I love short work weeks! Thursday already? woop!
A few weeks ago, I put my tri bike in a more aggressive position where the seat is higher than the aerobars by a good chunk so my 5 foot self looks like a little ball when I am in the aero position. At first this felt great, until Emily and I tackled the 73 miles of flats last weekend. I was fine for the first 45ish miles, but then I had this awful pinch in my shoulder and I could not stay down on the aero bars at all. I wound up riding the last 30 miles out of my aero bars putting a ton of pressure on my hands. Turns out I aggravated my ulnar nerve which is the main nerve in your hand.
This caused me to not have much feeling in my ring finger or little finger in 2 weeks. It gets better for a day, and then I ride my bike or type alot at work (or blog) and the fingers go back to the pins and needles feeling. Needless to say I adjusted my aerobars to not be so low. They are still lower than my seat though ;)- Eagleman is the first race I have ever tapered for and it feels weird. Really weird. I am over thinking my workouts! I met up with Emily this morning for a pre-work cruise around the 3 mile Hains Point loop a few times. We chit chatted and worked up a sweat, but it was not a crazy effort. I never looked down at my Garmin to see my speed but when I got home I saw that my average speed was over 18mph which included stopping at stop signs and dealing with the slow-poke dude carrying 27 bags on his bike on my way home. I think that is too fast for taper but my legs felt/feel great so I'm not going to over think it. Ah, taper craziness!
- Pink Lady is scheduled for a tune up from Bonzai early next week so that she is in perfect condition for the race. I also bought new cycling glasses that come with three different lenses and I am excited to retire the ugly white ones I have been using that I got 2 summers ago for $12 from City Sports. I also bought a cute new tri top for the race. I should have probably used that money to buy work clothes...oops :)
I had the exact same thing happen to me, take the bike into the bike shop, tell them of the pain and have them tweek the fitting to help get rid of the pressure on the hands.
ReplyDeleteRunning/cycling/tri clothes and gear are MUCH better than work clothes!
ReplyDeleteI haven't bought real person clothes in a long time. Now for tri clothes, more are arriving in the mail in a few hours. Priorities! hehe
ReplyDeletework clothes are so overrated. don't waste the money. thanks for the ride this morning, we need to do it again asap!
ReplyDeletei JUST bought my first pair of sunglasses to train in. how crazy is that! They are in fact crappy ones from city sports though haha
ReplyDeletethat happened to me last year before i realized i could move my hands around while i rode. ;) and i want to see pics of this top!
ReplyDeleteIt's much more fun to buy workout clothes and gear than serious professional things.
ReplyDeleteI hope the fit adjustment fixes your hand problems!
ooh, the taper crazies are so weird and you never quite know how they'll hit you.
ReplyDeleteMy right hand kindof does the same thing when I ride too!
ReplyDeleteAnd buying tri clothes are so much fun, who needs work clothes anyhow?
I say screw the workclothes! Good luck at Eagleman - I may be coming out there to cheer, so I will look for you on the course!
ReplyDeleteAww, I am sorry to hear about your finger/shoulder! Haha, I totally feel ya on the rather spending money on workout clothes/gear than work clothes:) I definitely have that problem...but oh well!:) Can't wait to ride with ya tomorrow, woot! I will be a good tri friend and purposefully make you go slow tomorrow (not because I am slow and out of shape but ONLY because I am a good friend;). Hehe.
ReplyDeleteTaper tantrums... that's what I call them! :) Keep working through the taper a little and you'll be fine. If the pace feels good, go with it!
ReplyDeleteAnd you totally need to spend $$ on important things like sunglasses and tri tops! :)
Hope the whole nerve thing gets worked out. Sounds yucky!