Why do you keep hitting your head with a hammer?
Posted On Sunday, April 18, 2010 at at 8:53 PM by MTB Man"Because it feels so good when I stop!"
Everybody who has experienced any kind of prolonged pain knows the euphoria of suddenly being pain free.
I am experiencing that euphoria.
I don't pretend to suggest that my pain is in any way comparable to the chronic, intractable pain that many people endure for years and years, nevertheless, it has been very wearying to sit for 8 hours a day at the computer at my work with the shoulder pain and hand numbness that I have experienced the past few months.
Today, since just before I took my bike ride at about 1PM I have not experienced any pain and very little numbness and tingling in the fingers of my right hand. It makes me very happy to say the least. Ecstatic, in fact!
The bike ride was just phenomenal. I didn't even have that right shoulder pain that I have had for years that especially manifests itself when pulling up on the handlebars while climbing or pedaling out of the saddle. And I think my body is starting to respond to the base building I have been doing. That is, taking it easy, doing controlled workouts in the gym at a very low intensity, just getting my body used to being in the saddle and spinning.
Today's ride was just over an hour. Again, I didn't try to hammer it and I wasn't particularly trying to take it easy either. Just have fun and do what I feel like doing. I hit some of the rollers pretty hard just to see how fast I could get on the downhill side and then on the climb, tried to keep my cadence above 80 RPMs. Then, when I felt tired or winded, I just backed off. That's what's great about the variety of terrain around here. It just makes for natural interval training.
Anyway, I was able to drink from the bottle, without pain, throwing my head back and I could also look right, over my right shoulder to check for traffic without any pain. Outstanding!
Ride stats:
14.6 miles
time: 1hr 7min
Average heart rate: 128
max heart rate: 159
Calories burned:748
time in hr zone 1:20%
zone 2:64%
zone 3: 14%
av cadence: 75 RPM
av speed: 13.1 mph
