Paris-Brest-Paris: The aches and pains
Sep. 9th, 2015 09:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterThere's a national e-mail listserv for randonneuring, and it's kind of amusing to know a thing or two about subjects that were hotly discussed just prior to PBP as compared to subjects hotly discussed afterwords. Before, a group of people were all "ZOMG GPS route!!" twitchy about things - largely, it should be noted, the PBP newbies who hadn't yet experienced the marvel of all of the route signage. Not a peep about the route after PBP concluded. Instead, following PBP there have been several different discussion threads about various aches and pains and their sources, particularly from those for whom the aches and pains turned into ride showstoppers.
It's useful for me to make note of what hurt and what didn't so I can keep thinking about what things could stand to improve, and how.
Prior to the start, my left Achilles tendon was starting to feel a little sore, I suspect as a result of all of the walking around I did as a tourist. I was concerned that it would wind up getting much worse over the course of the ride, but then it gave me no problems whatsoever. Phew.
Instead, it was my left big toe that was unhappy at first, and I don't entirely know why. It started to feel sore fairly early on, and stayed that way, getting neither better nor worse regardless of whatever else I did.
My lower back was fine after I adjusted my seat at 300km. My upper back and shoulders suffered more. I tend to have some troubles with my right levator scapulae after long rides, and this ride was no exception (it's a muscle that runs between the inside top of the shoulder blade to the neck, to help hold up the shoulder). It has been less than happy, but no worse than it has felt after a 600k. I think it must be doing extra work to help hold up my head. It would probably be helped the most by me being more consistent about shoulder strengthening exercises.
During some of the spring qualifying brevets, you might recall that I spent a lot of time trying to stand and jam my way up the hills, but found that this led to really sore, creaky knees. During PBP I figured out that I had been trying to stand and climb too fast, in too low a gear - when I shifted up more, I was able to stand and climb much more comfortably. While it wasn't especially fast, standing helped give my body crucial relief on the long climbs. I am glad I figured that bit out. I did eventually start to feel the effects of this in my knees, but at some point during the ride someone commented that everyone's knees would feel sore by the end, so I didn't think too much of the knee discomfort. This knee pain also resolved very quickly after the ride and was never as severe as it had been during those spring brevets. In contrast, it took a day or three for my right knee to feel normal again at the lower patellar attachment point - the spot that started to trouble me during the last 40 miles. I think I must have torqued it in a strange way at some point while it was already fatigued.
I'd mentioned in a previous post that I'd experienced problems with saddle sores. This was a hotly discussed topic on the listserv, where someone pointed out that a useful starting point is to distinguish between different kinds of sores. In the past, I have had persistent saddle sores caused by bacterial infections, which are terrible and annoying. I concluded that leather saddles don't agree with my skin, and haven't had any problems with that variety of saddle sore ever since. Some people also identify chafing as "saddle sores," and I've had my fair share of experiences with chafing as well, but that wasn't the main problem in this case. In the present case, I experienced discomfort from "pressure point" sores - the skin under my sit bones wore through, and fairly quickly. There are three things to consider on this front. The first is that I haven't been able to get in the right sort of consistent mileage needed to build up good butt callouses. The second is that it might be that the saddle that has served me well for years, the Selle Royal Respiro Athletic, is slightly too soft for me now. So I might need to go back to saddle shopping again. Third, maybe it's time for new bike shorts, too. I did apply Lantiseptic frequently, but it didn't seem to help much with this kind of butt soreness.
