Training again

Distance: 21.8km
Duration: 1:37:05
Terrain: Single track and some forest road to join the trails
Calories: 1577
June mileage: 136.7km

My zigzag route to recovery has taken a step in the right direction with me joining the group training this morning. The ankle is still not 100% but as long as I can move the the foot up and down I guess I can ride. There's no serious pain afterwards so I just take it sort of easy on the rides to keep the fitness up. However, this morning was a step up from my regular dawdling in zone 2. We did some spinup's along the flats to help with speed and cadence. Basically its a gradual increase in cadence till you max out in thirty second jumps. The key here is cadence and not power so you don't need big gears. Then things got better with work on our base and the technical stuff, single track. The mountain where we train is full of single track and some of in is really technical so we wound our way up and down these artery's to get the blood in full motion and the legs warmed for our last and my favorite part. Hill repeats in HUGE gears. I was feeling great this morning and ate up the hill, seems like I've managed to get stronger with all this rest as I did some of the biggest gears when going up the hill. So thouroughly enjoyed the ride and am now in R.I.C.E mode again as Trio suggested.

Swollen

The state of the ankle. Not sore or anything just all big and nasty. Decided to rest it up some more, partly becasue I need to rest the leg, partly due to puncture that I still haven't mended, partly because I forgot to pop into the shop yesterday to buy the tubeless setup stuff. I will go this evening to pick the stuff up. On the way home I was detoured by luck as a car was on fire just ahead of me. The accident apparently had just taken place and I was near a off ramp to get around unscathed. I took the long way home and thus completely forgot about the tires that needing fixing while I was watching the black smoke billowing from the carnage.
In other news seems like summer has brought about the need for ink. Renee and Big Ring have taken there passion for the sport to a whole new level by permanently branding themselves. I've thought about it for a long time but I change my mind so often that getting a tattoo would leave me looking like Mickey Mouse faster than you can say ouch. The needle also aren't exactly what I want to spend an afternoon worrying about.

Climb to the castle of Yehiam

Distance: 34.1km
Time: 2:02:00
Calories: 1591
Terrain: Jeep track with some meaty climbs saved solely for us mountain goats
June mileage: 114.9km

The great thing I have to say about staying in Israel is being able to hop on the bike and travel back in time. Decided to do a long/historic/exploratory ride this morning with some serious saddle time, 3 hours or more. The reason I'm able to squeeze this in on a Monday is becasue we're celebrating Shavuot here in Israel but more on that after the ride, you need to earn those calories. I woke up early feeling a bit crabby and rusty from yesterday's ride, pushed it a bit harder than I thought by the feeling of it. Took me a while to get the legs turning without the squeeling noises coming from my body. First thing I realized was that I had not eaten well yesterday and the tanks were empty, amazing how quickly you feel it. I had some gel in the back pocket but decided to keep them there for the bonk that never came. Glad about that as burned some more calories. I was not feeling well and by the time I reached the castle sitting half way up the climb I was not keen to continue, I had the added calculation that the grass needed cutting before the family came over. So after an hour of climbing I made my turn and was a bit disappointed that I would not be able to put in the full hours I wanted or get the kilometers under the belt. What goes up must come down and boy was it fun. Yet another puncture when I arrived home so it'll be off to the shop tomorrow to convert it to tubeless again. Need to fill up the back tire in anyway, the amount of thorns fighting their way into your path here makes some form of anti-puncture treatment there, solid rubber is not unheard of.
Back to the delicious part of the blog. Shavuot is a day of cheeses,more cheese and then just to top it off some more for good measure. We had white cheese, blue cheese, yellow cheese, cottage cheese, broccoli cheese pie, cheese and mushroom pie, cheese and zatar borekas, greek salad and finally a dessert of cheese cake. It was cheese all round and definitely my favorite holiday.

