Stronger, Fitter, Faster

Stronger

Twelve years behind a desk does things to your body. For the first time in ten years I've started hitting a gym 3x a week but that doesn't mean I can muster too many pushups just yet.

Fitter

Lose a serious amount of weight. This is definitely key to making everything else work, so I'll be focusing on dropping pounds to get not only into a healthy range of BMI, but to also increase my endurance and fitness.

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Winter setbacks, Spring forward

The first couple months of this year went really well. I started to hit a groove and got a ton of riding in (compared to usual January/February riding in the past). By mid-Feb, I was feeling as strong as I usually feel in the summer during prime riding season, and looking forward to some spring races. I was riding six days a week and working out three times a week and feeling great. Then I hurt my back.

I don't know if it was from overly tight hamstrings, poor sleep, or just generally getting older, but for the first time in my life, near the end of February I experienced severe back pain. I was working for a few hours in a weird hunched over position putting some shelves together, and when I was done I was quite sore. This is all normal, but after a day or two it kept getting worse, which never happens to me. Several days passed and everything worsened, to the point where walking became a painful ordeal. This was all new territory.

On the bright side, some quick checks by Seth revealed it wasn't a disc problem and some physical therapy got me on the mend. I spent the past two weeks traveling to see family and attend a technology conference, with my back feeling close to 100% now. I did an hour long ride on Friday and felt great.

Taking 2 weeks off my bike at this part of the year isn't ideal and I definitely feel like my fitness is back where it was in early January, but I'm glad to be recovered and looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.

Now if only this rain and wind would stop...

Posted on March 15, 2009 in training

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