Emergence … Or Emergency?

At 1:45 yesterday afternoon we hit 33° to break the evil spell of freezing temperatures that began at 10:20 p.m. last Thursday. My short ride on Sunday was my only ride during that period. I’m anxious to ride again but I’m still very concerned about my back, which has evolved to include some sciatic nerve pain. I have never had that before. On balance, things have been getting better over the last few days but I’m a long way from 100% and I’m trying not to aggravate the area. It’s hard to know what to do: sometimes stretching helps, sometimes not. It’s usually true that the more I move, the more I can move, and the worst thing I can do is to stay in one position for too long. There wasn’t an instant of trauma—an “oh, shit” moment, if you will—when this began. I don’t know what I did, so I don’t know what I shouldn’t do again. After missing a couple of upper body strength workouts early this week, yesterday I returned to the home gym and got through most of my routine. I skipped one exercise that I thought was too risky, but I completed the others without any trouble. That’s a good sign … not as good as a string of pain-free days on the bike, but a good sign.

Whatever momentum I was starting to build in my training for the racing season is probably gone. I will know for sure when I return to the bike this weekend. With just 50 days to go before the WORS season opener, I can’t afford any more delays.