Blue, green and purple

Distance: 42.5km
Duration: 2:07:32
Calories: 1694
Terrain: 40% Tarmac, 40% Dirt roads and the remaining sweet technical hill that with amazing single track. Well worth the effort to the top
June Total: 80.8km

All the colors that belong in the rainbow but somehow have manifested themself on my swollen ankle. The last few days I've been limping around, well not quite limping because I decided to keep the leg up with ice on it as much as possible. Seems to have worked its magic the great acronym R.I.C.E. Rest Ice Compress Elevation. The ankle's swelling has come down slightly and the color has gone from blue to purple but more importantly the pain has faded. Albeit that I don't have lateral flexibility but am able to move the foot up and down, all that I need to pedal so I was on my bike this morning. Felt no pain from the time I was clipped in till I returned. Wrapped the ankle in ice this afternoon and then compressed with a bandage so I'll see how it is tomorrow as I want to put in about four or five hours on the bike tomorrow. Should be interesting.
The ride today was through the banana fields and then up to a place called Hanita. Awesome climbing hill but decided not to go all the way up because the single track leading down is situated half way up. The stream has carved out a small canyon that wind's its way over and up rock faces with tree branched reaching down to knock you off balance. I really love the area just don't get up there much. The way back was along the beach front with crazy head wind, rather strange as the wind is usually the other way around.

Trip home and a swollen ankle

Distance: 20.2km
Duration: 01:22:44
Calories: 1134
Terrain: Hilly rocky jeep track
June Mileage: 38.3km

Trip home last night was a bit longer than expected and also a bit more challenging than I thought. The 4:30 wake up definitely set in in the afternoon and it was warmer than I thought it would be, I guess summer has sort of snuck up on me sitting in a nice air conditioned office all day. Not sure how Whitey and Groover manage to get up every morning like this but a 4:30 start makes for a super long day. One thing I can say about commuting is that after a long day with everyone jumping on your head there's nothing more stress relieving that hopping on the bit and feeling the miles soak up the tension. The trip back was great as I left the laptop at work and was more into exploring mode than getting to work on time mode. There are so many trails going off in cross roads that I can't see this getting boring anything soon.
That was yesterday and this morning I just could wake up. Dead tired and I was feeling the legs from all the hills. I haven't climbed for a while and being a keen lover of inclines I sort of lost myself in the moment. Just coming back from the Achilles injury I thought it would be better to take it easy and build up slowly for the commuting. Wise decision but completely ruined by my irrational choice of going for a game of soccer here on the kibbutz. The guys generally play and I arrived home from work thinking I'd take an easy ride to keep the muscles loose. I heard they were playing so thought about running around for cross training. But luck saw me go up for a header and land on my ankle. I felt it go and I'm sitting here with ice trying to get the swelling down feeling sorry for myself. We also have four days of holiday coming up, perfect for long rides to get the legs strong. What will I do now?

Been on the down low

Distance: 42.2
Duration: 1:56:22
Calories: 1657
Terrain: 70% service roads, 30% tarmac
May Mileage: 295.1

As you can see by the time I'm back on track. Went out after work today for a spin up towards the northern border. Been wanting to check out if there was a way to get to the forests of Hanita only by the service roads so I wouldn't have to ride on the road. I found a way so I will be incorporating this little jaunt into my book of rides from now on, especially as it hits the two hour mark which is what I'm looking to spend on the bike. I didn't go up to the forest but back along the beach road. Was a brilliant afternoon although I started out a bit tired. Difficult coming home from work and then jumping on the bike after sitting on my lard all day staring at my flickering screen. My heart rate shot up really fast which was a further indicator that I was tired but I kept turning and about half an hour in I got into a rhythm, it may have been earlier but i noticed it at about this stage. So just pedaled along in Zone 2, at least high zone two range to get some work into these legs of mine. Went really well and this evening not feeling the Achilles at all. I'll ice them down just before bed time and the tomorrow its back with the group. Won't be doing anything hectic as Ofir has told me to work my way back up building my volume. So all in all a good bike day, as good as I've had since getting back from the trip. I'll try put in about two hours again tomorrow, it'll be hilly so another test of the tendons.