One of the factors that contributed to my DNF for PBP 2011 was handlebar palsy, which continued to plague me afterwords for over a month. This time, I have it again, except only in my right hand, not my left, and it's not as bad as in 2011. Someone on the listserv speculated that it was common to have a worse case in one's non-dominant hand, as one is less likely to move that hand around as much. I felt like I moved my right hand around plenty, but I have to wonder if it experienced more awkward/uncomfortable stretch because I did so much shifting going up and down hills. The interesting thing about the handlebar palsy is that people have been all over the board in reporting what has worked for them to alleviate the problem. Some people prefer extra padding under their bar tape; this adamantly did not work for me. Others prefer well-padded gloves, but one person commented that for him the thing that helped more were "sticky" gloves that provided a better grip. Yet others noted that they'd benefited from developing more core strength to keep weight off their hands, but another approach adopted by many has been to raise their handlebars higher. In my case, I think better cycling gloves and more consistent work on core strength will make the difference. I'm relatively pleased with the outcome on this front, all things considered, and I think better bike fit was a big contributor.
After the ride, one other problem cropped up: metatarsalgia, also known to cyclists as "hot foot." At first I wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but the balls of my feet felt inflamed after walking around post-PBP. After discovering that "hot foot" was just another way of saying "metatarsalgia," I thought back to the last time I'd experienced it, back in the years when I first switched from marathon running that one marathon to bicycling. Here, again, I'd gone from a lot of walking to bicycling, so perhaps it was no surprise that metatarsalgia had flared up again. Something I read noted that in cyclists it's often caused by nerve compression, which made me realize why, the last time, my mother's advice to stretch out the sole of my foot with an old tennis ball had worked so well. I've been applying the tennis ball, while also generally trying to keep my weight off the balls of my feet, and it seems as though this is allowing things to gradually heal. I don't know if I'd attribute this flare-up entirely to the transition from lots of walking to lots of cycling. It might be that I need to do something about my cycling shoes (related to the sore big toe), but I'm not sure yet.
You'll note that I haven't mentioned any of the leg problems that cropped up after that 300k brevet in June. Zero troubles on that front. It's just everything else that's just a little less than comfortable. :-)
It's useful for me to make note of what hurt and what didn't so I can keep thinking about what things could stand to improve, and how.
Prior to the start, my left Achilles tendon was starting to feel a little sore, I suspect as a result of all of the walking around I did as a tourist. I was concerned that it would wind up getting much worse over the course of the ride, but then it gave me no problems whatsoever. Phew.
Instead, it was my left big toe that was unhappy at first, and I don't entirely know why. It started to feel sore fairly early on, and stayed that way, getting neither better nor worse regardless of whatever else I did.
My lower back was fine after I adjusted my seat at 300km. My upper back and shoulders suffered more. I tend to have some troubles with my right levator scapulae after long rides, and this ride was no exception (it's a muscle that runs between the inside top of the shoulder blade to the neck, to help hold up the shoulder). It has been less than happy, but no worse than it has felt after a 600k. I think it must be doing extra work to help hold up my head. It would probably be helped the most by me being more consistent about shoulder strengthening exercises.
During some of the spring qualifying brevets, you might recall that I spent a lot of time trying to stand and jam my way up the hills, but found that this led to really sore, creaky knees. During PBP I figured out that I had been trying to stand and climb too fast, in too low a gear - when I shifted up more, I was able to stand and climb much more comfortably. While it wasn't especially fast, standing helped give my body crucial relief on the long climbs. I am glad I figured that bit out. I did eventually start to feel the effects of this in my knees, but at some point during the ride someone commented that everyone's knees would feel sore by the end, so I didn't think too much of the knee discomfort. This knee pain also resolved very quickly after the ride and was never as severe as it had been during those spring brevets. In contrast, it took a day or three for my right knee to feel normal again at the lower patellar attachment point - the spot that started to trouble me during the last 40 miles. I think I must have torqued it in a strange way at some point while it was already fatigued.
