Congrats to everyone, whether they completed one lap or six laps.
I skipped it this year. I haven’t done much real training this time, so I thought it was best not to get myself into trouble again.
Last year, I went into the ride a bit undertrained but I still pushed myself on the ride. (The problems may have started in Feb. 2014 when I got myself overtrained from not eating enough during and after long workouts. I got sick and had a very elevated heart rate for two days after a workout, which should not happen. My training was haphazard in the first half of 2014.)
I think I finished 5 laps last year. I felt the lack of training. Then I did something very stupid. I did a hard run hill workout just a couple days later. The combination of undertraining (which affects performance as well as post-ride recovery), the long duration of the hard effort, the lack of post-race recovery, and the run hill workout did something to the inside of my quads. While I didn’t tear anything completely, I started to feel off. I started getting minor injuries to the quads where they would give out in just half an hour, or it would take me 10 days or more to recover from any rides or run workouts, which is NOT normal. I tried to do a limited amount of training but I stopped running completely by August and I only biked once a week or so.
Then I tried to gut out the Nation’s Triathlon in September, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to run the entire distance. I’ve finished the race several times in the past, but last year, my quads started giving out, even with walk breaks for the first time. Then I had to walk completely for the last 3 miles, because of the quads. I took a calculated risk, knowing that I probably wouldn’t do any permanent damage, because it was a muscle injury, but I knew the race would lengthen the recovery time before I finally felt normal again. My quads didn’t recover fully until I took a few months off completely in the fall and early winter. I felt sluggish after I started running and riding again in January, but I started to feel normal by March.
The toughest part was not being able to go out for an easy 30-min. ride any time I wanted to during the fall. With the quad injuries, even doing something like that would set me back a few weeks. So I only rode once or twice between early Sept. and late Nov.
Bottom line: If you rode hard today, be cautious with the recovery. Don’t do any hard workouts, sessions or activities for the next week. If you ride, take it easy and make it shorter than usual, if possible. Avoid tough hills this week. While a few people might be able to do hard workouts or long rides soon after, many probably shouldn’t do that. Post-race recovery weeks are a good idea. Don’t be like me last year and get yourselves injured.
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– But I don’t know how many slots they have left!!!
