Two Kinds of Thor

The pun police are after me, but I can't help myself!

Two days after the tri, some observations about the aftermath of biking, and some additional lessons learned.

First kind of soreness – muscular soreness. Remarkably enough, my hams, quads, calves and glutes are all fine. My adductors
on the other hand (other leg? – oops, there I go again), the inner thigh muscles, are sore. These muscles are used to bring the legs in towards each other, and to stabilize the hips. I am speculating that my seat may not have been positioned properly, that it was a bit high, meaning my hips were "rocking", with my thighs flying out on the down stroke and moving in on the upstroke. The soreness would have been caused by the work these muscles did trying to compensate and keep me centered.

Second kind of soreness – pressure soreness. Every spring my butt (which is not really my butt but – how to put this delicately? - the region between my "zither " and my "zatch", i.e., front to back along the centerline of my bottom – gets sore during my first few longer bike rides. After a while, the riding gets routine, and the area "toughens up". Apparently "Ground 0" has not toughened up yet.

I generally wear bike shorts with a good pad in them to minimize the pressure and soreness. However, for this tri, I wore an older pair of bike shorts with a minimal gel pad, and I don't think there was very much gel left in it. This was good for the swim – I didn't have that "swimming while wearing a wet diaper" feeling that I get when wearing my regular biking shorts, but not so good for the bike. Hey, I figured I would be on and off in a flash, so what did it matter? (Don't even start! And in the same spirit, a new slogan –"Every time you climb into the saddle, make sure you are wearing the right protection!")

Good padding helps to prevent chafing when you're in the saddle, too, but the real key here is the judicious application of the proper lubricant to all tender parts and bits before putting anything else on. I favor A&D ointment, but there are a number of other products that work equally well. Whatever you pick, make sure it's waterproof, because moisture, from whatever source or cause, exacerbates chafing. This is a good tip for the long run, too, or swim for that matter. (The pun police are almost here...)

Lessons learned:

- Make sure the bike seat is properly adjusted before training or riding.

- Sometimes its OK to put a little padding where Mother Nature hasn't provided any of her own (no - I'm not going there)

- Muscles are activity specific. The best way to train the muscles used in a specific event is to do that event. The bike portion for the next tri will be outdoors on a "real" bike. Since the weather at this time more or less precludes training outside on my bike, the training will have to be done on a stationary bike. To best train for this, I will need to lower my RPM's to 85-90, increase the resistance to build strength, and vary the resistance to emulate hills.

- Finally, to make sure I approximate "real" conditions, move my stationary bike about ½ mile behind each bike being ridden by a sprite or an elf every time I go "up" a hill. Never too early for a dose of reality therapy.....

See you out there!