Is fatigue settling in?

Welcome back my friends! I've got a few things I wanted to share before we get into what I did this week.

As I mentioned earlier, I am now using the Strava app to record my bike rides and participate with my friends there. After I got things set up the way I wanted, I was looking at the data I had in MapMyRide and really wished I could have that in my Strava account.

As any good geek does with a challenge, you look to Google. I did a quick search on if it was possible and how it was done. I discovered that there was indeed a way to transfer the data. I was able to get all but one of my rides in MMR exported and imported into Strava. The only ride that I couldn't get imported was the very first ride here in Wisconsin. It appears that there is some issue with the data that causes an error when I try to import it into Strava. It wasn't a particularly worthy ride, so not having it is something I can live with.

The next item of business has to do with my shoulder pain. For about the last six months or so, I've had an intense pain in my shoulder that only occurred when I tried to lift my arm above the shoulder height. I spoke with my doctor about it and we did an x-ray, but it was inconclusive. The next step was to do an MRI. The results came back it is a partial rotator cuff tear. I now have a referral to the sports medicine clinic to figure out what our next step is to alleviate the pain and try to correct the damage as best as we can. 

The frustrating part for me at this point is that because of the tear, I can't swim. The range of motion required to swim requires that the shoulders' movements be free and flexible. It has been something I've been thinking about for a while now, well before the x-ray and MRI results. My hope is that swimming will be back in my future soon.

September 10, 2024: 11.24 miles

On Tuesday, I was feeling a bit sore in the legs and back. I wanted to take a ride that wasn't as hilly as the routes I usually take. Thinking about it, I decided to ride the Glacial Drumlin State Trail. I don't remember if I've shared this in the past, but this trail was once a railroad. Once the railroad stopped using the tracks, communities can get the rights to take the tracks and convert it to a general purpose walking/biking trail.

The Glacial Drumlin Trail essentially connects Madison with Milwaukee, on an approximately 52 mile path. The trail actually starts in my community, so I rode down to the trail head and hit the trail. Being that this was once a railroad, it is relatively flat, especially compared to the streets that surround it. I just love riding on this trail.

I rode out to where the trail crosses Jargo Road. In total the ride ended up being 11.24 miles. The benefit of being a flat, hard pact dirt trail, it gave me the opportunity to really do some speed work. I was able to get up to speed and keep it there for a while. On the street I am climbing hills, then descending. It just doesn't work as well for continuous workouts.

The ride went well, with no surprises. It was exactly what I needed!

September 15, 2024: 11.98 miles

Usually my plan is to ride for three days every week, but this week only had two rides. Even before Tuesday's ride, I was really feeling run down and with many sore muscles, mainly in my legs and lower back. My speculation is that they are fatigued from the regular riding I've been doing, especially since I haven't been riding this regular in many, many years.

Knowing that I wasn't feeling great, I still went on a ride on Tuesday (see above). On Wednesday I was really feeling the pain of sore muscles, so I decided that my next ride was going to be decided on how I was feeling that morning. Normally I would have ridden on Thursday, but I still wasn't feeling great. With other commitments, I wasn't able to get in another ride until Sunday. I had intentions of making it an 'easy' ride but my ambitious aspirations turned it into another full length ride. 

The ride started with a ride to the trailhead of my favorite trial, the Glacial Drumlin State Trail. I rode the first 1½ miles of the trail, which intersects Uphoff Road. From there, I took Uphoff Road south/west, then up the Vilas Road loop. The rest of the ride is working way back to our place.

I was still feeling sore in both my legs and my lower back. The thought crossed my mind that maybe this is the usual aching muscles from transitioning from a sedentary lifestyle to doing exercise regularly.

Another think to share was the fact that for this ride, I absentmindedly started MapMyRide at the start of the ride, instead of Strava. Lucky for me, I was able to export the ride data from MMR and import it into Strava. It paid off learning how to do this for my previous rides! 

Seeing a lot of Bucky Badger pride!

The totals

With missing one day this week, my weekly mileage total was only 23.22 miles. Those miles are added to what I've already ridden, making for my monthly total at 69.57 miles and 201.49 miles for the year (since the end of July). Nothing spectacular, but I'm proud of it and hope to get in as many as I can before the weather turns cold and makes the bike riding not an option.