TooMuch TooFast

The week started well enough with a strong but short road ride and a decision. Well, it sure turned interesting from there.

Tuesday I was out front skating with my eldest son, just having some fun, getting my shred on. Well, my son Kailan decides he wants to show off to his friends how high his daddy can Ollie (skateboarding equivalent to a bunny hop) and starts stacking boards. He set up two boards which is a little over a foot and a half and I popped over it first try without any issues. I kept skating and eventually we had to part to take my son to his class that he takes in the evening.

As I napped in the truck, I notice my back started hurting. Went to bed that night and barely slept. Woke up the next morning and from my summation, I guess I pulled a muscle in my lower back, cause the next day I could barely move. I couldn’t miss work, so I took some alleve and got dressed, very slowly and took care of business. I was supposed to go out that day and do some more miles, but no dice. The pain level was too high for my taste and I have a HIGH pain threshold so the pain must have been off the charts.

The combination of back muscle pain and the withdrawals I started having from giving up refined sugars and carbs led to some wicked side effects. For two nights in a row, I could barely sleep from the back pain, and when I did sleep I was having Nightmares. I’m not much for having bad dreams so I surmised that it must have been from the chemicals I have recently decided to give up.

Well, this led to no riding the rest of the week. But I STILL had to work. Miserable is one way to describe my predicament. Regardless, come Friday the pain had gone from an 8 to a 1 so I was confident that the Croom 50 was a go. I actually started feeling good and the cravings from the diet change had gone away.

I got a start way later then I wanted for Croom. Eventually I gave up even trying to think about the late start and focused instead on the fun and the social aspect of riding with my team mates, something I don’t get to do very much. 30 minutes into the ride, we were hammering and had a pace high in the teens.

Eventually, I started feeling some discomfort. And then right around mile seven, I entered a zone that Phil Liggett would of Characterized as "Serious Difficulty". My legs were dead. My lungs were taxed, my motivation SUPER LOW.

I persevered. Took a break around mile 18 and kept riding. Finished a steep long climb and felt faint. Weird, I usually don’t feel this on the trail. Sat down, put the bike down and took a break. As I sat there, I could hear laughing and talking in the distance. After a moment I figured that I must not be far from the next rest stop and started getting ready to get up and go.

A mile or two later I was at the rest stop. I saw Luis and he suggested my serious difficulty was a situation I could not recover from and that I should just abandon, and if I don’t abandon the ride, just do the 35. I thought I could still do the fifty regardless. And in spite of my pitiful pace, I was still passing people, which was amazing to me. But the endless sandy climbs were definitely taking their toll.

Spinning wasn’t helping so I resulted to big ring mashing and an amazingly enough, that felt better and was more comfortable then anything else I had tried.

Regardless of my condition, I made every climb. I didn’t dismount once. I took a break on top of Sugar hill and lay on the ground enjoying the sounds of the birds and the beauty of the sky. Not long after that, I turned off for the 35 and several miles later I was done.

No cramps for me, but just weird how I felt. I talked to Dave and Luis and they told me I need carbs and sugar. I have been eating carbs and sugar, just not over processed junk. And if anybody knows Luis, he obviously doesn't need to re educate his body into how to utilize carbs effectively, I most certainly do. After thinking real hard about it, I know what mistakes I made that day. First, I ate my breakfast way too late. Second, I needed to eat some granola bars, what I usually eat during a ride, even though I gave it up for a couple of months, my muscles would have used it immediately and it would not have had any ill effect on my first phase of my new nutrition plan.

I came away with some good lessons and a new plan and a desire to continue the reeducation of my physiological self. Sunday morning I got up, not a sore bone in my body and my back pain was gone. Ever since the Big O ride, I have had a weird pain in my left ass bone, and it didn’t affect me at the croom, so that is excellent news. On top of that I stepped on a scale that morning as well, and I am ten pounds lighter. Officially the lightest I have been in 12 years.

I have lost the strange cravings and I'm feeling really good. I got a solid nutrition plan for my rides and hopefully if all goes well, I will be at the 12 hour putting in a good effort.

We will just have to see, I only got 3 and 3/4 Fitties. Oh Well.

till then,
Enjoy,

Laters,

LOS