "it doesn't look like a severe case". Well, yeah, duh, if it was severe I wouldn't be able to walk up the stairs of my house. Oh well. RICE time. Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. I usually skip the compression step, so I'm more like a RIE guy.
Don't expect to see me out at Grant's Tomb this season. Though I had great aspirations coming into the winter training season, I didn't make it happen. I've got plenty of excuses that I could spill out above and beyond my knee, but I'll spare you the crying.
Happy trails and good luck this spring!
« Back To Main Directory
