Anything but Comfortable

3 mile run, 34 mile ride

Ouch. I still hurt. Fortunately my run was only 3 miles. It was about the most painful 3 miles I've ever done. My quads are still screaming and do not really want to bend in any direction. I was hoping things would loosen up during the run, but they did not. It was a very slow run, a shuffle really.

I figured this would not bode well for the bike ride, but decided to try it anyways. It was significantly better than the run, even joyful. My legs felt fine spinning - so it appears that any form of walking is what I should not be doing right now. Of course, I had some issues controlling my HR as I am clearly not completely recovered from the weekend. My other issue was my saddle. I just could not get comfortable. Let's be clear. I've had plenty of experience with saddles - I think I'm on number 10 - so I know what discomfort feels like. The way I choose a saddle is by how less uncomfortable it is than the last one. To go by what feels the best is just wishful thinking, so I've accepted the what feels the least uncomfortable as the standard. I've had some saddles that I could barely stand to actually put weight down (this one went right back to the bike shop immediately after my ride. I walked in and just said "take it off"). So, when I say that I could not get comfortable, I really mean that I just could not get less uncomfortable. I don't know what it was - everything felt great (relatively speaking) on Friday. It's sort of like when you have a wrinkle in your sock and it just doesn't feel right in your shoe and no matter how you adjust it, it just doesn't seem to go away. I guess there are days that no matter what you do, you're just not going to settle in.

I did 4x1 min. in Z5 (the attack, out of the saddle set) and I had no problems getting into Z5. The attacking and out of the saddle feel were a bit lacking. My poor little legs couldn't quite handle being out of the saddle for so long. I did my best though and did all 4. I then had to do 5x5 min. in Z4 with full recovery. These went surprisingly well, and it probably helped that I could get into Z4 almost immediately. It may not have been my fastest effort, but it was definitely full effort.

I finished in just over 2 hours, which I was completely fine with. I was really happy that I was able to do the entire workout, despite being so tired and sore. It's time to start pushing a little more. And now I'm one step closer.