Tuesday 21 April 2009

Feeling lucky

I got back on the bike today. Its the longest I been off the bike in over 10 months. So after 15 days, I took the bike out for a spin. It is a stunning day in London. A perfect blue sky and warm without being hot. I took my Shuffle, put on some tunes and was away to Richmond Park. I didn't have a plan other than to check out my injury so I stayed in a low gear and high cadence and just span along.

I got to Richmond Park and my legs were good. The left had no problems and the right was ok although I could feel the tightness in my quad and a slight feeling in my knee but very very low level.

I first did an anticlockwise loop to avoid the steepest section up Broomfield Hill and minimise the stress on my quads. It all went very well and I had to keep reminding myself to take it easy and not go flying off. When I got back to Roehampton Gate, I turned around and did a clockwise loop. Again, nothing too serious. Just some niggles if I chose a high gear or pushed up a hill.

I was really enjoying the second lap. The sun was out, my music was good (it always is) and I was back on the bike. I counted my lucky stars that my injury was not half as bad as it could have been. By the end, I did feel my legs were getting a little tight. I could have carried on but this was perfect for a first day back.

When I got home, I quickly changed into my gym gear, switched bikes and went down to the gym for 40 minutes of stretching and a bit of core. The worse thing I could do now would be to think its all fixed and revert back to my old bad habits. Its stretch every day from now on. Promise.

I've just been back out on the bike. 30 miles. I could feel the injury but only a little. I didn't push on it at all, just span around RP twice. Then came home, into gym gear and off to the gym for 40 minutes of stretching and core. Feeling more positive today.

3 comments:

Kyle Schneider said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kyle Schneider said...

Simon,
Glad to hear you are doing better. Take it nice and easy and listen to what your body is saying....you have plenty of time to train for July. Great job with the daily stretching, I need to be sure to get my stretches in as well. Keep up the good work!
Kyle

Simon Lewis said...

Cheers Kyle. You are right. I should listen more carefully. I am very good at ignoring myself and running or riding through pain, telling myself its just a niggle.