Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut, Sometimes You Don't

Today was my planned long ride in Colorado, a 100 kilometer gem to Carter Lake inclusive of 2300 feet of climbing, some at 7% grade (not some puny little 5% Kemah bridge with its whopping 83 feet of elevation gain, Toughest 10k in Houston it may be but the folks here would chuckle).

I chose today since the weatherman said it would be a sunny day in the 50's and 60's. Of course they can not predict the weather at all by the mountains. Today was overcast and in the low 40's all day.

I love running when it is cold. Cycling, however, is another matter. I don't think I ever warmed up the whole ride. I had nothing, my legs were like lead. Weird how that happens sometimes, although it does suck when it happens during the marathon you have trained for for months.....that's a cool feeling. So it was coasting downhill, hurting uphill, 100 kilometers of fun. It was the toughest ride I've had in quite a while. My toes were reddish blue after the ride. But I did not bail and I did the complete ride as planned.

Dr Alice hammered my leg with her instruments of torture on Wednesday and gave me a list of exercises to perform. Well my leg was terribly sore on Thursday and Friday. The exercises seem to also irritate it, not to mention Sunday's three mile hike in the mountains (which ended with a broken key for the car, a hitchhike down to town and a ride back with a spare key to fetch the car), so I have been afflicted with irritated leg syndrome (eg Joe whines a lot and ices more). So I sent a note to Dr Alice's office inquiring if I should really do the exercises every day and if I should really continue to do all this other stuff that I do (you know, get on my tricycle, wade in the pool, and occasionally waddle back and forth to the car).

So what do I get back.....soreness and irritation is normal (translation: suck it up you dork, wait until I make you writhe in pain next time), you may continue with your normal activities as long as the irritation does not progress, listen to your body (translation: be a man not a mouse, you should not stop working out unless you are in the emergency room).

What is this listen to your body stuff anyways? My body tells me sit down on the couch and have a bag of Fritos. I don't listen to it at all.

Holden and JD are wise men. Holden sussed out that my wife reads my blog due to my shameless (but wise) blogging about who's at fault whenever there is fault (eg me). And JD figured out I have given up on ND football for 2008.....well not really, giving up is not my style, but I have been known to whinge. Go Irish, Beat Trojans. We got them exactly where we want them.....29 point favorites.