Getting rid of those chicken legs...

Today I still feel like "crap". My head is foggy and my face and arms felt numb like. When I got to work I also started to notice that I was getting "stuffed" up. I can't believe the toll that last Friday took on me, although the stuffiness I picked up from my family which is sick.

I decided to cut out of work early to do my 3 hour and 45 minute ride, as I didn't want to finish in the dark. This ride was going to be a test because the last ride I averaged only 28.3 kph and my standard rides are usually over 30 kph. I was becoming "paranoid" and wondering if I'd lost my cycling strength and if I'd ever do a longer ride over 30 kph again. Like I said, I'm "paranoid".

Right from the beginning of the ride I went as hard as I could while trying to keep my heart rate under 134 bpm. The only time I didn't, was if I was going up a hill. On this ride I vowed not to use my small front chain ring on any of the hills, which I didn't. I ended up averaging 31.9 kph for 120 km. It was a good ride and for one of the first times I was actually starting to feel tired at the end. Not a bonk tired, but about 25% away from a bonk tired. I think part of the tiredness was that I lost 2 water bottles off the back cage during the ride. They were just filled up with water and they must have popped out when I rode over some railway tracks. For the last 30 minutes of the ride I wished I had more water.

Overall I was pleased with the ride. I'm still not where I was a week ago, but I was happy with the time none the less. The only downside was that my left knee was really sore after the ride. It was either from the ride only or yesterdays 5 km swim and today's ride. The knee pain started a few weeks ago from falling off my bike, now it seems to be radiating from that impacted spot and going down the left front shin, like a shin splint. I was glad to see a package arrive today from Hammer Nutrition because it included something called tissue rejevenator, which is illegal in Canada but legal in the U.S.A, and apparently has strong natural herbal properties that help repair injury. I'm told they give it to horses to help them heal. The guys at work who know about it think I'm going to show up to work one day with a mane.