A Blistering Pace

Well after my effort yesterday, I thought there were no ill effects but I discovered in the evening that I had created a small blister on my shin (akin to what you get on your heel with a new pair of hard leather shoes). Presumably a bit of skin rubbing going on inside the prosthetic, which I still can't feel as the nerves on that part of my skin are pretty much non-existent. It wasn't large or anything nasty looking so I wasn't that concerned with it.

Today was a bit different. Having managed to actually turn a crank and prove to myself that it was possible (albeit in a modified way) it meant of course that I now need to keep up the effort, gradually building up my capacity to train again. But I still need to be careful and make sure I don't go like a bull at a gate. So with these conflicting emotions, I actually needed a bit of psyching up to get on the trainer today - which I eventually did during the evening news. Here's the file:


OK, this time I did 15 minutes averaging 108 watts, with a 10-minute max of 116 watts. That's 1/3rd of my all time best 10-minute power of 345 watts! (not that I've done any specific 10-min efforts mind you). So a long road ahead.

One thing that really sticks out in the file is how the leg discrepency, combined with the Powertap's aliasing effect (see link for an explanation of aliasing), shows up in the power line, which jumps contantly between appoximately 100 watts and130 watts. I'm guessing my cadence is not that fast, probably close to 80 rpm, which puts it right in worst zone for aliasing to show up.

So, session #2 completed. At the moment I doubt I'll have trouble holding myself back. Pedalling with Schooner is not the most comfortable thing in the world to do, so a constant reminder is there tempering the effort. And I took a peek at the leg afterwards and my blister had burst exposing a bit of raw skin underneath. Such is life. It'll be a while before my leg toughens up to the demands of riding.

Other news - I got my crash bike back the other day and dropped it into Hoggies for a check over and repair of relevant items. Interestingly, there is a small dent and a long white streak along the top right full length of the top tube. The front wheel is out of true so it clearly got a knock. The white streak is from the paint of the boom gate I hit but what I simply can't work out is how the bike managed to get damaged there. Weird. Anyway, we'll soon find out what the damage is.