If only my friggen knees would cooperate
I'm bailing out of Wildflower Triathlon :-( The race is the end of this month, and I thought I'd be ready. In fact, I'm sure I would have been ready, if only my friggen knees would have cooperated.
This is the first winter that I rode any substantial miles through the season, and this was specifically in preparation for Wildflower. (Oh, and of course because along the way I discovered that winter riding is fun!) I figured if I'd ride through the winter, I'd have a leg up when the weather got nice. What I didn't plan on is that my knees would start giving me a hard time recently. I'm not sure what the knee problems stem from. But any ride I've done longer than 40 miles lately has left me feeling like something's not quite right. I've done more snowboarding this season than I have in the past, and maybe that has something to do with it (the full weight of the board hangs from one leg - and therefore from one knee - when riding the chairlift, so maybe that's part of it?)
Not that my knees are royally fucked up or anything I'd need to be seriously ramping up my training for the next 3 weeks in preparation for Wildflower. But my knees are politely asking me to take it a little easy for a week or two. Thankfully, they're still just asking politely. Not screaming, just suggesting that pulling back a little might be wise.
So I've decided to take their advice.
There are other, less important factors playing into the decision as well...
Originally, it was going to be myself and two coworkers (Mike and Markus) flying out and racing. Markus bailed out a few weeks ago due to nagging back problems - the result of dueling with an overhead garage door. (I would have bailed if I were him too.) Markus and I have done Wildflower together twice in the past, and I haven't spent much time with him lately so I was really looking forward to this trip as a way to reconnect. But with Markus out, that incentive is gone. I get along well with the other coworker, Mike, but it just wouldn't be the same without Markus.
For a long weekend, it can be pretty expensive. By the time I would have paid for airfare, fees to fly the bike to/from the race (typically about $80 each way), plus my share of lodging, rental car, and food, that long weekend would have run nearly $1000. To go out there and have a killer race would make it totally worth it. But to go out there and have just a lackluster race, well, that's a different story.
Plus, I have a handful of other races planned for the summer, which I've already paid for, and that I really want to do well in (not well as in "I'm going to take First Place" but well as in "I really want to put forth a solid effort and improve upon my previous times".
I know I'm making the right decision, but it still kind of sucks.
If there is a Silver lining though, it's this ... I'll be able to participate in April Critical Mass. Yeah!
This is the first winter that I rode any substantial miles through the season, and this was specifically in preparation for Wildflower. (Oh, and of course because along the way I discovered that winter riding is fun!) I figured if I'd ride through the winter, I'd have a leg up when the weather got nice. What I didn't plan on is that my knees would start giving me a hard time recently. I'm not sure what the knee problems stem from. But any ride I've done longer than 40 miles lately has left me feeling like something's not quite right. I've done more snowboarding this season than I have in the past, and maybe that has something to do with it (the full weight of the board hangs from one leg - and therefore from one knee - when riding the chairlift, so maybe that's part of it?)
Not that my knees are royally fucked up or anything I'd need to be seriously ramping up my training for the next 3 weeks in preparation for Wildflower. But my knees are politely asking me to take it a little easy for a week or two. Thankfully, they're still just asking politely. Not screaming, just suggesting that pulling back a little might be wise.
So I've decided to take their advice.
There are other, less important factors playing into the decision as well...
Originally, it was going to be myself and two coworkers (Mike and Markus) flying out and racing. Markus bailed out a few weeks ago due to nagging back problems - the result of dueling with an overhead garage door. (I would have bailed if I were him too.) Markus and I have done Wildflower together twice in the past, and I haven't spent much time with him lately so I was really looking forward to this trip as a way to reconnect. But with Markus out, that incentive is gone. I get along well with the other coworker, Mike, but it just wouldn't be the same without Markus.
For a long weekend, it can be pretty expensive. By the time I would have paid for airfare, fees to fly the bike to/from the race (typically about $80 each way), plus my share of lodging, rental car, and food, that long weekend would have run nearly $1000. To go out there and have a killer race would make it totally worth it. But to go out there and have just a lackluster race, well, that's a different story.
Plus, I have a handful of other races planned for the summer, which I've already paid for, and that I really want to do well in (not well as in "I'm going to take First Place" but well as in "I really want to put forth a solid effort and improve upon my previous times".
I know I'm making the right decision, but it still kind of sucks.
If there is a Silver lining though, it's this ... I'll be able to participate in April Critical Mass. Yeah!
posted by equipoise at 10:19 PM
1 Comments:
You might want to look into a knee brace to stave off deterioration. I don't know much about it, but I do have a friend that did that and swears by it.
Post a Comment
<< Home