The Dirt Field

After racing the Shenandoah Mountain 100 a few weeks ago, I was supposed to have taken a rest week to help me recover before the start of the cyclocross season. When my shoulder became a nagging problem in the days leading up to the race, though,  my coach and I decided that I would take the rest week before the 100, and then resume regular training afterwards. In one sense, the plan worked: my shoulder has not hurt at all since the race, and other than staying away from push-ups (ideally forever), I have been able to resume all usual activity.

My riding, however, went downhill after the race and stayed there until I finally raised a red flag midway through last week. In the days immediately after the 100, it was exciting to be back on the mountain bike, capitalizing on the confidence I’d built up by riding so well technically during the event. My legs felt like crap and I was definitely tired, but I figured that would pass with time. I made it through over a week of training while ignoring the sluggish, fatigued feeling and the tendency to bonk after an hour of moderate riding.

At the beginning of last week, I could no longer put off the inevitable: with a race looming that upcoming weekend, it was time to put away the mountain bike and start learning how to ride the cross bike. I did a few easy rides on it and felt okay, but after doing a recovery ride with a friend and literally gasping and suffering in my efforts to keep up, I realized I was in a bad place. Trying to ride a new, uncomfortable bike while feeling constantly slow and sore was getting really depressing, I was dreading my time on the bike, and my confidence about racing cross was dwindling. By Wednesday, the idea of going home after work to do my long interval training made me want to cry, so I did the unprecedented – I skipped an important workout.

I emailed my coach the following morning to get her advice and she told me that I needed to take time off the bike, skip the upcoming race, and spend my weekend relaxing and enjoying my free time. She ended her email by saying, “You’re just tired and need a break.  Don’t stress about it.  Everyone gets to this point in their training.  And then we know it is time to rest.” When I got to that part, I got all teary-eyed and felt a huge sense of relief, compounded with guilt over missing workouts and fear about taking time off when everyone around me is gearing up for a big race and a new season. And to think this is all over riding a bicycle.

Since then, I have taken a full five days off the bike and missed the Charm City cross race. My insatiable appetite has calmed down, my knees have stopped aching, and my legs no longer feel tight and tired. It seems as though the residual effects of the SM 100 have finally passed. I didn’t exactly relax this past weekend (details in a subsequent, less bikey/feelingy post), but I did cram in a lot of non-biking activities.

The bad part is that I am still not the least bit eager to get back to riding, which was something I expected to feel after days of not training. The two-hour endurance ride I am scheduled to do on my cross bike after work today sounds like a complete drag, and to be honest, I could easily see not getting back on the bike ever again at this moment. Don’t get me wrong; I love riding and will certainly get back into it soon and this will all be a blip on the radar. But right now, I don’t want to train, I don’t want to learn to use the cross bike, I’m dreading my first cross race of the season this Sunday, and I’m feeling pretty low about riding in general.

I suppose everyone gets to this point in their training, but I can tell you from firsthand experience that it sucks. It will be nice when I like biking again.