Road to recovery

Here is a summary of activities from last week:

M: Rest
T: Core/ push ups/ sit ups at physical trg followed by 50 minutes on the bike at the gym and then 50 minutes of physical therapy.
W: 50 minutes on elliptical
Th: Swim 1400M followed by 45 minutes of weights and core and then 50 minutes of physical therapy
F: Ran 32 minutes followed by 4 sets of suicides (Rugby practise style) Followed by Yoga
S: Rode 32 miles with the local cycling group.
Sun: Swim 1600M. Weights for an hour. (planned for today)

I found it very hard to get to Yoga last week. I have a ton of things going on at work. My goal has been to hit everything 2X last week. I count the elliptical as a run since I had a jump that morning and had a really hard landing......dragging myself to the gym that afternoon was tough. I only made Yoga once however adding 2 hours of PT I feel compensates for that. I have also been stretching over 30 minutes every day. I will get to Yoga 2X this week though...no excuses!

So, you read it correctly..........my first real road ride since Ironman in Nov! I have been feeling a lot better..........I think PT is helping as well as taking it easy. I am tempering my enthusiasm though and sticking to my 2x a week policy for another week as to not over due it. My hammy is still a bit tight but its so much better..........so the ride.....

Since my goal this year is to get faster..........I need to find some folks that are stronger than me. I have known about the group but had just been doing my own thing. The ride starts at 0900 and there were a ton of folks.....I would say at least 30. I've never ridden with so many folks...... I wasn't sure how the group dynamics were and I knew for my own sake to under estimate my ability and go with a group down from where I thought I should be and I did not want to go over 40 miles.

So I started with the C group. Everyone was in a huge two row pace line for the first couple miles going really slow and then the large group began to split...we hit some tracks and a group just took off..... I knew better and stayed back...chatting with some folks. After about 10 miles my leg felt really warmed up and my pace was increasing and I dropped the C group and bridged the gap to the
B (-) group by the 15 mile mark. We stopped at mile 17 for a while....I don't like stopping for so long but whatever.

..after 10 minutes we had all regrouped and rolled out again. Some how I found myself at the front of the group. I should have waited for the group to move out first but I was anxious to get started. (I felt stupid but still learning the group dynamics). So the pace line passes me after a couple miles and I latch on. We start to drop people and I have no problem staying on. A hill is up a ahead and some guys just take off.......... I do not. My hammy is twinging a bit but nothing bad.... I am playing it safe and jam up the hill and catch them when they slow.......we stop again at a gas station to discuss our direction back...this is a quick stop.

We take off again and I start 8 deep as not to repeat my mistake. A group of seven pull away and I am on their wheels. The lead guy says we are going to do tempo........ I have no clue what he means but OK..... I'm in! As we are going he explains it to me the process but is a grumpy old bastard (but pretty fast). We are moving out and I am working hard to stay with...a guy drops off as we continue to work. We did this for about six miles and the last two we chilled. The grumpy old fat guy pulled from us all the last couple miles......he must have been having a bad day! A younger kid explained to me that when I get to the front I speed up and I shouldn't. The way he did it was cool and now I know for next time.

Overall I was very happy with the ride......met a couple guys and am going to work my way into a group of IM athletes that are training for IM FL. One guy was talking to me about an open water swimming site 15 minutes from my house...his buddy owns a cabin on the lake. Ride: Total distance was 32...overall pace 18MPH.

I plan to go back and ride next week as well. My only concern is working too hard when I get there but I will just have to hold myself back! The group meet a few miles from my house on Sundays for another ride.... I am resisting that temptation as well and am heading out now to take my dogs for a walk!