by As I mentioned in my last entry, I received a free training plan from Full Potential Coaching courtesy of the BHF. So far I’ve been able to follow all the red ‘must do’ sessions. I think it’s starting to make a difference! The plan includes one long ride a week which is getting longer each week. There are also technique and interval sessions as well as easy rides.
My long ride this week was four hours riding in heart rate zones 2-3, including some zone 3 intervals. I ride the intervals around a quiet local loop which doesn’t have much traffic.
I managed over 100km which is good for morale, and my legs didn’t run out of energy near the end. However, I was having some knee aches as a result of my bike fit.
Bike fit
I had a bike fit and physio session on Saturday which was very helpful. I have had sore calf muscles for a long time now, and I was under the impression that the muscles were tight (as well as my IT band). However, it turns out my muscles aren’t tight but just overworked! The bike fit showed that I pedal with my toes pointing downwards and that my knee doesn’t extend as much as it should. This results in my calf muscles having to do a lot more work than would be expected.
My saddle and cleats have been moved back a little so now my pedal stroke is more effective and I’m not using my calves so much. I’ve also been diagnosed with a condition in my quadriceps tendon which requires rehab. I have some exercises to do each day which should eventually help. As I wrote earlier, the long ride was causing my knees to ache at the tendon. Hopefully I can make progress with the rehab and get things working again.