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This past Saturday I participated in the Duck Lake State Time Trial Championship.  I am going to say participated because by no means was I even close to in shape to actually compete.  For me though it snagged me a few Michigan Challenge points and a little bit of confidence. The course was set up near Whitehall, MI with a route surrounding the Duck Lake State Park.  The circuit was a 20k loop that for my race would be done twice.  I think the highlight of the course was the portion that ran along Lake Michigan along a sandy beach.   I think I would have much rather spent my time on the sand.  For some odd reason is was warm, not raining and the wind was blowing from the East!  Very strange... and the weatherman lied.  That aside I felt the course was biased to having no tailwind.  I always felt it at my side or face. 

So to put things in perspective I am still recovering from my achilles injury.  My training for the past 6 weeks has been next to zero, plus I had sold all my time trialing equipment in order to buy new stuff for next year.  Luckily for me I was able to borrow a team mates bike in the days prior.  So my expectations were low and I was going to use this race as an assessment.  Things started out slow for me, but eventually I got the legs going.  To my surprise I actually had a left leg beneath me again.  I was the first Cat 3 starter so I quickly gobbled up some of the slower riders that unfortunately started before me.   However soon I was to be passed.  Truth was I just didn't have the fitness or power.  Near the end of the first lap I wanted to give up, the tendon was still a bit grumpy and was not comfortable on the bike.  However I remembered why I was here.  Recovery, confidence and team points.   So I keep going till I finished.  I ended up DFL, 12th in Cat 3.  Oddly I was only 40 seconds slower then my horrid 40k I had last year.   I made it to the line in one piece, the day was a victory for me.

Its hard to put in words how demoralizing an injury such as this is.  You spends months, and I mean months of indoor training in the winter to keep in shape.  Then finally when it finally gets nice outside, you are stuck indoors.   I'm in week 6 now of recovery and I think I can finally start to see the end of the tunnel.  I am beating this injury slowly.   I still have up and down days where it hurts, but hopefully over time I will feel normal again.  My biggest issue now is the rehab, rebuilding muscle and breaking up scar tissue.  The last part will be confidence or trust in my body again.  The last thing I deal with and the biggest fear now is not recovering and rupturing the tendon.  That shouldn't happen as long as I stick to the plan.  Hopefully in the weeks coming I can work on some fitness and return to mass start racing.  I don't expect much in the first few races, but I got my sights on the State Road Race.

40k Results

Road to Recovery

It's been close to 6 weeks since I hurt my achilles tendon.  After going through 4 weeks of physical therapy things are finally starting to heal.  I'm not sure how long it will take me to get to 100%, but its nice to finally be able to ride the bike again at speed.  With the help of ART (Active Release Techniques) most the adhesion's (scar tissue) has been broken up in my left calf.  However there is still some left really...really deep.  Maybe over time that will break down.  Out of all this I have learned a lot about recover.  Also I have learned about the need to use various stick and foam rollers to work trigger points and adhesion's out of the muscles after daily workouts.  That so far has been a painful process, but over time will hurt less.  Turns out my muscles have lots of spots of scar tissue after years of abuse.  I am also now using custom orthotics in my shoes and working on a new pedal technique to prevent my heel strike by raising my saddle and using zero float on my pedals.  So far that is working out well for me.  I also recently purchased a PowerTap rear wheel to help monitor my training intensity better.  One to prevent over training, and two to help get faster.  This weekend will be the real test, I signed up to do the State Time Trial Championship.  I don't expect to do well given my severe lack of training, but a top 10 would really make me happy.   For now a time trial is perfect for me, steady go at your own pace.  My return to road racing will come in a few more works when my fitness is better and I know my tendon can handle the surges that a bike race will punish you with.  Hopefully I can avoid this kind of injury in the future,  by no means is it fun.