This week was a rough one for me. My knee injury from last weeks 19 mile run ended up being pretty serious. Serious enough that I ended taking the entire week off from running. For the record, should I ever look back on this, it was the side of the knee area that killed. Not the knee cap, so I don't think I had "runners knee". Honestly, I think that it was IT band related. For those who don't know what the IT band is feel free to click this link, but long story short, it is a muscle that runs along the side of the leg from the hip to the knee. It is a crucial muscle and can be the culprit for many running injuries. Anyway, it was a tough week for two reasons. One, as the week progressed and my knee still hurt, I was concerned about the long term ramifications of this injury. Two, not doing anything active was driving me NUTS! However, Sunday through Friday I treated it with a steady receipt of stretching and a heating pad. By Thursday, I felt like I could test the waters with a spin class at the gym. Things ended up going great. I pushed hard and my knee felt good. Therefore, the plan was to continue to skip the running and plan to take my bike out on Sat for a challenging ride. I turned to my old pal favoriterun.com and mapped out a 40 mile route that would take me up to Pinnacle Peak area and back. Prior to this, 30 miles was the extent of my length in the saddle. Couple this with the fact that the first half of the ride would be uphill, and I knew that this would pose as great substitute to a 19 mile run. Hopefully my knee would think the same. I started at sunrise, 7:25ish. Brrrrr, it was cold. Thank goodness for cold weather cycling gear (beanie, arm warmer, layering tank top, and full fingered gloves)....they make all the difference. Plus they allow the flexibility to take off as things warm up later in the ride. This ride also brought with it another challenge...traffic. I'm still gaining experience and comfort with riding in traffic. The big one is making left hand turns from the left hand turn lane. It's one thing to be in a car and another on a bike, you feel very vulnerable. The key, I'm learning with cycling, like anything in life is confidence. You need to feel confident with your bike and the decisions you make on it. There is no room for hesitation. Luckily, 5 months on my bike has afforded me some comfort between me and my bike. The first 1/3 of the ride was feeling good, other than my feet being numb and a constant runny nose from the cold. I took a small pit stop at the Cine Capri area to blow my nose and fuel up with some Cytomax. I knew the challenging part lie ahead having done this part of the route. It is a steep incline through DC Ranch and up Pima to the Pinnacle Peak area. My speed slowed considerably and my quads were on FIRE. Much like running, I know that every hill has an end and downhill, so I just kept that in mind and pushed pedal over pedal.  Just before you reach the top (Dynamite Rd) you pass a scene right out of an old John Wayne movie. A row of stores and a steakhouse in an area called Reata Pass. Seriously, all it needed was a few tumbleweeds and I would have sworn that my bike hit 88 miles an hour and I was BACK TO THE FUTURE.  I couldn't resist so I pulled my bike up to the old hitchin post and I decided to GU, take some pictures and reward my self with a tiny break having just charged up that 1200 ft climb. No wonder my legs felt the way they did.Now the scary fun part.....downhill. Coming over a crest on Dynamite Rd, I assumed the position...no pun intended. Grab the drops, tuck myself in and pray nothing is in the road ahead. Reaching a speed of 30 miles an hour on a bike, again is quite the rush. The view is incredible...you can see the entire city sprawled out below. This picture didn't quite do the justice, but it's beautiful. Another reminder of why I love running and cycling.  I knew that the rest of the route was either downhill or flat, it was just a matter of whether or not my legs had it in them. As with running, there is a great deal is having good form, especially when your tired. Squeeze your thighs together keeping your knees in, relax your shoulders, keep your elbows slightly bent, back straight, pelvis forward, butt back, focus on your breathing....wow, that's a lot to remember. I made it back to the Cine Capri area and decided to hydrate and clear my head one last time. I was in the home stretch and although tired, it was all good. As I was stopped at the light at Bell Rd, I noticed my legs starting to shake....they were feeling like jello. I made it back in roughly 2 hours and 30 minutes. My legs were done, but my knee felt fine and most important was that I got in a high quality cardio workout that should keep me on track for the marathon. This weekend was a perfect example of the benefits of multi sport training and it felt great. My intention is to hit the pavement again this week on foot, I'm looking to finish the next 5 weeks strong before Chang's. Wish me luck, I'll keep ya posted! Activity
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