dreadedmonkeygod . net

The last couple of weeks have been interesting. Over-working my low back and an ill-advised experimentation with my road bike's saddle height combined to make my low back pretty uncomfortable.

In deciding what to do, it was tempting to cut the Strength block short, and take a few days off the bike to let my hips right themselves. That's what the conventional wisdom typically prescribes.

But my experience is that healthy movement helps healing, and that my body thrives on hard workouts and lots of recovery. So that's what I did.

I fixed the seat height and continued lifting normally, aside from reducing the load on the deadlifts from 180# to 120#. (Heading right back and deadlifting my max just seemed reckless.)

A few days (and a few good nights' sleep) later, everything was sorted out. I'm a little proud of myself for not letting that stop my training cold. I'm healed, and maintained my schedule.

And now, I've flipped into "Strength Maintenance" mode. Basically, this means doing a moderate workout once a week so that my body holds onto the strength gains I made over the last couple of months.

I was up all night Sunday-Monday taking care of one of my dogs, so Monday's hill intervals never happend. But I made a little time to hit the weights yesterday for a maintenance workout, and today I'm back on my road bike. The plan is to do about 50 minutes, with 30 minutes of steady Z3 effort.

And if I do all that, and keep the rest of my life running right, I'll be doing okay.