Riding the Rollercoaster of Pain

Monday Monday Monday.  Meh.

Who do I need to talk to to make 3 day weekends the norm?  Two days goes by so quickly.  Friday night we went out to Woody's with a couple of our friends.  They've now experienced the best burger in the West End of Toronto. 

Saturday G and I slept in a bit and had a nice lazy morning before we decided to hit the trails.  Of course once we got to Albion Hills it started snowing.  I'm not confident enough in my mountain biking ability to handle slick conditions, especially rocks and roots.  So there was a lot of "oh boy" "oh shit" and "uh-oh" on Saturday's ride.  The snow didn't stick around but it did a great job of pelting me in the face and beading on my glasses so I couldn't really see.  So it wasn't a lot of fun because I spent most of the time being frustrated (because I couldn't see) and scared (because I couldn't see).  We did, however, see 3 deer while we were making our way through one of the single track paths.  They watched us warily and eventually wandered away as we meandered through the path.  That was pretty amazing.  Especially since it was super quiet.  

The deer were literally that-a-way!

G was quite patient with me and took me on paths that he thought I'd be ok riding.  He was pretty good in judging what I could handle and what I couldn't.  There was some more walking on some of the more rooty and rocky trails.  But I managed to make it through one entire trail without walking.  Yup, I made Albion Witch my bitch, ha. 

Lots of pine needles on the last few paths we were on.

 We got home around 2:00 pm and we spend the rest of the afternoon chilling out.  I tested out my new wobble board and lasted all of 30 seconds.  I think I need to stick with the bosu for now, ha ha.

Sunday was G's last cyclocross race of the year and it was really close to home so I went to swimming, left a bit early and made my way over to Kingsmill Park to cheer him on. 

G takes his colour co-ordination seriously.

 I had to leave early to get on a call for work.  Thankfully that was only 30 minutes.  I hopped on my bike and did a 60 minute workout from the Watts Up Home Cycling program.  After that I went out for a 6km run.  And there it was again.  My knee pain.  It had been bothering me all week.  My ride last Sunday irritated everything and they haven't felt normal since.  This week, I switched my bikes as I thought it was my tri bike that was causing the problem.  Nope.  I rode my road bike yesterday and when I went for a short run an hour later, my knees were killing me.  I am beyond frustrated right now.  I can't do half the things I used to do at the gym without having some kind of pain in my knees.  I have been diligent about doing my physio work and keeping my glutes and hips strong.  I'm working on my ankle and foot mobility.  I am really losing hope that I will ever be 100% pain free again.

I am going to get my bike fit looked at on both my tri bike and my road bike as those seem to be triggers.  It's funny though I never really had any knee pain riding either of these bikes in the summer.  I definitely know I had no pain when I was racing.  Maybe part of the answer lies in a really long warm up (i.e the swim).  I don't know.  I am getting desperate.  My chiropractor mentioned trying shockwave therapy so that may be the next step.  For now, ice and Voltaren have been my best friends.

Anyway, I'm still trying to keep my head up and keep moving forward in whatever way my body allows me to.  On that note this is what went down last week.

Monday:  2150m swim
Tuesday: 6km run + 50 minutes of strength work
Wednesday:  1800m swim
Thursday:  6km run, 50 minutes of strength work in the a.m.  60 minute recovery ride in p.m.
Friday:  OFF
Saturday:  60 minutes of mountain biking
Sunday:  1000m of backstroke & drills, 60 minute ride + 6km run.

Total time:  8 hours.  Intensity level was pretty easy this week.

I'm only working 3 days this week as it's American Thanksgiving and G has it off, so I've taken it off as well.  There will be some more mountain biking and hopefully some yoga and a lot of down time.  I feel like I need it.

Did you get snow this weekend? American friends, what are your plans for Thanksgiving?