3 Peaks Challenge 2012 Training Log #4: Conning the body into thinking today was just a "recovery ride"...

Before sunrise this morning, less than four weeks after I first fell ill I returned to my hills for the first time. In reliable company, I managed to get out early and make my way up Lofty. An ordinarily simple ride and extremely short – only 40km return and total vertical ascent of ~850m – but today it was my Everest.

To say that yesterday evening I was nervous about this morning, is an understatement, especially given all the doomsayer articles, blogs and discussion posts I found online on how to manage glandular fever (both its symptoms and recovery) and my ongoing training. I was envisaging that my body was going to let me down and I was preparing myself for the psychological blow that that would have caused. To be honest, I was also consciously measuring the level of risk of serious damage to my liver/spleen caused by too intense physical activity too early.

My goal was to get from home to “the gum tree” and thereafter roll home again feeling good for being able to get out - albeit, a little sad for not being able to join the lads on the ascent. However… having made the gum tree reasonably comfortably, the goal was reset to my getting to the kennels… then to the bollards… and finally, to the top of Lofty. Time by my account (to the summit) was about 9 minutes slower than normal, but the fact that I made it without severely struggling or having to stop was such a victory for me.

My legs felt great; loose and well looked after despite my forced absence, and cardiovascularly as well, I didn’t feel too bad, albeit I recognise that there has been an impact on my aerobic fitness. It was in the general energy stakes primarily where I felt lacking, and having the body resist the immediate calling up of additional energy supplies through the processing of glycogen in the liver etc.

I am certainly not the medico in the family, and hence have no real basis for the following, but there are a number of things which I believe (whether rightly or wrongly) had an impact on this morning going well and also my pulling up reasonably ok this afternoon and evening:

• My (high??) level of fitness prior to contracting GF has had (and continues to have) a (beneficial) impact on my recovery;
• By forcing myself, despite being unwell, to manage my legs and body through regular Zone 3 spinning on the trainer, followed by rolling and stretching, has reduced loss of “muscle memory”; and
• The support of SD and DD, who in acting as domestiques this morning and giving me a wheel to follow, enabled me to make it this morning, and for that they have my thanks.

Don’t get me wrong, it is still necessary that I remain vigilant to my recovery and continue to look after my body without getting too far ahead of myself. I am a realist and I realise that it will still be some time before I am back to where I was before this, and from there, continue in building for my planned summer riding schedule and ultimately the 3 Peaks in March.

I have had such an emotional rollercoaster ride in the last four weeks, and will continue to do so over the weeks ahead. I’ve been depressed, angry, in “ill health denial”, optimistic and rash about my getting back into it. But today was a good day for me. It was what I needed psychologically and hence why I thought it needed to be shared.

Despite the high from my psychological success getting me through such a huge portion of today without my hitting the wall, needless to say, I am now feeling somewhat buggered, and already I feel that bed may soon beckon.

ZZ

P.S. My apologies for the lack of humour or visual accompaniment in this Blog post. As already noted, little thought has gone into other than to record my current state of mind.

P.S.S. Other random comments:

I also think that my liver benefited from the work out it received this morning in that, for my having engaged in such exercise, it was required it to “start thinking like a liver again”.

In terms of recovery my doctor made me take most of last week off from work to generally rest (having committed myself to work up until that time despite feeling unwell), abstain from panadol and alcohol (not that I drink), eat well, and “listen to my body and trust my own instincts” (I liked that advice). Notably, I was not told to abstain from exercise.

Now that I am back at work and focused on multitasking recovery and training, in my obsessive compulsive manner, I have strictly committed myself to going to bed very early and eating as healthily as I can. I should admit to managing my diet so closely to ensure that I don’t overconsume during this period of reduced physical activity; my daily target calorie intake has been lowered so that, in a months time I’m not having to additionally stress about losing weight.