Thursday, March 18, 2010

Back into it... yep really back into it this time...


So now I know what it feels like to be in training mode again. Real training. The tiredness and fatigue after long hours on the bike; the muscle soreness... but it’s really quite agreeable.

I was talking to my sports massage therapist last week (Jason @ BFL) and he pointed something out that I guess I didn’t really think about beforehand. He said that when I was most affected by my iron deficiency problem, I would not have been able to push myself as hard during training or racing as I currently can. In doing so, I was actually not placing as much stress and strain on my body, and hence the lack of muscle soreness. Obviously I was still tired when my iron levels were low, but in a different sort of way.

I can say now that fatigue from illness or another medical problem certainly feels different to the fatigue I am currently experiencing when I am ‘healthier’. Fatigue simply from a high training load is a good type of fatigue!

So, as much as it presently hurts more than ever to see my massage therapist, it actually feels really awesome that I have sore muscles again!
I realise that this was just one of the things I was missing during training at the end of last year (... not to mention the enjoyment I am getting out of racing again!).

(And a quick thanks to Adrian Booth @ Boomtime Cycling for helping create some more muscle soreness each week!).