Speed (or lack thereof), fitness, and blood flow

I don't know if I've mentioned it before but I'm recovering from a
second serious deep vein thrombosis, about four weeks ago. Some aspects
of this are frustrating and depressing...

When I cycle my power output is immensely variable and I haven't worked
out what's going wrong. On Saturday I went out and did 45 miles with a
friend, and we made very reasonable speed, averaging 16mph and with
sustained periods above 20mph on the flat. On Tuesday I went out to
time trial, and cycling out to the start I was struggling to sustain
14mph. During the time trial itself I managed 20mph average to the
turn, and 18mph over the full ten miles, and coming home I felt fine
and was able maintain 18mph. And today I cycled into town (16 miles)
and was again struggling to maintain 14mph.

I wouldn't be surprised, given my condition and the fact that the blood
flow out of my left leg is badly restricted, if my power was down
consistently, but I don't understand why it's so up and down - why some
days I've got quite good performance and other days it's just crap. It
may be related to mood swings - I've been really struggling not to get
too depressed over this. But if anyone has any suggestions for why my
performance is varying, and what I could do about it, I'd be really
grateful.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; It appears that /dev/null is a conforming XSL processor.

"Simon Brooke" wrote in message
...

I wouldn't be surprised, given my condition and the fact that the blood
flow out of my left leg is badly restricted, if my power was down
consistently, but I don't understand why it's so up and down - why some
days I've got quite good performance and other days it's just crap. It
may be related to mood swings - I've been really struggling not to get
too depressed over this. But if anyone has any suggestions for why my
performance is varying, and what I could do about it, I'd be really
grateful.

Isn't it just normal? I notice good days and bad days too. I mostly blame
the weather though :-)

cheers,
clive

Simon Brooke typed


I don't know if I've mentioned it before but I'm recovering from a
second serious deep vein thrombosis, about four weeks ago. Some aspects
of this are frustrating and depressing...

When I cycle my power output is immensely variable and I haven't worked
out what's going wrong. On Saturday I went out and did 45 miles with a
friend, and we made very reasonable speed, averaging 16mph and with
sustained periods above 20mph on the flat. On Tuesday I went out to
time trial, and cycling out to the start I was struggling to sustain
14mph. During the time trial itself I managed 20mph average to the
turn, and 18mph over the full ten miles, and coming home I felt fine
and was able maintain 18mph. And today I cycled into town (16 miles)
and was again struggling to maintain 14mph.

I wouldn't be surprised, given my condition and the fact that the blood
flow out of my left leg is badly restricted, if my power was down
consistently, but I don't understand why it's so up and down - why some
days I've got quite good performance and other days it's just crap. It
may be related to mood swings - I've been really struggling not to get
too depressed over this. But if anyone has any suggestions for why my
performance is varying, and what I could do about it, I'd be really
grateful.

It's called lack of glycogen, overtraining, poor recovery and possibly
reduced fitness due to recent illness.

Glycogen reserves take 2-3 days to replenish, more if you're on a low
energy diet.
Most people benefit from at least one day per week with NO exercise.
You probably have less glycogen than previously because you've not been well.

RELAX!

Make sure you eat enough.

Make sure you rest enough.

Don't try for speed more than once (or twice in exceptional times) per week.

Try not to fret!
Enjoy your cycling.
Enjoy your eating.
Enjoy your rest days.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005, Simon Brooke wrote:

But if anyone has any suggestions for why my performance is varying, and
what I could do about it, I'd be really grateful.

A doctor, perhaps?

tom

--
LEDERHOSEN IS NOT EDIBLE

"Helen Deborah Vecht" wrote in message
...

It's called lack of glycogen, overtraining, poor recovery and possibly
reduced fitness due to recent illness.

Glycogen reserves take 2-3 days to replenish, more if you're on a low
energy diet.
Most people benefit from at least one day per week with NO exercise.
You probably have less glycogen than previously because you've not been
well.


Nathan takes his cycle training seriously (for a teenager) yet he recognises
the benefit of a day or two off for recovery. The recovery part of training
is *vital*. The rest time is just as important as the on-bike time.

Cheers, helen s

"wafflycat" wafflesATv21netDOTcoDOTuk wrote in message
...

"Helen Deborah Vecht" wrote in message
...

It's called lack of glycogen, overtraining, poor recovery and possibly
reduced fitness due to recent illness.

Glycogen reserves take 2-3 days to replenish, more if you're on a low
energy diet.
Most people benefit from at least one day per week with NO exercise.
You probably have less glycogen than previously because you've not been
well.


Nathan takes his cycle training seriously (for a teenager) yet he
recognises the benefit of a day or two off for recovery. The recovery part
of training is *vital*. The rest time is just as important as the on-bike
time.

Cheers, helen s


Absolutely, it's the rest period after exercise where your body recovers and
super-compensates, becoming that tiny bit fitter and stronger.
Rest/recovery doesn't necessarily mean no exercise, for those training a lot
some active recovery is often best, *VERY* light exercise for 30 minutes,
just enough to get your HR up a little and make you warm.

"wafflycat" wafflesATv21netDOTcoDOTuk writes:


"Helen Deborah Vecht" wrote in message
...

It's called lack of glycogen, overtraining, poor recovery and possibly
reduced fitness due to recent illness.

Glycogen reserves take 2-3 days to replenish, more if you're on a low
energy diet.
Most people benefit from at least one day per week with NO exercise.
You probably have less glycogen than previously because you've not been
well.


Nathan takes his cycle training seriously (for a teenager) yet he recognises
the benefit of a day or two off for recovery. The recovery part of training
is *vital*. The rest time is just as important as the on-bike time.

And I was wondering if Simon is on medication that may have side effects
as well. Maybe something to discuss with your doctor?
Whatever it is, get well soon!

Roos

"LSMike" wrote in message
...

Absolutely, it's the rest period after exercise where your body recovers
and super-compensates, becoming that tiny bit fitter and stronger.
Rest/recovery doesn't necessarily mean no exercise, for those training a
lot some active recovery is often best, *VERY* light exercise for 30
minutes, just enough to get your HR up a little and make you warm.


Aye - on his off-bike day(s), he'll do some gentle stretching exercises for
about half-an-hour.

Cheers, helen s

"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
...

LEDERHOSEN IS NOT EDIBLE


Depends on how hungry you are, shurely ;-)

Cheers, helen s

"Simon Brooke" wrote in message news:jqklj2-

I wouldn't be surprised, given my condition and the fact that the blood
flow out of my left leg is badly restricted, if my power was down
consistently, but I don't understand why it's so up and down - why some
days I've got quite good performance and other days it's just crap. It
may be related to mood swings - I've been really struggling not to get
too depressed over this. But if anyone has any suggestions for why my
performance is varying, and what I could do about it, I'd be really
grateful.


Like the others say, recovery is key. However, I have to bike to work, so I
have "training rides" where I push myself with a HRM and "fat burning" rides
where I take it easy. After a few training rides I can feel my muscles ache,
so I just take it easy and try not to respond to the "attacks" launched by
various mountain bike commuters ;-) Although on training rides they can be
useful as a target to aim for in the distance.
--
Simon Mason

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net