Salut! From a slightly damp France.
After my last blog update its been an up and down week. It all began on Monday, the day after Manche Atlantique so a rec spin was in order. Not much to report on as sun was out and I tapped along admiring the view and still marvelling at the lack of cars and amazing roads. Monday evening, and still with this lingering pain in leg I ventured to a recommended physio in Bubry.
A short 15 min drive away, I arrived for my 7pm appointment. Unlike the physio I'd seen the week before this one spoke English and we were able to converse without hand gestures (always a bonus!) Soon I was wired up to a machine sending pulses through my leg and basically making my legs look like they were attached to an amp. Very strange, but was told it would get all the toxins out of my legs.
An hour later, and slightly cheaper than other physio, I was interested to see if this treatment would have the desired effect.
Tuesday, an easy couple of hours was prescribed to me by the physio, pain free as well, fixed??
Wednesday, Leg seeming ok I went back to training. Today consisted on working on weaknesses, namely my poor excuse for a sprint! I am very lucky to have a perfect few kms of pan flat road literally a km from my house, along the river.
A 30 min warm up and I began my sprints of 20-30 secs or so varying the gears and with a couple of minutes easy in between to recover. Managing 10 sprints I can say was enough! Great timing as I then met up with Sam Allen and we rode to the team ride meeting in Lochrist. Arriving early, a quick coffee, and we met with the other 4 riders and headed off in the direction of Lorient. Heading back and with just over 4 hours on the clock and good days training had been had.
Thursday
Sweetspot! A session working just under threshold to raise threshold and work on the engine. A favourite session of mine and one I always seem to go well after. Again an hour steady before and then headed for climb into Bubry which I did 4 times at sweetspot. The first 3 of these were good yet soon the dreaded leg began to play up! Easing off and very frustrated I rode back home, not sorted it would seem.
The good news today was Russell Clarke of The John Ibbotson Fund http://www.johnibbotsonfund.com had arrived for a few days. After all the help the fund and Russell had given me it was nice to catch up and see how things were progressing. A meal with The Mills', Russell and Sam Allen at a nice restaurant that evening ended a busy day on a good note at least.
Friday
A day off the bike. After a few jobs to be jobbed and lots of lying around watching day time tv I headed up for another visit to the physio. Again more massage and another session on the machine. Diagnosis is inflammation in the IT band, not serious, so he says, possibly due to position (although not sure), overuse or just bad luck. Either way I am told to try a short ride with a couple of efforts tomorrow and more ice on it and if pain free to try and race Sunday.
Today
Well an hour and a half with some efforts and leg felt ok, so gonna try racing tomorrow. If problems tomorrow I think rest and bike away till problems reside is the only option. So will see.
Good news though is phone and internet back at house, so no more extra strong coffees at internet cafe in town but does mean I can save a small fortune on coffee at least!
Baud-Moreac, otherwise known as Circuit du Morhiban tomorrow. Another Elite National event. Starting a mere 7km from my house I think thereforethis can be described as a local event! 101km point to point then 8x6km finishing laps.
Will keep you posted if leg holds up and how it goes!
Wish me luck!
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