12/25/2011 - 12/31/2011

This week, more than almost any other, food, pastries, and beverages seemed to be around every corner. It has now been about 2 weeks since I’ve tried to run and over a month since I’ve been able to make any REAL effort. It’s been about the same for my cycling too. That being said, I haven’t had any pain or issues with my knee, so I figured that a solid moderate ride was in order. I figured that I’d test my knee on the bike to see what, if anything would happen. On Wednesday, I took off from my office and rode my road bike on a 31 mile loop that averaged 18.7 mph. I felt a little something in my knee right around mile 20, but nothing alarming. Overall, I actually felt pretty solid and didn’t have any residual effects from my effort. Thursday didn’t see any pain or discomfort either. Armed with this information, I was going to put in another ride on Friday with two others. I’ve ridden plenty of times with Tyler and George (who recently completed Ironman Cozumel!), but never with this much time off. We agreed on the 50 mile Rio Verde Loop (I’ve discussed this route a few times in my 2010 blog) that took us down 9 mile hill. I was able to hang with them, while taking my fair share of pulls up front, for about 35 miles. That’s when we start climbing up Shea Blvd. It’s nothing too difficult and I’ve done it dozens of times before, but this time, I was popped off the back about 50 feet in. We eventually regrouped (they waited for me) and made our way back to the office. Somewhere between miles 42 and 45, I was as close to bonking as I could possibly be. The combination of too little calories and so much time off the bike caught up to me in an instant. I simply told George and Tyler that I was done and that they should just go ahead. I crept my way back to my car only to see 49.4 miles on my Garmin. Well, at this point, nothing was going to stop me from hitting 50, so I rode a few times around the building before shutting it down. Once in the car, I realized that I had the shakes. I was so hungry, I couldn’t think straight and was literally shaking. The closest place to get something was a CVS store. Since I didn’t bring a change of clothes, I had to walk in wearing my kit and my cycling shoes. I clopped over to the cooler section and grabbed a half gallon of milk and then clopped over to the other side of the store for a protein bar. After clopping back to the front to pay and clopping back to my car, I immediately opened the milk and started guzzling it down. I don’t remember how, but I managed to get the wrapper of the bar while drinking the milk and promptly took two huge bites. One more gulp of milk and it was time to start the car….I was still in the parking lot. The route home was probably in the area of 13 miles and 20 minutes. About 6 miles down the road, I realized that I had completely finished the bar and HALF (1 liter) of the ½ gallon of milk…..it didn’t stop when I got home either as I grazed on everything within arm’s reach for the rest of the evening.