rashbre central: back from a spin on the bicycle

Sunday 1 December 2013

back from a spin on the bicycle

Untitled
I'd been doing pretty well with cycling up towards the end of October, but kind of slumped during November. I don't record every trip, but those I did record were a grand total of eight.

There were a few things that conspired against me, including personal and work related as well as a feeble bug at the start of November.

Anyhow, my legs were somehow telling me they needed to go cycling.

I'm not sure why, but there's a sort of reverse pain where my legs actually feel better now if they've been cycling. I should probably look for that symptom on t'interweb, because it seems to be the opposite of what you'd expect.

Anyway, I clocked about 20 miles today although I took it fairly easy until I get back into the swing. I'm also anticipating that this month could be choppy for cycling what with the weather and later with the christmas pudding.

TSS travails
The blue line on the little diagram of my recent activity shows a progressive increase in my TSS until mid October and then the downward spiral. It'll take weeks to rebuild to the previous level.

Still. I'm glad I took the spin - and no, the brakes were not at the angle shown in the picture. I was resetting them when I took this snap.

5 comments:

Doris said...

The first thing I see in that picture is the tiny, hard, and bullet shaped seat. Ouch!

As for that pain, is it really pain or just the need to move manifesting as pain? I've become a runner this year and eased off due to weather and my arm injury and I feel crud (and like a slug) for not running.

What is the system you use for tracking your rides? I have used Runkeeper and Nike app but neither produce graphs like that.

rashbre said...

Doris It's funny you should comment about that saddle. It's actually my big, comfortable leather Brooks saddle, shown on my "winter" bike. The one I use in the summer is smaller and pointier than that one.

The software I use for tracking is called TrainingPeaks.

It includes training plans and is quite configurable. I usually have a Heart Rate Monitor which helps get the type of figures.

I like TSS (Training Stress Score) because it give feedback on the accumulated effort as you build up as well as the individual effort (intensity) of a single session.

Pat said...

I was thinking the same as Doris with regard to the saddle.
Very unforgiving it looks.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Me too, about that seat---Maybe it's a ladies thing, but that looks deeply uncomfortable....lol

rashbre said...

Pat and Naomi There's lots of shapes for saddles, of course. I've sometimes wondered what one of those traditional ones with the big springs would be like to sit on.