I saw my nutritionist last week and she did the blood pressure test again. The one where I sit and she takes my BP and then I stand and she takes it again. The first time she did this, my BP dropped 30 points. Yikes! This time it only dropped 3. Yes! Scientific proof of my progress.

I am definitely feeling less fatigued in general, though I am by no means fully recovered. I still have a hard time standing for any length of time. Moving around is easier. Walking or riding a bike, but having to stand still is just hard. I just want to sit down so badly. And I can feel when I ride my bike, that I need to take it easy. I  don’t want to have a relapse of any sort, so when in doubt, I back off.

While in Tahoe, I rented bikes with my daughter, Karissa, and her friend, Amber. We rode along an amazingly beautiful path, beside my dream pasture where some day I’m going to canter my horsey and then my horsey is going to fly up into the air and soar the mountains … and then ZOOM back over the pasture, down close to the ground, in a moment of thrilling exhilaration!

Did I just say that out loud? Okay, this is just my little silly fantasy … particularly the flying part … except I do fully expect to do that in heaven. I have put my request in with God, so He’s in the know.

Anywho, about 20 minutes or so into our ride, we stopped for a break, where upon we took the following picture.

My 13 year old daughter then says, “Can we turn back now?”

“What?! Turn back! We’ve only just begun!”

“But I’m tired,” she retorted.

“I’m the one with adrenal fatigue and I’m not tired!”

“But I’m just a kid,” she replied and to which I’m thinking … exactly you’re just a kid who should have all the energy in the world!  It’s not like we were riding hard at all. Just cruising easy. Quite different than the 80 mile ride I did with Alex, Dawn and Eric around the lake just one year ago … at quite an impressive speed, I might add, with some significant climbing. By comparison, I probably dawdled 6 to 8 miles with the girls on on our rental bikes.

The following photo is of my daughter, Karissa on left … clearly not having nearly the amount of fun that me and her buddy, Amber, were having. Note my beautiful dream pasture on right!

And this would be my “dirtier than usual post race husband”. Go Honey Pie!!!

This is CyclistChick, signing out. So until next time … GO RIDE YOUR BIKE! And maybe one day in the not too distant future, I’ll be able to ride with you.

This was about the third time I’ve seen club members coming down Etiwanda on a Saturday. They typically turn right onto church like racers nearing the end of a race. I just look at them longingly thinking how that used to be me. “I” used to make that same turn with club members, pushing myself as much as I could in hopes of getting my fastest ride time yet. Now I turn the opposite direction to go do two low to moderate effort loops around Heritage Circle at a 135-140 heart rate. I end up with around 10-12 miles total.

Today’s pace was much slower than last week. Not sure what’s going on with my body, but it seems to have digressed a bit. Maybe the heat. I don’t know. But to add to it all, I’m gaining weight and feel kind of powerless to do anything about it. I’m not supposed to let myself get too hungry, because that’s bad for my adrenals, yet I’m not supposed to lose weight, because that’s bad for my adrenals. So, I have to figure out the right amount of food to eat to maintain my weight and keep my adrenals happy, and if I eat too much, oopsie … too bad!

Alex is off doing a long hill repeat ride. He was going to do 100 miles, but Coach Mike talked him into shortening his ride. Wouldn’t it be nice if I had a coach telling me to “only” do about 50 miles? On a day like today, it’s hard to imagine ever getting back my party hat.

Once upon a time, in the year 2006, there came a day when my cycling frenzied husband began his attempt to entice me, the beautiful wife, into purchasing a tandem … and thereafter riding upon it with him. At first, such notions of grandeur eluded him, as I hemmed and hawed at the idea of such craziness. However, after pursuing the matter further, Honey Pie convinced me to try out a tandem owned by some friends of ours, Vic and Jenny. Upon getting all gussied up in  Alex’s silly shorts with a padded butt, a jersey, helmet, sunglasses, and shoes that are both difficult to walk in and make funny clicky noises when doing so … I found myself sitting upon the back seat, also known as the “saddle” of a road tandem. I had managed to get my funny shoes “clipped in” to the little tiny pedals. This, in and of itself was a bit scary as I was now “attached” to the bike.  Alex was up front, straddling the bike, holding it up along with Vic, who stood alongside spewing words of instruction on the proper riding of a tandem and how to work together.

Finally, the moment we had all been waiting for came … and we were off and gliding smoothly down the neighborhood road. I had no idea that what came out of my mouth next would never be lived down, but instead repeated over and over  …  and over  …  by others upon future bike rides. These words, said by me, with much exhilaration were, “I’m riding a tandem!!!”  And indeed I was. I flat out was riding on the back of a road tandem, all clipped in, riding around on streets with cars and the whole nine yards!

Well, it wasn’t long before we had purchased our very own tandem, a red Burley, along with color coordinated jerseys to go with, of course. Being that my cycling frenzied husband was already quite strong at both running and riding, I was in good hands. I did find, though, that he captains a tandem the way he drives a car, always stopping at the red light at the “last second”! This brought many a moment of fear into his novice cyclist wife. I also recall our first few speedy descents, where I’d say such things as, “Ummm … Honey? Scarey, scarey! Can we slow down?!” (This is laughable now for anyone who knows my love of fast descending!) However, in all of these cases, it is one thing to stop at a red light at the last second or descend fast when you are in control of the bike, but when you are sitting in the “stoker” position, with no control whatsoever and very new to riding, it is quite a different story.

Alas, we learned to work together and enjoyed many rides together, Honey Pie and I … when he listened to me, that is, and stopped for a break whenever I wanted to … and found me a potty along the route!

