Coming back from vacation: Sufferfest

I can now say that it's harder coming back from a 2 1/2 week vacation that it is coming out of a 5 month long layoff. Why is this so??? Well, you get immediately back to where you were supposed to be and others have the expectation that you're at the same level of fitness.
Case and point: Yesterday was my first day back. I still had the lingering effects of a head cold, couple that with soreness/stiffness in my ankle from gout, I still decided to participate in the Trasher noon time ride . Oh yeah, my speedo/heartrate/cadence monitor is still broken, so I'm riding blind without any statistics. Well, off we go. Since this was a Monday ride, it should be a easier pace as many probably worked hard over the weekend. I found the pace suited me just fine, until we found ourselves in Potomac. That's when the ride started to wear on me. I discovered that I'm way out of shape and that I was having difficulty keeping pace up the longer hills. I drifted towards the back and let the rest of the group rotate through, while I hung on at the back. This continued to happen all through out the ride and made it a more bearable ride for me, especially when we started down Clara Barton Parkway. Well, I made it, thought my legs were definitely tired. We got to the light at Goldsboro and River and Paul made a remark saying that my legs were fresh and I would take the climb up Goldsboro. You know, no one gives you a break when you come back from being off. They just expect that you're in the same condition. Well, I just ignored the remark and kept pace at the back, up the hill, feeling the burn. Well, so far so good. I made it back without being dropped and not totally out of breath. My lungs didn't burn either. It was about 70 degrees... I don't know if the same would be true in 20-30 degree weather. The only effect I felt was that my back was a bit sore and tight.

Today was a bit different. When I mounted my bike at noon, I felt the saddle soreness. I went to the gym this morning and did a quick leg workout. I'm not using any real guidelines except for listening to my body. I did several sets of squats with medium weight (135-185lbs) and did a few sets of leg presses. Moving from 135-310 lbs. I also did a small bit of core work as well. I'm not going to use the Nick methodology... it seemed crazy for me as I was sore as crap afterwards... Of course I may be just getting used to weight lifting now. I rode the noon ride again today, and we seemed to have a slightly faster pace today and I rotated through for 75% of the ride till we got to the middle of Clara Barton Parkway. I started to feel the twinge of cramps coming on, so I backed off a bit and hung on to the back. Out of the parkway and up the final hill on Goldsboro, I was pretty much defeated. My legs were heavy and I couldn't muster much more. Tomorrow will be a different story. I'm sure I'll get dropped on the hill ride and I'm not looking forward to that. I've got my old speedometer back on my bike and of course the magnet kept slipping on the spokes. I tried to manually adjust the sensor while I was riding and caught my finger in the spoke before arriving at our meeting point. Ouch... I tore a chunk of skin off of my finger, luckily it stopped bleeding about 5 minutes later. Stupid move, don't ever adjust your sensor while riding. I rode with the speedo off the whole way as I found out later the magnet was what was slipping and it wasn't the sensor placement.

I'll be sore tomorrow, I'm sure of it. The biggest difference on coming back from a 5 month layoff versus a 2 week layoff is that on a 5 month layoff, you typically ride by yourself a bit more till you have the courage of riding with an elite group. You're program to get back into shape is more gradual where as on a 2 week layoff, you're thrown back into the fire right away and everyone is expecting you at the same fitness as before. Give me 3-4 weeks of hard training and I'll get back into shape after a 5 month layoff. It hurts as badly or more, however nobody is expecting you to be in peak shape.

By the way, I don't understand Nick Mulder's blog.... Quote: "I guess its different racing with juniors than with the 1/2 guys. Eventhough junior races in europe are harder." I guess Nick's calling our 1/2 riders weenies...hehe. (First of all, Nick, stay in school, use the spell check and capitalization properly. (Even though ..... Europe). Then, Nick remarks about having issues with overpowering his cranks at Murad where the "Hulk" put so much power into his drive train that the crank arms fell off. And of course, Nick wants to best Lance on a one on one race. Nick, you're my hero... I'll be cheering you on in the races, unless I'm there with you, then, I'll be wondering if I'll be able to out sprint you at the end.

One last thing...on our ride we experienced a guy who obviously was having a bad day. He past us where there were two lanes on each side at the overpass of the Beltway on Bradly lane with his horn blaring. Of course we caught up with him at the light at Seven Locks Road and had a few choice words with him. He yelled at us for riding in two lines. I remarked that it shouldn't even have mattered because there were two lanes and he could pass us safely. Of course, he said that we had no right to do that. I just told him that was obviously he's an angry man. (maybe his wife yelled at him today or he was having a hard time at work, or simply he has no life) I chuckled as I remembered that I was riding and having a good day. I guess I probably didn't do the right thing as my motto is to "Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty every day". Maybe, I should have tried to make his day some how and he would be kind to cyclists next time around... Oh well. You live and learn.