Don't Forget to Stretch!

There is a reason I have not been blogging the past few weeks. I have not been riding. I put on a lot of miles in May and June, leading up to a taper period for Wausau 24. All season, I had been having a nagging pain in my right Achilles. It felt like a pinch. Not so much while road biking, but when mountain biking I could feel it and the next several days my calf would be tight. I did some yoga, but very inconsistently. I also had knots down the sides of my legs, from my hip to my knee. I would foam roll them once or twice per week but it was so painful, I again was inconsistent. My focus was endurance. I stopped strength training. I also started sitting a lot more for my job. All of this together is a bad combination.

During Wausau 24, about 5 laps in, I had left knee pain. Odd. After some ibuprofen and an increase in pain I sought help, and found out it was an IT band issue. Neat. I continued to ride until the pain was so great that every time I put pressure on the pedals it was like a knife stabbing me in the side of the knee. Mentally and endurance-wise I wanted to ride more than 11 laps, but I physically could not.

After the race I had a professional massage, mineral baths, and rest. I took 12 days off of biking. Last Thursday I got on the mountain bike for a lap around the Elite course out at Camp Tesomas with Steve and my friend George, who is visiting from Kenya. We rode a medium pace. About 45 minutes in the pain was back with a vengeance. I limped it back to the car. The next day I went for a very light road spin about 12 miles in distance, and again part way in felt the searing pain in my knee, especially on hills if I exerted any force whatsoever.

Our local WEMS race was last weekend. I had wanted to participate, but ended up volunteering. Thankfully, one of the participants is a very kind (and fast!!) physical therapist and has me stretching, foam rolling, and icing like it's my job. I hope to be back in the saddle soon, with adventure stories to share.