Bug Fighting Fitness / Bosses du 13 Photos

End of October looming up and was still able to go for a ride up to 1200m altitude wearing tee shirt and shorts. Days like this are becoming few and far between now so each opportunity has to be seized.

Still hadn’t recovered from Sunday and ended up with a slow time – about 7 minutes below my best on a 90 minute workout. Oddly I seemed to get stronger over the last section and recovered about one minute over the final few kilometres. Worked on pushing high gears most of the time – linked with strong use of the core muscles. It’s just great to be out in the fresh air.

I’ve noticed that much more power can be applied when the coordination is correct – that is – the hip moves backwards as the foot pushes forwards. The power comes from a re-alignment of the body to focus all the power through that hip joint – exploiting the hamstrings and glutes to extend the hip joint and the quads to extend the knee – combined with the core power from pulling up strongly with the other leg using the psoas, hamstrings and calves to flex everything on that side. The problem is that so much power goes through the knee that it can start to cause knee pain. I guess that when pushing big gears with lots of power this is something that might be expected – so increases should probably be made gradually. I only get very slight occasional twinges at the site of an old but serious injury – nothing more than that.

Despite the disappointment of having a damaged Achilles tendon and being unable to run I’m happy to have avoided (so far) the first round of flu and colds. Perhaps having reduced the training level has helped there – the body can use its fitness to fight bugs effectively instead.