Getting rained on too many times and bunch rides can be good.

It was a bit like that last week and by Thursday I was already feeling that something was going to get me and put me in bed… Add some neck and shoulder issues and the body started to break down.

I have to admit that I go for days with my batteries on low because of sleep depravation, which I relate to going to bed late (as odd as it sounds, if I go to bed before 9ish, I will wake up at 1 am and will stay awake for a few hours before falling asleep again) and getting up in the early hours to get to work. Add a bit of rain, an air conditioned room at work, 20 hours on the bike the previous week and more rain and here it is my own recipe for a cold or flu.

Last week was a recovery week and it finished with a local bunch ride on Sunday. I chose to do the Zupps hoping that I would meet a couple of friends, have an easy run and drop off when the pace picked up. The last hardly ever happening, I should know.

However, after spending too long on a higher HR zone than I should and having the legs starting to scream for a bit of a rest, I decided that it was enough and pulled out of the “race”. That was after one hour with the bunch, I had to do another two to finish my ride and half of that happened in heavy rain.

The positive thing is that I now know where I am in terms of conditioning and in three or four weeks I can do the same ride and measure how much I have improved and look for the areas that need more work. This is how I like to use bunch rides in my training programs.

Comes Monday and I could hardly breath through my nose and found really difficult to get out of bed. Frantic times as I can’t have too much time off the bike at this time of the year. Off to my GP for drastic measures, the conventional drugs.

A good dose of a generic antibiotic, a nose spray and lots of food and rest is doing the job.

Week Seven (Base):
Time: 9 h 15 min
Dist.: 253 km

Safe riding