Well, the first 6 weeks of 2006 wasn't a complete bust for me, but it's been more of a struggle than I'd like.

First, the New Year's day storm damage kept us all off the track for the first several weeks in January. I did some road work that tried to duplicate my planned track workouts. They went ok, but just weren't the same.

Then, two weeks into the month, while doing my power workout, I tweaked my right knee. The ironic thing is that one of the reasons I do these standing hill starts instead of weight lifting for power work is that there is less chance of injury. Unfortunately, on the penultimate effort of my workout, I twisted my knee slightly to the outside during a big effort and did some damage to my medial collateral ligament (MCL). Feels like a sprain or strain, but it's the kind of injury that heals best when completely rested, something I hadn't planned on doing.....until I got sick the next week. A nasty flu bug put me in bed for two days and basically off the bike for another 10 days or so. I suppose from one point of view, it was a good thing. It kept me from hammering my knee any more. So, I decided to take my scheduled rest week early since I didn't feel well enough to train anyway.

Last Monday rolls around, the day I'm supposed to start my new cycle and I still only feel about 75%. I did the noon ride on Monday, sitting in the entire ride. The ride was only moderately hard, but I felt pretty beat up at the end. Tuesday was a scheduled track day - my first day back since mid-December. It didn't go too badly. Still didn't feel 100%, but the workout went ok until the last 200 meter effort, and I just didn't have the ooomph to do it. So I bagged that and the last three starts I had planned. On Wednesday, I thought I'd try the noon ride again instead of going to the gym. Pretty day, and I needed the bike time more than the lift time. Didn't go well. I rode easy for an hour before the ride, and then ended up bailing about half way up Alpine on the noon ride itself. No gas.

Ok, enough was enough. I went really easy on Thursday for an hour, and then on Friday I actually started to feel a bit better. I ended up doing a moderately hard tempo workout and even though it wasn't very long, for the first time in almost three weeks I felt better.

So, hopefully things will start to pick up tomorrow. My knee is still sore, but I've got a brace coming that will give me 100% range of motion in the bicycle pedaling plane, but no lateral movement or hyperextension, which is what hurts. Keep your fingers crossed please.

Kevin