1speed
Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Not a blog - just figured this is the most likely correct location for this ... So a while back I mentioned some back issues I was dealing with in some other post (can't remember where) and I got some good advice from folks here who had dealt with issues themselves. I did ultimately get a diagnosis: two herniated discs. Yesterday I went in for my second of a three round regimen of epidural shots. That whole thing is an interesting experience because they put you under to give them to you (apparently, having a giant needle stuck into your spinal cord while you are awake is allegedly quite painful) and yet you're only under for like 20 minutes, which is not enough time to be able to register that any time has passed when you come out of it. I told my wife that I imagine this is the closest I will ever come to what it means to be dead without actually being dead -- it's just total nothingness and I have no concept of it. So, it's like I completely cease to exist for a short period of time. I've been under anesthesia many times, but usually it's for longer procedures and while I wake up without any memory, I do have the vague sense that time has passed. Not so with these shots. It's kind of freaky, and I imagine the one good difference between this and actual death is that in actual death I won't need to worry about it being freaky after the fact like it is now. I know .. I know ... that's some deep shit.
Anyway, I'd have to say that the shots have worked to an extent, but I'm learning that this may not be a magic bullet. I was told not to do anything for a few days after the shot just as a precaution, so I'm not allowed to ride until the weekend. They had me do the same thing after the first round. But that's fine - the one problem I had after the first round occurred a week later. Usually, every Thursday morning, I take a yoga class and I was feeling pretty good going into last Thursday a week out from my first shot, so I went to class. Bad idea. The rest of the week up until yesterday morning, I was acutely aware that my back felt not so much painful as very weak and a tiny bit sore again. And another thing I'm noticing on the bike is a bit more depressing: for some reason, I'm now experiencing these mini-spasms in both hamstrings (more so in my left) whenever I climb. You know the kind of spasms you get as a warning before you cramp up? That kind of quick twinge that tells you that you either have to slow down and adapt your ride or you're in for a rough time ahead? That's what I am feeling, except it happens on every hill and it never actually becomes cramps, and I don't know if that's because I've been doing the shit long enough where I have learned how to mindlessly adapt to forestall cramps (because I have learned to do that the hard way over the last few years) or if it's just a nerve thing resonating from this back issue that isn't really a harbinger of cramping at all. It just feels like it is. So while I've never been a huge fan of climbing, I've never really worried too much about it, but now every time I climb I feel like I know it's coming and I have to worry about it. I'd be lying if I said that I'm not really hoping this latest round does something to change all that, because it looks like my one go-to for keeping myself functional the last six years - yoga - may not be an option in the near future. I'm really hoping that isn't permanent, but if it's the only thing that causes me issues, I'll have to stop.
I'd also be lying if I said this hasn't made me wonder what I may have to avoid race-wise this year. I'm really hoping to go back to Shen this year and shoot for a personal goal that has thus far eluded me, and yet I'm still not registered because I kind of feel like I have to wait and see how this effects my ability to get in the shape I'd need to be in to hit my goal (and I am admittedly a long way off of that right now.) Moreover, I'm still planning to line up for SSAP in a week or so, but I'm pretty sure that even if my back feels okay, I'm just not going to be happy with how I ride there. I'l do it and I'll certainly have a good time -- always fun to ride with all the folks there -- but my legs will let me know on the first climb if I can even think about a good day, and that's not a great thing to be wondering about on the start line.
I'd love to just chalk all this up to aging and say "oh well" and just ride fun stuff at an easy pace or (even worse) put gears on my bike, but I'm just not ready to do that entirely. I've got a lot of open questions -- when I actually feel good, I have been riding okay but then I'll turn around and shit the bed the very next ride. I just set personal KOMs on two of my toughest private segments in Wiss a week ago, but then the very next night, I struggled to keep my average over 9 mph for my standard loop, something I haven't even had any issue doing in years when it's dry out there. And I didn't feel bad, per se, I just had no top end to push with. But then the next day I hit the road for 40 miles and felt really good most of the time. So I feel pretty inconsistent and it kind of sucks showing up to ride or race wondering which kind of day it's going to be. Luckily, I do still feel better deep into a ride than at the start, so I don't think my endurance is too impacted by all this crap, but I haven't really had a big test of that where there's a lot of climbing either -- something like Rothrock Trail Mix would tell me for sure if I can handle longer, harder rides, but honestly who wants to learn the answer to that is "nope" on a course like that? The last ten miles is basically one giant rock garden! I just don't know where i am right now, and I think that bugs me more than anything else.
