OK, so I missed the fifth anniversary of solobreak.blogspot.com. 813 posts, but not so many lately. It wasn't a plan to abandon it, and no, I'm not distracted by facebook (still do not use it), it's just that I haven't felt like writing. A few ideas for posts have come and gone, but nothing made it. And it's the off-season, so this being primarily a bike racing blog and all, there hasn't been much to cover.
Truth be told, this winter has been a disaster for me from an athletic perspective. After cx season, I took a planned break of about three weeks or so. I did not take any break last winter, and had a great year as a result, but by August it was a struggle just to get out for fun rides. I ran during my break though, and that went decent. Went under five minutes at the Millenium Mile again, crossing in 4:58, exact same as last year. Then there were less races on the schedule, but I finished the Boston Prep 16 with gas in the tank and no injuries. But I've been slow, and confined to a treadmill during the week, because, well, this winter has sucked. So I was looking forward to the Paddy Kelly 5 miler in Brockton last weekend. I've done this race something like four out of the past five years, and it's been a great winter benchmark for my speed.
And that went shitty. Back at the Millenium Mile, I got a nasty "knot" in my calf near the end. It took a week to go away. I've had these before. Playing internet doctor, I'm learning these are actually tears in the fascia, sort of compartment syndrome. The muscle/leg pumps up with blood from the effort, and a small tear develops deep in the calf. Well, I bounced back after the MM, with some rest and easy running. But this is what I get for no speedwork, no outdoor running, no hills. At Brockton I was having a GREAT race. I wasn't fast, but I went out at 6:20 pace and was totally in control. For the first three miles, the splits were perfect, I wasn't breathing hard, and I had 10-15 bpm in reserve for going full gas at the end. But halfway through mile four my calf started to feel "tight." I've never stopped to walk in a race of any length, much less a five miler. I wasn't slowing down, but as the mile four marker approached, the pain went from "annoying" to "shit, you're doing damage." I stopped and tried to shake it out. I still got to the marker at 25:30, but I was toast. I had to walk most of the way to the finish, getting there in 37 something. Fuck.
That was eight days ago. The calf is better now, but I'm going to give it more time. Not that I can run anyway. This weekend I finally got sick, sick as a dog, and wasted the three days completely useless and in misery. So that ended my attempts to at least ride the trainer every day, since I couldn't run. Like I said, disaster. Could be worse, sure. Nothing serious. But I've only got like six hours on the bike THIS YEAR, all of it indoors. My weight is the highest it's been in probably six years. Small wonder, as in lieu of training I have been going out a lot. There will be no need for a weighted vest on my early season training rides. But fuck it.
The insanity of the cycling community and its January training regimens looks totally bizarre from this vantage point. I don't get it. People train more in January than they do in the summertime. Anyway, I have a plan in my head to get back on track. I really want to keep running, so I hope I can get through that. On the bike, I don't think I want to be so serious about the road this year, but once the season starts that's subject to change. I had a lot of fun doing cx though, so maybe that has something to do with my lack of urgency right now.
All right, now that is some crappy writing. You'd think if I wasn't training I could at least find time to write something decent. Sorry. Thanks for checking in anyway.
