Sometimes it seems that injuries heal quicker if you don’t stop riding. Or at least that has been the case this week with my a minor quad injury.
I tweaked something in the left side on last Sunday’s training ride pushing a bit hard up a hill out of frustration – I was having a rubbish day and struggling to keep up – and thought I might have to resort to time off the bike. But, as it turned out, the injury was one of those that was more painful if I tried walking places than if I shifted down a couple of gears on the commute and tried to spin with minimal pressure on the muscle.
By the middle of the week it had almost cleared up so I have been able to start pushing my effort a bit again. Not too much but just enough to feel like I am making an effort.
Hopefully, if the weather is suitable, I’ll be making my first effort at criterium racing tomorrow at Eastway. I’m fully prepared for being shelled out the back and suffering repeatedly for an hour and five laps. I’ve been told the pace should be fairly brisk and that I should concentrate hard on avoiding finding myself on the front.
At the same time I’m also really looking forward to it as it’s a new challenge to fill the space left in my season after the Etape. I need something to keep me motivated as otherwise I tihnk I’d be slacking off and getting fat for winter. Not that I haven’t got fat as it is – I’ve already put on a few kilos since the Etape and last time I weighed myself I was pushing 75kg, which is possibly on the heavy side for my height of 167cm.