Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Recovery Update

It's now been 10 months since getting sick and my recovery is glacially slow but measurable. I've been on the bike a couple of times -- sticking to the flat roads in our neighborhood. Hopefully a little regular riding will help address my chronic low-energy situation.

I rode 5 slow miles on Saturday which totally wiped me out. Recovery is equally slow, taking many days to recover from each ride. I'm obviously riding pretty slowly -- less than 10 mph so leg strength is really not a factor yet. The limiting factor is my shoulders, which are only strong enough to hold my upper body steady for a few minutes before wearing out. My hands also get tired pretty fast.

At my slow pace I'm not really getting into the cardio zone yet so I can't really judge how my new heart responds to training yet. I hope it will be OK.

Yesterday marked the first time I did a bit of resistance training, riding over the elevated pedestrian bridge that spans one of our local expressways. It's about 100 feet long and climbs about 30 feet. Short and stiff. I used to do sets of 10 out-of-the-saddle sprints up each side.

Now I ride it once each way -- which is more then enough. It awakened a number of unused muscles in my back and hips which remain sore this morning.

I think my cycling is more rewarding spiritually than physically but right now that's just fine. It just feels good being out there.

1 comment:

Jared said...

Do you still have the Pugsley? Old School by todays fat standards but you sure did it up right! I would think that would be a good recovery bike...nice and stable!