Ok, less than a month until Cross Country bike trip begins. The aches and pains of training and of course, possibly over training, rearing it’s head! I know….yikes!!! No one wants to have a nagging injury or overuse tendonitis. Wanting and having are two different things – in my case I don’t want, but have. Symptoms are muscle weakness, muscle tightness and the occasional stabbing zinger of pain. Yep, I’ve got the syndrome of pushing too hard. I have been ignoring it to a large degree because I have no pain on the bike or spinning hard. Yet it persists!

I break down and go to Doc. Great guy, super practical and wants me to succeed on this trip. Report is no damage but you need a good PT guy. Luckily I have one in Brock Giannaris. Not going to lie, PT massage on tight hammy’s is NO FUN. So I’m on a regimen of stretches and strengthening exercises. With all the training how can my glutes be weak? Come to find out, that I pull more than I push in my pedal stroke! The impact is overuse of hammy’s and calves. So also need a bit of tweak in pedaling to use my quads and glutes-MORE. Been trying it out and seems to be more relaxing, less pressure – particularly on the calves and my speed is up. Go figure! I’m on the mend and continuing to ride! Downside is ugh, doing stretches and bringing a roller on the trip. Gotta do what ya gotta do to make the dream reality.