BACK PAIN ON LAST WEEK

Action photo from last year L’Etape du Tour at the bottom of Hautacan.

One week for race day and I don’t feel all right. My lower back is really painful and I actually have only three days to recover before the first team training ride in France. My consolation right now is that I feel stronger as last year and more rested, which should give me a better chance to recover and be in good shape. Take a look after the link what are the plans for the week.

Uma semana para a corrida do L’Etape du Tour eu não estou legal. Minhas costas estão doendo muito e eu só tenho três dias para me recuperar antes do primeiro treino com o time da Nike. Minha consolação é que eu estou me sentindo tão preparado como no ano passado e mais descansado. Mais chance de recuperar à tempo. Dá uma olhada depois do link como vai ser a semana na França.

First the back pain. On Saturday I went swimming for around 50 minutes. A did a couple of relaxed laps, mixing freestyle with chest strokes. Nothing serious as it was just a way to pass time while my daughter was on swimming lessons on the side lane. At the end, I could feel my back hurting a little, especially with the chest strokes. I noticed but didn’t think too much about it.

On Sunday I went for my training ride that was quite strong. Not a walk in the park. But it went quite well and I didn’t have any pain. Anything especial at least in my lower back. But right after, during the shower, the pain started. In the evening, the lower back was really sore. It felt like I sprained the ligaments between the spine and the hips once again.  Today the pain was really strong and I tried to stand as much as possible instead of sit to much.

So, now the game is to relax as much as possible. Lay down, take the ibuprofen and paracetamol and see what happen before the team ride on Thursday. As I said above, the good thing is that I feel strong as last year and strong and I am for sure more rested as I didn’t do the same amount of training.  Below the stress level comparison proves what I’m feeling.

THE WEEK | This year the week in France is going to be short. I’m not going ahead of time like last year for more training time. I’m going to fly on Thursday and come back on Monday, right after the Etape. On Thursday the plan is to get at the hotel, located halfway the climb of the Col Du Madeleine, before the bus with the rest of the team.

Right after a quick lunch we will do the first team ride in France. We will climb the Col du Chaussy, the first climb of the race on Sunday. It is going to be a 52 kms ride with an elevation gain of 2 thousand meters. Nice warm-up and good to know exactly what is waiting for us on race day. Below is the map and profile.

On Friday we will ride the Col du Madeleine, which was the first climb of this Etape 3 years ago. We are already staying close to the top. So, we will go to the top (talk about warm up) and descend to the other side. At the bottom, just turn around and come back up. It will be a beast of a climb!  On Saturday we relax, go to the village to get our race numbers and get the final preparations for Sunday. I just need to get my back sorted on time…