Signs of Overtraining

This weekend is the Seattle to Portland ride which I'm really looking forward to.  Because I've got this big ride coming up I did a lot of training rides last week.  It reminded me a lot of cramming for finals in college or doing a dress rehearsal before the opening night of the big play.  Anyway, since I did so much training last week I'm starting to see signs of overtraining this week.  Typically, signs of overtraining are things like an elevated resting heart rate which is well documented but my signs are not quite so obvious.  The following are my signs of overtraining which I'm sure you'll agree should be included in the New England Journal of Medicine.

 

Scab on calf

When I ride I always come home with a grease mark on the inside of my calf.  I know this is a rookie move but I always end up touching my calf on the chain for some reason.  I'm thinking that my chain is somehow magnetized to calf muscles.  After a long training ride on Friday Jenny told me that she used the Mister Clean Magic Eraser to get the grease off of her leg and it worked like a champ.  With an endorsement like that I decided to give it a try.  As I started rubbing the eraser on the grease mark I noticed that it was certainly taking the grease off but that there was a degree of pain involved.  Because cycling has taught me to ignore pain to a certain degree I ignore the pain and just kept cleaning until the grease was gone.  I'm happy to report that the Magic Eraser got the grease off but in the process of getting rid of the grease it also took off all of the leg hair I had in that spot and a couple layers of skin.  So, I'm now sporting a really nice scab on my calf all from the Magic Eraser.  I guess when it says on the side of the box do not use on skin they mean business.

 

Overloaded Dishwasher

At the end of last week I opened up the dishwasher to empty it out and was amazed at the sight.  The bottom rack of the dishwasher contained 8 bike bottles.  I actually think the water bottles outnumbered the plates in our dishwasher. 

 

Involuntary Pointing

The other day as I was driving home from work I was in deep thought as I traveled down I-5.  Before I knew it I spotted the bottom of a safety cone in the middle of my lane.  As I swerved to miss this obstacle I also pointed at it so all of the drivers in my pace line would also see it and avoid hitting it.  Luckily, I was the only one in the car at the time or I would have had to explain my involuntary pointing antic and the etiquette of riding in a pace line.  

 

So there are my newly found signs of overtraining.  I'm really hoping that these signs go away this week because my training has dropped way off.  If you are a medical professional and would like to write an article on these newly found conditions feel free to contact me.  You could be called Mikeonhisbikeitus.