Pushing on

Distance: 37.6km
Duration: 1:40:25
Calories: 1246
Terrain: 50% Asphalt, 50% Service roads
May Mileage: 252.9km

This mornings ride was a great ride, the first in a long time that I was able to push it a bit. I went along the service roads around the fields so that I could get a little grit between the teeth and get the smell of dust in my nostrils. normally I would not be that keen but with my current situation i would probable bath in the stuff. Enough on my personal hygiene and back to the ride. The roads wind between banana and avocado fields with no real climbing just the occasional rise. I managed to keep my heart rate up there and the cadence pretty high. I've found that it helps to keep the cadence high rather than pushing the high gears, a could tip to anyone coming back from an Achilles injury. After getting to the asphalt along the beach where I was pedaling last week I pushed into tempo mode for about ten minutes and felt great. I met a friend along the way, which turned out to be a blessing as i cut back down on my pace and coasted along with him. Great start to the week and hopefully will be building some more as I go along.

Single Track

Kilometers: 13.2km
Duration: 1:11:52
Calories: 967
Terrain: Single track in the hills, rocks&drops, bit of pumping. Very dry and packed. Either up or down no flats
May Mileage: 192km

Great to be back on a bit of single track. Been bit unmotivated lately and yesterday didn't go out for a ride. Two reasons for that, firstly the football game went into overtime and penalties and then I was just to lazy to get out in the afternoon. I hate myself afterwards when I don't go out but was pretty tired after not getting much sleep, I knew this becasue I get really grumpy when I'm tired and I was a real grouch in the afternoon.

Back to today's ride. Went out with Erez and Omri into Misgav, one of the top area's for cycling in Israel and the place of last years Championships. I can also add that this is our training ground so I loved getting back after been out of practice for over a month. So played around but I was very gentle on the Achilles and had to jealously watch as they were working on the technical pieces. As you can see we didn't do much but jst going out and playing around in the hills was great fun.

Coach returns

So Ofir, my coach, returned today from the European Champs that took over the weekend. He was there with the Israeli MTB champion, Rotem Ishai. I had a chat with him about the injury and where I can go from here with regards to the season and what I will need to do. Just a short one and I'll be speaking with him tomorrow when I go to team practice for the first time in about a month and a half. Looking forward to getting back onto some single track although I'll just be trundling through so keep my wheels turning. I mentioned I'd been doing hour and a half session's at just above recovery pace. He said this was the best thing to do so I don't loose any of that building, the little I've done this season. Being my first year I'm not sure what to expect after this injury or where I can go the rest of the season. I'll try update on this after I've have a proper talk with him. Today was a rest day and just sitting watching the carnage of the Giro. Man these boys seem to be riding on ice while the chase just put in attack after attack. Hope you enjoying the riding. Today will be a complete sport day for me becasue this evening the Champions League takes place in Moscow.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CHELSEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the mend

Kilometers: 28.2km
Duration: 1:13:38
Calories: 842
Terrain: Flat tarmac
May Mileage: 28.2km

Tender is about all I can say right now. I have not been pushing it but I did up the tempo a bit. Glad to report that no pain but I was aware that I'm coming off an injury. Can't explain how frustrating it is to ride so slow!! Decided I'd also start posting my mileage and monthly miles so I can keep track of it online while I throw an spreadsheet together that I can draw fancy graph's with. I must though give the inspiration to Jill, who would make most of us look like wimps when it came to daily mileage as she racks up the training and commuting miles. Dreaming about commuting to work as soon as I'm feeling 80% without any serious pain. The tendons were creaking today which is weird but luckily not painful.

And down again....

