20.1 miles, nice and easy

I took it real easy, staying in lowest gear comfortable the whole way.  Stopped at Safeway and Great Harvest, and -- at about 12 miles -- at Burger King for a sausage-egg-cheese biscuit.
Legs felt tired towards the end, but I wasn’t tired, and now, half an hour later, I’m not sleepy.

I realized I was a little reckless going for 20 miles (rather than cutting for home after about 15) but thought, what the hell, it’s what I feel like doing, and if I get away with it, it will be a shot in the arm.

Not at all sleepy until right after lunch, when I went down for a nap. Afterwards I was alert but pleasantly tired and stiff – not at all like the “overtraining” feeling I’ve had during recent weeks. I took an ibuprofen or two and didn’t bother to stretch.

Bedtime: feeling very comfortable and optimistic – as though I’ve somehow turned a corner.

SECOND REST DAY

9 HRS SLEEP, BUT NOT RESTED. Makes me wonder about other issues such as sleep apnea. I’m tired, but hardly stiff at all. Maybe I just need to move around. 147/78, 68bpm. Skin bothered me during night, still worst its been 3 months.  Maybe that's why I didn't get restful sleep?

TO WINCO at 9:30, feeling quite tired. Came back with fairly heavy backpack, stopping to rest three times. Now, at 11:20, heading for a nap, I feel more sleepy than tired, and not very stiff.

I wonder if my low energy comes from not eating very much yesterday.

BEDTIME: Two lie-downs (without going to sleep) revived me somewhat. My legs are still a little stiff and sore, but I’m considering throwing caution to the winds and riding tomorrow.

FIRST REST DAY

Very good 10 hrs sleep. Lazed around until noon without stretching. Feeling good, not too stiff. Kind of vacation-lazy. No demands, and taking advantage of it.
Meanwhile, my legs feel quite uncomplaining, and going upstairs is nothing.


Breathing a little heavily when I came back from mail… not bad, but worse than I would have expected. I’m thinking it’s just that I’ve never “warmed up” today. Not worrisome.

6:30pm – comfortably sleepy. Feel like I’m still unwinding.

Bedtime: still comfortable.  Planning to hike to Winco tomorrow, maybe ride on Saturday.

15.6 miles on 7 hrs sleep.

Woke up at 5:30 and couldn't get back to sleep.  Started riding at 9:20 after breakfast of fruit and millet but no eggs.

Legs started to feel it around 9 miles out.

Stopped for sausage egg and cheese sandwich around 10 miles out.

Had planned a loop of about 20 miles but cut it short because my legs felt like they were going to get too sore, and I was a bit tired from being short on sleep.

Back home, I tried to sleep right after Restorite drink but couldn’t drift off. Pretty well dragged myself through the rest of the day. Felt too tired to stretch.

SIXTH DAY OF REST

10:30am – Woke at 8 after 10 hrs heavy sleep. I found it hard to get moving, reminiscent of times past when I’d slept very heavily. It feels like the right thing .. that I’m finally letting go. It also feels like a good thing that I’m not riding today … as though this is some sort of deep repair stage, one that might be disrupted and set back by activity. The message I’m getting from my body is to TAKE ADVANTAGE of the fact that NO DEMANDS ARE BEING MADE on me today. Do as little as possible. Let the reservoir fill up as much as possible.

CLIMBING STAIRS leaves me hardly breathing hard, and feeling 95% RECOVERED.

IDEA: Climb stairs and immediately count pulse might be a measure of my recovery.

Bedtime: a good day, energy-wise.  Even spent some time on my feet with less discomfort/strain than I could have a couple of weeks ago, I think.  Perhaps this has more to do with my five days of rest than my conditioning.

FIFTH DAY OF REST

9:50am -- I would definitely be tempted to ride, today, if other considerations hadn’t prohibited it. I feel 90 percent repaired and recuperated, and have energy to spare – at least it feels like it, sitting here at the computer. I think I’m at the “conditioning baseline” that McAninch mentioned.


Still, it may be just as well that I have to wait until Wednesday to ride, since that might put me into the “supercompensation” phase which would let me maximize my gains with my next workout.

9:30pm -- Climbed stairs 2 steps at a time 3/4 way to the top, as a test. Legs gave no sign of giving out, and I was only mildly winded. Definitely a gain on yesterday.

FOURTH DAY OF REST. RECOVERY CONTINUES

9:30am -- Awoke with a general sense that I'm recovering in comparison to yesterday. But -- and I don't know how much of this is simply anxiety about my possibly waning powers of recuperation -- I'm relieved that I decided not to ride, today.


I find it difficult to describe some of the symptoms. "Fatigue," and "stiffness" are too vague. Then there is the question of degree. How fatigued, how stiff?

Both my system and my legs seem to be more recovered than yesterday, but not quite up to "normal" (whatever that means in my case).

2:45pm: My legs -- the leg muscles --are definitely more responsive and reliable than yesterday.

4:30: 10-min walk to New Seasons and back confirms I'm DEFINITELY ON THE UPSWING.

RECOVERY MEASUREMENT: CLIMBING STAIRS: Two days ago, my heart was pounding when I got upstairs. Today, I hardly notice it. Other stair-specific parameters might be muscle strain/tiredness and joints, especially left knee. Maybe I can assign a number. 0-5, 0 being no discomfort, 5 being really bad.

At bedtime, I still feel like I'm very near complete recovery, and plan to hike tomorrow.