Spin Cycle

Phil and I agreed on 2 x :30 trainer spins over the weekend as a good test for the health of my post-injection knee. It had been tender all week, exacerbated by running after planes, trains and automobiles Tuesday while carrying too much heavy stuff and wearing security-friendly shoes.

I woke up at 4 am Saturday, retreated with a book to the blue couch, telling myself it was too early though I was like a kid at Christmas wanting ride her new bike. Common sense prevailed and I read (Year of Wonders, by Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks) and snoozed for a few hours.

So...armed with iPod and fortified by ginger-citrus nuun, I made my way downstairs around 6:30. I strapped on my shoes, mounted the bike, poked the big red start button on my heart rate monitor for the first time in months and...thump, thump, thump...whatever is that? Dang rear tire was flat. That's a new one. This bike has been not been outside since January. How is this possible? I messed around with the tube, the tire, the bike pump for about half an hour, but no air was going in that thing.

So...I checked out all of the usual places in an eager search for a 700 tube. None in the triathlon cabinet. Big goose egg on Mike's bike maintenance bench. False alarm when I found one in my commuter bag...but it was a 650, perfect for my Kestrel, which of course does not fit on the trainer. Ack! I had been so stoked for this workout.

I had a tighly choreographed day ahead, so I decided to use what little workout time I had left to do my usual sit up/crunch routine and spend some time on the Vasa trainer. Completing this but still feeling low, as I left the exercise room, my eye fell on...an innocently coiled 700 tube, that I had left on the ledge by the door after some autumn commute home from work.

I changed the tire (in less than 15 minutes, AND it held air!) and hoped I'd find time for a spin later, maybe during the basketball game?

In the end I was able to spin while Villanova stylishly smacked Pitt late Saturday afternoon. The 30 minutes were not hard from a cardio standpoint, but my knee remains tender. I hung beween 135 and 150 HR.

I spun again this morning. I was a little fatigued (I had about 12 hours of recovery -- could have used a little more but today is filled with other commitments) and my knee was tender again. I am icing now and it seems a little less mad than it was when I started typing this. My HR was about 5 beats lower than yesterday, but that is probably just the morning...my heart wakes up slower than the rest of me.

So...the jury is out. I am traveling Mon, Thur-Sun this week so the "ease in" will continue. Am hoping for a run along the bluff in Monterey but will have to keep it slow and short.

Of course I'd hoped to feel better by now. Time will tell.