If you read yesterday's post about my recovery, it looks like I jinxed myself. Woke up this morning and the Achilles were tight again... I reckon I will go along with Jason to the next sacrifice to the cycling gods or visit the Museo del Cyclismo.

Up we go

Todays things have gotten much better on the Achilles front. Went for my beach ride up towards the white cliff's of Rosh Ha'nikra. Had the wind in my face for the northern part but kept my cadence high and the heart rate down. I was feeling great all the way up without any pulling or pain so once I got to the turn around point I decided to up the ante. I had the wind on my back so geared up a gear or two and pushed the pedals a bit harder. I was on the lookout all the way back to check if anything was out of sorts but all the tendons were well behaved. Haven't had a ride like that in a while so to my surprise when I got to work I was feeling the legs. It was the first time that I was smirking at feeling the pain in my legs after training. So anothe easy week and I should be on my way back to getting into race shape. Thats a story for another day and right now its just concentrating on taking it easy and resting up. So I'm about to put my feet up, wrapped in ice and enjoy House. There's nothing like dark twisted comedy to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Painless

Well today I was undecided about riding. Back and forth between riding or not. I wanted to go out this morning but there was lighting and thunder!!! This may sound normal for some folks but over here by the time May comes around water is the last thing falling out the air. So I snuggled under the blanket and went back to sleep. I was feeling my Achilles the whole day, testing to see if it was in any condition to go for a ride. I eventually made my mind up this afternoon to stop being scared and be more positive. After reading Dave's Blog I thought that I needed to be more positive in my outlook on life. So off i went on my merry little way willing my weakest point to keep itself in check. It worked, I think the fact that I was not concentrating on saving my heels from pain and just relaxing to enjoy the ride. I wasn't tense, just turning the pedals at a high cadence but lower gear to keep the pressure off. Anyone coming back from and Achilles injury on a bike should just remember to take it slow. I worked at a recovery pace the entire ride after Monday's ride where I felt the burn coming back when I was anywhere above that. At about three quarters of an hour in I started feeling that they were taking strain so I knocked off the pace and returned home. All in all I did just under an hour and a half. Very easy and relaxed. Another point that I'd like to put ouyt there although I can't test it for sure is that a single speed may improve the recovery ride. I shifted into my desired gear for the cadence I wanted to stay at and kept it there the entire ride without changing again. This may also have contributed to lack of pain but don't put money on it.

Return

On my bike for the first time since getting back from the trip. Been six days since I've been on a bike and more than two weeks since I've been on a bike weighing race weight. We were carrying an extra twenty kilograms around on our touring and the bike was an old beater which added another five kilograms to the tally. The achilles has still, excuse the pun, been my weak spot for the week. I've been limping around trying to save them from as much action as possible. Quite difficult when that basically means I would need to be off my legs. Well I made sure to take it easy this ride and did a ride with Ofir and Omri so they were also still fresh off the long ride. Decided that hills would be detrimental to an quick recovery but still wanted to get back on the bike. We went up to Ein Tamir, translated as Tamir's Spring. You go up a canyon that has a old crusader castle protecting the way. Montfort basically means strong mountain and is one of the old crusader relic's left in the region. A beautiful castle built of white stone and nestled inside the oak forest's endemic to this area. We rode here because the road is pretty flat with a gentle rise to the spring although there is one kicker but I really took it easy up the hill and rode as slow as possible in the lowest gear. So the round trip was about 30km, I didn't have my heart rate monitor with me because I still haven't transfered everything from. Was a bit of a blessing, one less thing to worry about. We got to the spring without any problems and Ofir's girlfriend Orli had joined us. Glad she came along because the pace was more manageable for me. We had some coffee, sandwiches and then a dip in the ice cold mountain water. Quite unimaginable that there would be a place like this in a dry country like Israel but these places exist and its amazing to find them hidden away. Like jewels where in other countries they lie scattered all over. I hope to show more of these gems as I find them. The racing has taken me away from the fun part of riding and to get back to these roots is brilliant.