Training Week -5

Just when I thought my training was going well I seem to be getting knee problems. I still was feeling a bit stiff on Monday following my long ride on the Sat, although I had no specific pains. On Tues I felt fine so decided to continue training and felt ok after cycling and spinning. I spent quite a bit of time looking into whether my saddle and cleats were postioned correctly, looking at this article and others on the web http://www.cptips.com/knee.htm. I took my bike into my local workshop on Thurs who checked my setup and decided that my saddle was about an 1" too high, which could be causing my muscles to stretch too much. (He checked whether I could touch my pedal with my heels with my leg straight and the pedal at the bottom.) Yesterday I tried this setup and it felt fine, however when I finished my ride I was getting some pain from the inner side and backs of both knees, mostly the right one (possibly from my medial collateral ligament?). I was planning to do another ride today, but decided I'd better rest. I used a support bandage and took some ibuprofen. It feels ok now, and I feel I could ride on it, but better not. So the plan is to have a rest from cycling for a week, then re-start the training slowly, incorporating 2 or 3 rest days a week. If Rooney can recover so quickly so can I! Maybe I should have had more rest days mid-week, although I'm pretty convinced it's the long rides at weekends that cause the pain and I've been resting after these. Probably having the saddle too high is the cause. If I get any more knee pain when I restart I'll consult my doctor. This week's diary:

• Mon - rest day (30 min swim)
• Tues - cycled to work 16 miles, plus spinning
• Wed - rest day
• Thurs - cycled to work 16 miles
• Fri - round trip to Thame - 42 miles
• Sat - rest day (gardening)
• Sun - flew to Glasgow and drove to Inverary - 4 mile walk up hill

Total cycled 74 miles. Weight 11st 9lb.