Training with a capital "T"

So I was just riding regularly, but for now, I'm gonna call it training. Made it 48 days in a row on the bike. Some of those were 45 minutes on the rollers or 15 miles with Noah, but it was time in the saddle, and it was 48 days in a row of it.

Around day #40, I was well in the habit and I was actually starting to feel some sensations in the legs that felt like a bike racer would feel in her legs. I'd step on the gas, and the bike would go, and it would go at a speed that was fun. But then I'd remember that it had been more than 2 years since I had even sorta bike racer legs, and then the 30 seconds or so of fun would hurt in a bad way, not in a good way.

With so many days in a row, I started adding bits here and there that were like training to the mix. One of these workouts within a ride is what I call Slogs. Some folks call them Stomps. Some call them Standing Starts. Some call them stupid.

I was having some sensations that feel like a bike racer, so I took the opportunity to play around with one of the workouts I often dole out to athletes I coach. I tried these efforts in different ways to see if we couldn't maybe find something a little bit more to pull out of them.

The efforts themselves are riding very, very slowly to nearly a standstill, then taking off in full sprint from a very (too big) big gear. Sort of like starting in a car from a dead stop in 3rd gear. I tried some by starting right foot forward. Some left foot forward. Some standing. Some seated.

Somewhere along the way, I did something weird, and I felt my cleat move. But it didn't all fully register until the next big slogging pedal stroke when I came down on that loose cleat. With things askew, and pedaling as forcefully as I possibly could, something had to give. It was my knee.

If this had been any other time in the last two years, I'd be beside myself pissed that I'm losing time, but this time it is rather funny to me, because when I was describing it to a buddy, I said I have to take some time off of training to let it heal. But my time off of training still involved riding to keep the streak going.

My buddy pointed out that I said I was "Training" and he hadn't heard me talk about that in a long, long time. So, I may be down for just a little bit, but it is temporary.

Oh, but I lost the streak when I got some flu bug so bad that I was bed ridden for a full day and night. I very nearly just got up and rode up and down Nonno's driveway to keep it alive late that night, but then realized, I needed help to get up and go to the bathroom. Riding a bike just wasn't gonna happen, even with discipline. I'm back rolling now, though. Even pushed pretty hard at the track last night. I'm not calling my shot or anything like that, but I'm a least dressed and on the bench. And if the 4th string quarterback and back up holder get hurt, I might get to hold the ball when the kicker warms up. That's closer to the game than I've been in a while.