Anyway, since I can't ride or exercise right now, just figured I'd spend my lunch hour exercising my typing fingers. Thanks for listening!
Anyway, I'd have to say that the shots have worked to an extent, but I'm learning that this may not be a magic bullet. I was told not to do anything for a few days after the shot just as a precaution, so I'm not allowed to ride until the weekend. They had me do the same thing after the first round. But that's fine - the one problem I had after the first round occurred a week later. Usually, every Thursday morning, I take a yoga class and I was feeling pretty good going into last Thursday a week out from my first shot, so I went to class. Bad idea. The rest of the week up until yesterday morning, I was acutely aware that my back felt not so much painful as very weak and a tiny bit sore again. And another thing I'm noticing on the bike is a bit more depressing: for some reason, I'm now experiencing these mini-spasms in both hamstrings (more so in my left) whenever I climb. You know the kind of spasms you get as a warning before you cramp up? That kind of quick twinge that tells you that you either have to slow down and adapt your ride or you're in for a rough time ahead? That's what I am feeling, except it happens on every hill and it never actually becomes cramps, and I don't know if that's because I've been doing the shit long enough where I have learned how to mindlessly adapt to forestall cramps (because I have learned to do that the hard way over the last few years) or if it's just a nerve thing resonating from this back issue that isn't really a harbinger of cramping at all. It just feels like it is. So while I've never been a huge fan of climbing, I've never really worried too much about it, but now every time I climb I feel like I know it's coming and I have to worry about it. I'd be lying if I said that I'm not really hoping this latest round does something to change all that, because it looks like my one go-to for keeping myself functional the last six years - yoga - may not be an option in the near future. I'm really hoping that isn't permanent, but if it's the only thing that causes me issues, I'll have to stop.
I'd also be lying if I said this hasn't made me wonder what I may have to avoid race-wise this year. I'm really hoping to go back to Shen this year and shoot for a personal goal that has thus far eluded me, and yet I'm still not registered because I kind of feel like I have to wait and see how this effects my ability to get in the shape I'd need to be in to hit my goal (and I am admittedly a long way off of that right now.) Moreover, I'm still planning to line up for SSAP in a week or so, but I'm pretty sure that even if my back feels okay, I'm just not going to be happy with how I ride there. I'l do it and I'll certainly have a good time -- always fun to ride with all the folks there -- but my legs will let me know on the first climb if I can even think about a good day, and that's not a great thing to be wondering about on the start line.
I'd love to just chalk all this up to aging and say "oh well" and just ride fun stuff at an easy pace or (even worse) put gears on my bike, but I'm just not ready to do that entirely. I've got a lot of open questions -- when I actually feel good, I have been riding okay but then I'll turn around and shit the bed the very next ride. I just set personal KOMs on two of my toughest private segments in Wiss a week ago, but then the very next night, I struggled to keep my average over 9 mph for my standard loop, something I haven't even had any issue doing in years when it's dry out there. And I didn't feel bad, per se, I just had no top end to push with. But then the next day I hit the road for 40 miles and felt really good most of the time. So I feel pretty inconsistent and it kind of sucks showing up to ride or race wondering which kind of day it's going to be. Luckily, I do still feel better deep into a ride than at the start, so I don't think my endurance is too impacted by all this crap, but I haven't really had a big test of that where there's a lot of climbing either -- something like Rothrock Trail Mix would tell me for sure if I can handle longer, harder rides, but honestly who wants to learn the answer to that is "nope" on a course like that? The last ten miles is basically one giant rock garden! I just don't know where i am right now, and I think that bugs me more than anything else.
Anyway, since I can't ride or exercise right now, just figured I'd spend my lunch hour exercising my typing fingers. Thanks for listening!
