Jan 13, 2007: Pullled Hamstring Muscle

Of all the stupid things to do.... I have to try out my skills as a Wushu Gung Fu Master and end up pulling the hamstring muscle on my right leg. Not bad but enough to let me know I'm injured and need to take it easy until this situation heals. You see, my son takes Wushu Gung Fu lessons and one night I took him to class and sat there and watched him. He was doing some cool kicks - and doing them pretty good too, if I do say so my self. I was talking to him about it after class and he told me he would show me how to do the kick. Having been watching, I was pretty sure I knew what to do so I let Dale take me out in the front your and demonstrate the technique.

At this point I'll explain that cycling makes you very strong and gives you good cardio fitness.... but it does not make you limber... I think you know where I'm going with this now, don't you...Well, Wushu kicks are these multipart kicks where the first couple of moves are designed to load up your body so that the last part of the kick gets your leg going at terminal velocity right before you pop someone up the side of the head. Once you start the kick you are pretty much committed to finishing it and you don't have much control over things in the last part of the move. One kick later and I'm limping into the house with an injured hamstring! Stupid me!

So for the last 2 weeks I've been doing long slow rides on my bike. Spinning at a cadance of 100 rpm and never getting my HR above 140 (well maybe a couple of times but mostly I've been good). My leg is feeling better but my coach tells me that I need to wait 72 hours after the first ride where I feel no pain on the ride or for the next 24 hours afterwards. I tried to blow some carbon out of my pipes this last Thursday AM on the Thursday ride but I felt it later on in the day so I've got to remember to take it easy. Even today, the club ride was mostly flat except for one climbing section up Calaveres which I sat in front and just pushed the pace as hard as I could. Right now my leg feels pretty good so maybe my LSD rides are coming to and end and I can get back to my power training.

I'll keep you posted!