Something is always sore and that is just the way it is

I was off work the last nine days of 2017.  We were in our happy place.  After the first skate ski of the season my hamstrings were very unhappy.  Then after fatbiking my hips were sore.  The hamstrings were better after the next skate ski, but still a bit sore.   By the end of the week everything was working. 

 

Then it was back to work. I threw in an interval session on the trainer after work one night and my quads were achy the next day.  Then after a run my calves and quads were sore.  My lower body was asking, “What next?”  It seems I had run out of ways to hurt myself.  I know that if I ever want to hurt myself I can run more than five sets of stairs and cry the next day.

Grandson Drew 

Last night I went for a run after work.  I carried my phone and was tracking the run on my STRAVA app and listening to music.  The app would audibly announce each kilometer, the cumulative time and the speed of the last kilometer.  All of my rotational torture had paid off, I ran significantly faster than my usual pace.  That had not been the objective of the skiing and biking and biking and running, but it was welcome nonetheless.

This little episode just points out how important cross training is even if we only want to see success in one sport. Cross training gets the secondary muscles in shape and the result is improvement in overall performance. Core, weights, running, swimming and skiing all make us better cyclists.