I'd mentioned in a previous post that I'd experienced problems with saddle sores. This was a hotly discussed topic on the listserv, where someone pointed out that a useful starting point is to distinguish between different kinds of sores. In the past, I have had persistent saddle sores caused by bacterial infections, which are terrible and annoying. I concluded that leather saddles don't agree with my skin, and haven't had any problems with that variety of saddle sore ever since. Some people also identify chafing as "saddle sores," and I've had my fair share of experiences with chafing as well, but that wasn't the main problem in this case. In the present case, I experienced discomfort from "pressure point" sores - the skin under my sit bones wore through, and fairly quickly. There are three things to consider on this front. The first is that I haven't been able to get in the right sort of consistent mileage needed to build up good butt callouses. The second is that it might be that the saddle that has served me well for years, the Selle Royal Respiro Athletic, is slightly too soft for me now. So I might need to go back to saddle shopping again. Third, maybe it's time for new bike shorts, too. I did apply Lantiseptic frequently, but it didn't seem to help much with this kind of butt soreness.
One of the factors that contributed to my DNF for PBP 2011 was handlebar palsy, which continued to plague me afterwords for over a month. This time, I have it again, except only in my right hand, not my left, and it's not as bad as in 2011. Someone on the listserv speculated that it was common to have a worse case in one's non-dominant hand, as one is less likely to move that hand around as much. I felt like I moved my right hand around plenty, but I have to wonder if it experienced more awkward/uncomfortable stretch because I did so much shifting going up and down hills. The interesting thing about the handlebar palsy is that people have been all over the board in reporting what has worked for them to alleviate the problem. Some people prefer extra padding under their bar tape; this adamantly did not work for me. Others prefer well-padded gloves, but one person commented that for him the thing that helped more were "sticky" gloves that provided a better grip. Yet others noted that they'd benefited from developing more core strength to keep weight off their hands, but another approach adopted by many has been to raise their handlebars higher. In my case, I think better cycling gloves and more consistent work on core strength will make the difference. I'm relatively pleased with the outcome on this front, all things considered, and I think better bike fit was a big contributor.
After the ride, one other problem cropped up: metatarsalgia, also known to cyclists as "hot foot." At first I wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but the balls of my feet felt inflamed after walking around post-PBP. After discovering that "hot foot" was just another way of saying "metatarsalgia," I thought back to the last time I'd experienced it, back in the years when I first switched from marathon running that one marathon to bicycling. Here, again, I'd gone from a lot of walking to bicycling, so perhaps it was no surprise that metatarsalgia had flared up again. Something I read noted that in cyclists it's often caused by nerve compression, which made me realize why, the last time, my mother's advice to stretch out the sole of my foot with an old tennis ball had worked so well. I've been applying the tennis ball, while also generally trying to keep my weight off the balls of my feet, and it seems as though this is allowing things to gradually heal. I don't know if I'd attribute this flare-up entirely to the transition from lots of walking to lots of cycling. It might be that I need to do something about my cycling shoes (related to the sore big toe), but I'm not sure yet.
You'll note that I haven't mentioned any of the leg problems that cropped up after that 300k brevet in June. Zero troubles on that front. It's just everything else that's just a little less than comfortable. :-)
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no subject
Date: 2015-09-10 03:14 am (UTC)I've never gotten the type of saddle sore you're talking about. No ideas on how to help whatsoever. This is one of those places where you somehow want to distribute your weight over more area, but soft saddles are somehow exactly the wrong way of doing that.
A ton of people posting about long-distance organized rides spend much of their time posting about being lost and off the route, so maybe the pre-ride jitters on that account is reasonable.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-12 04:48 pm (UTC)I think this is one of the only times I've experienced this kind of saddle sore, and first and foremost I'd attribute it to not getting in enough saddle time. Getting in a once-weekly hard 30-mile ride gave me a huge boost when I was riding in Texas, but I just haven't managed to make anything like that happen out here because I can't get out of work early enough in the evenings. It has also taken me too long to learn my way around and find the good hills, sigh. Ah well. I'm hopeful for the Bay Area.
I do think some degree of pre-ride navigational jitters is appropriate, especially among the first-timers. S and I got off course for ~10 km total in 2011 when we followed the taillights of riders who missed a turn arrow. Still, PBP is a very different sort of brevet than the ones we're used to because it's really not necessary to keep constant tabs on one's mileage and cue sheet.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-12 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-11 09:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-12 04:50 pm (UTC)