On Wednesday, I was planning to do a seven miler on the treadmill. I had everything ready to go and was actually feeling excited to rip it up. As I was strapping my heart monitor on, and getting the electronics ready, I felt something give in my hip area, followed by some moderate pain. I did not give it too much thought at the time; I do have pain in my right leg that comes and goes, and usually, pain in that leg subsides once I get into a decent rhythm during the run.
So I jumped on the treadmill and took off, but after a couple of minutes, I knew something was not right. I jumped off at about a quarter of a mile, with escalating pain in both my leg and glute. Again, I did not panic. I headed to the bathroom for a couple of ibuprofen and globs of Biofreeze. After this weak attempt at self-medicating, I jumped back on the treadmill, fulling believing that I could navigate the 12 kilometers. After about one mile, I was in more than moderate pain. I could sense that the pain was affecting my run in other ways, such as an unusually elevated heart rate, and obvious issue with stride. I jumped off at 1.5 miles and panicked.
The pain was difficult to pinpoint as time moved on. Sometimes it was worse in the glute muscle. Sometimes in the lower back. Sometimes on the right side of the hip. Sometimes in the area between the glute and the hamstring. But always uncomfortable and concerning. I decided to give it a rest for a day and see what happens with a run on Friday.
Friday comes with some relief, so I choose to go ahead with a run and see what happens. My goal is three miles, at something close to, but not quite regular, speed. The first half mile goes pretty well, I am in warmup mode, and I fell my stride is excellent. The pain does not escalate, which I take as a positive sign. I then increase the speed, and everything falls apart. Similar to Wednesday, my stride falls apart, and the pain keeps growing until I have to quit at 1.3 miles. The disappointment is so great that I do not even bother to upload the run to Garmin Connect. My participation in the Horseneck Half Marathon is looking grim.
After drowning out my sorrows by binge-watching episodes of "The King of Queens" (yeah, I might be crushing on Holly just a little) over Friday and Saturday, I suddenly had a "training epiphany." Why not set up the bike trainer in the basement, like I did when I was rehabilitating from the accident? All the running information that I have picked up seems to indicate that cycling is not only a suitable method for cross-training but an excellent way to keep your fitness up. I also know that my Garmin 235 can record a cycling session, although I am not sure how to set it up yet. Off I go to our shed in the dark to retrieve my daughters' bike.
The bike is positioned in the shed so that I have minimal difficulty extracting it. I bring it to the garage and give it the once over. I find the front tire is low on air, but everything else is looking good. I still have the WAHOO RPM sensor attached to the back tire, but no Garmin sensors. So here are all my electronics concerns.
1) Does the WAHOO sensor still work, and if it does, can I smoothly go back to the WAHOO app and record indoor bike sessions? I recall that the sensor was hell to affix to the tire, but once everything was pared and set up, that it recorded the session very well. I never deleted the WAHOO app after I gave up on it for faulty run recording (a three-mile run on the Canal was shown as a 1500 mile run from Newfoundland to Equatorial Guinea) so at least that is still in place.
2) Will the Garmin 235 pick up the WAHOO RPM, and if not, will I be able to affix the Gamin sensors to the bike, and if so, will there still be room for the WAHOO RPM? I am guessing that the Garmin measurement is going to be the default. From what I have read, the 235 can sync with the RPM, but I would like to have a backup. I am not sure if the two Garmin sensors (speed & cadence are separate) would fit, and if they did, could they interact with the WAHOO RPM?
3) If the WAHOO no longer works, should I get a new indoor cycling app, and if so, would it work with the WAHOO RPM? I am optimistically hoping the WAHOO app will still work, so I am not going to get too far into this.
I am crossing my fingers. I am hoping that the bike can be set up with minimal problems, that I can set up the electronics (that you know that I so dearly love) and that they will all sync and properly function, and most importantly, that I can take a ride without the pain in my leg affecting it. I will post again tonight with the outcome. Here's hoping for a successful rehabilitation!
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