Monday 19 March 2018

A bit of a set back

It is already March but this is only my second post for 2018. The reason being is that my body has been going through some major changes which has affected my strength and endurance levels on and off the bike.


To cut through the details, I had an operation in February to remove some large fibroids from my uterus and I am till recovering from this procedure. It has been brought to my attention by a passing conversation, I am actually going through menopausal changes due to hormonal imbalances and I am only 37 years old.


Since early 2016 and my year of training for Peaks Challenge Falls Creek during 2015, my fatigue levels have overtaken my life and my strength and endurance levels have practically disappeared. I have had hot flushes now for the last year and I have always felt warm especially in my office. The overwhelming flush of heat over my whole body lasts for a few seconds and I sweat immediately and get a bit dizzy from it. I have always thought it was just my body's way of overcoming anxiety but putting all my symptoms together, it is menopause. These symptoms include insomnia, waking throughout the night, loss of hair and the number of grey hairs I have had have increased exponentially, weight gain especially around my waist and bust, dry skin and moodiness and anxiety.


I sweat through a Pilates session like I am in a Bikram class and I actually wake up several times during the night from thirst and drink close to 800ml of water each night. During training, I can't hold onto a hard strength set for a long period of time without heavy breathing. This is extremely frustrating considering the number of years I have been training for.


I have yet to join Lead Out Cycling on their long Saturday rides as I am not confident that I can get myself through the session without falling into pieces. Since the operation, I have had some long walks, a few spin classes with the Wattbike Pro bikes as well as squeezing in as much Pilates as I could. I would like to progress from the beginners to intermediate workouts so I can access to more classes at all the facilities. Static strength wise, I am good with the intermediate springs but I am finding it hard to hold my core for a lot of the workouts due to my EDS as well as from the surgery.


I have only signed up to one event so far for the year and that it is November but looking at my strengths and weaknesses, I am aiming to improve on my endurance and power to be able to do road races and some crits well. Feedback from the coaches is that I will do well in crits due to my strength in sprints but I will need to work on my endurance to hold a relatively high power range over a long period of time - read I will need to improve on my FTP throughout the year.


Some challenges I have is that I get sick easily during the winter months, last year I had a cold virus over 4 months straight which meant that I was not able to do a lot of training with Lead Out during the cold mornings but I committed myself to spin classes when I could.


I don't have much to report in terms of cycling, just getting through as many session as I can.

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