More biking, and revisiting TRX

Last Sunday I decided to temporarily ban myself from biking in addition to running.  Unclipping from the pedal was very clearly making my ankle worse instead of better.  Twisting motions are not great for sprained ankles...  I succeeded in taking off both Sunday and Monday, but by Tuesday afternoon I was getting very restless and craving exercise.  As much as I wanted to go for a run, I also really wanted to be smart and not run too soon.  After two days without biking, the swelling was finally receding, but I could tell my ankle still wasn't strong.  Finally, it occurred to me that I could do a light TRX workout.  Way back when I had a gym membership years and years ago, I used to do a 5:30 AM TRX class 3 times a week, and I loved it.  At some point after I stopped being able to justify the monthly membership expense, I made my own TRX straps at home, and rigged them off my pull-up bar.  I used them for awhile, then moved on to other things.  They collected dust for a long time, until I decided to get back to it this week.  TRX can be as hard or as easy as you want to make it.  I kept it pretty simple this week, not adding jumps to any of the exercises, because of my ankle.  I found out very quickly that my core is even weaker than I thought it was, so hopefully I will be able to commit to doing TRX a few times a week now, so that I can strengthen my core.  It will help a lot with the biking back pain!

I spent a good bit of time debating whether or not I wanted to switch the pedals on my bike.  I didn't really want to go to the trouble, but I also suspected that my ankle really wouldn't be able to handle unclipping for awhile, and I knew I was going to want to supplement running with biking as I try to ease back in. I finally made the decision when my friend Lauren texted Wednesday morning to ask if I wanted to bike that afternoon.  I told her I would if I could get my pedal situation resolved in time.  My beloved cage pedals were on the old Schwinn bike, which is stashed in the hall closet, waiting for the day when I might feel like riding on the river trail.  Thankfully, Merrick had a pedal wrench with him at school, and I was able to bring it home.  I was skeptical about how long it would take me, but it was supposed to be easy.  (Generally I run into problems when things are supposed to be easy, and they end up being very time-consuming, frustration-creating, and tear-inducing before I finally get them done).  It ended up taking longer to unearth the bike from the closet than it did to get the pedals off.  So that was a relief.  Then I turned to the SuperSix to take off the clip pedals.  And immediately discovered that the pedal wrench was the wrong size for them.  But, since I now only had one bike to deal with, I didn't mind riding it down to the shop, with the cage pedals in hand, so Stu could switch them out for me.  Mission accomplished.

me being skeptical about the task ahead

cage pedals look so monstrous after the little tiny clip pedals...

This week : 

T : 30 min light TRX

W : bike 20.7 w/Lauren / 16.1 mph / 1588 ft

R : bike 11.1 / 16 mph / 1119 ft 

15 min TRX

Sa : 20 min TRX

sweatfest 35 min / 16.2 mph

Su : sweatfest 1:30 / 14.8 mph

bike miles : 63.5

Both Wednesday's and Thursday's rides were very windy.  Lauren and I had a great ride on Wednesday.  It was the first time we ever rode together, and I am looking forward to many more rides together, I think we will really be able to push each other out there.  The wind made the ride harder than it should have been, and it made it hard to talk much, because I could barely hear anything over the wind!  On Thursday, it was even windier, and I had to give up after just a short ride, because I was afraid I was going to get blown off the road or into a car, and the last thing I need right now is more injuries...  The rest of the week was various combinations of cold, windy, and rainy, so I decided to play it safe and bike inside.  

It is supposed to be rather chilly this week (why is the first week of spring colder than the last week of winter?!) so I'm not sure what biking will end up looking like.  I do plan to try running again, starting with tomorrow's Pub Run.  I haven't run at all since the Pub Run 2 weeks ago.  I will see how tomorrow goes, and then decide what to do from there.  Walking is painless, and I just happened to run down the stairs while I was doing laundry yesterday, and that didn't hurt either.  So I imagine running will be fine as long as I am very careful with the terrain.  No jumping into ditches allowed.