THE BEACHED WHALE STORY

One fine day, not too long after getting the tandem, Honey Pie and I were frolicking about around town riding east on Lemon, toward Hermosa. Hermosa is the usual smallish street most cyclist’s in our world use to head up to Banyan. However, we passed Hermosa on accident and now had to take Haven, a large and busy street, up a pretty decent climb for newbie tandem riders. When the light turned green we got going just fine and turned left onto Haven, but quickly had an issue with our chain and had to stop on the right side of the street. As cars roared by, Honey Pie fixed the chain with amazing skill and finesse. However, now we were on an incline and sitting at a dead stop. Hmmm. Not a problem for the average cyclist on a regular bike, but for two people new to riding a tandem, this was a bit more of a challenge. Not to worry, though. Honey Pie had a plan! He waited for the signal behind us to turn red, so there would be no traffic going by and positioned the bike just so. The plan was to aim the bike into the street, where it isn’t quite as steep, get our momentum going and then turn up the ascent. Before I proceed, however, I must make it clear that we had a usual way of taking off from a stand still. The left pedal was up in a position that made it easy for us to push together to get the bike moving, while Alex clipped in his right shoe. When we first rode together, I always stayed clipped in, which I was in this instance.

Sadly, however, while Honey Pie had a brilliant idea, it was not executed properly. My darling husband, whom I adore tremendously, failed to inform me, his riding partner, and who’s life was in his hands, of his plan … nor did he get the left pedal up into our usual “taking off” position … even though I mentioned it several times. All of this miscommunication was probably due to the fact that we had a short window of opportunity, which was now upon us and Honey Pie attempted to take advantage of it as quickly as possible.

Well, as you may have guessed, the result of our efforts to move the 27 pound bike and the two of us uphill failed miserably, resulting the bike going down to its right side in what seemed like slow motion. It all happened to quickly and Alex had never gotten clipped in, so when the bike started to fall, he put his foot down right away. I, the novice rider, furiously tried to unclip, which was a pointless endeavor. Honey Pie tried to keep the bike upright with all his might in an effort to protect the woman he loved … yet, like the Titanic, the bike was going down. I could hear the music playing as I was gently laid to rest on the side of Haven Avenue.

So here I am, lying there like a beached whale, attached to a tandem and unable to move. The light had turned green by now, of course, so all of the people traveling from the south side of Rancho Cucamonga to the north side of Rancho Cucamonga were nudging each other, pointing and laughing hysterically at the funny looking woman attached to the quite large, bright red tandem on the side of the road. It was a moment that will be capsulated in my mind for ever and ever … and ever.

The good news is, that was the only time Honey Pie and I went down on the tandem and we had no scrapes, bumps, bruises or blood oozing to show for it. Just a bruised ego!

In 2007 we rode that tandem in the Amtrak Century, my first century ever. Ouchers! That was hard for me, and my booty … but an accomplishment I shared with Honey Pie that I will treasure always.

THE GENESIS OF CYCLIST CHICK

I have been riding for almost five years, first on a road tandem with my amazing husband, Alex. Hi Honey Pie! From there I was inspired to get my own road bike, and a whole new world of possibilities opened up before me as I was actually able to STEER the bike! WOW! It’s FUN to ride a bike!!!

Among my cycling ventures, I have done several centuries (100 miles) … and last year I did my first three road races.

CYCLIST CHICK GETS ADRENAL FATIGUE  
. . . AND WHAT IS ADRENAL FATIGUE, ANYWAY?

Last year I trained harder than I ever had and  lost 10+ pounds in an effort to climb faster, with part of my weight loss method being to skip meals from time to time. All of this, combined with the fact that I have unknowingly had mild hypothyroidism for years, resulted in adrenal fatigue. This means I exhausted my adrenal glands, which regulate cortisol levels and affect the thyroid and many other hormones in the body. The effects of adrenal fatigue are … well … fatigue, mostly. I was just tired all the time … sluggish, lethargic and sleepy, particularly in the afternoons. I got dizzy when standing and often my vision would go black, due to my blood pressure dropping significantly. The first sign that there was a problem was how it affected my rides. I might have started strong at first, but then lost all energy and stamina and would limp home.

My first “adrenal crash” occurred in August 2010. A coach, my “sister-the-nurse”, and I thought surely it was iron deficiency. I started taking iron and eating more iron rich foods. About a month or so later my symptoms had significantly improved and I started riding more. In January, I got more serious about riding, but strangely found longer rides, anything over 40-ish miles,  to be quite difficult. I decided to focus on short and fast, which is more fun anyway! I amped up the speed training and started losing the weight that had piled back on upon my first “crash”. Well, mid-March, I had my second adrenal crash. I saw a doctor, who declared it was not anemia. I subsequently started seeing a nutritionist, who confirmed adrenal fatigue. Adrenal fatigue is not really something treated by conventional medicine. It is treated with rest, nutrition, supplementation and the “appropriate” levels of exercise.  And because I wasn’t aware I had adrenal fatigue all along, I put my adrenals into a deeper state of fatigue with my continued training and skipping meals.

It is now June and, while my symptoms are improving, they are taking longer to improve than after my first crash last August. I am definitely less fatigued over all and my dizziness is improved, but still there. I still get lightheaded when I stand sometimes and my vision still goes black, but less often and less intense.

CYCLIST CHICK STARTS OVER

In many ways it feels like I’m starting over with my cycling. My nutritionist has me riding about 30 minutes at 135-140 heart rate. I usually do a ten minute warm up and cool down in addition to that. Over all, my rides average around 10 miles and my average pace is 12 or so miles per hour. Yikes! When I’m at target heart rate, my average is usually in the 15 mph range, so that’s kind of … sort of … somewhat respectable. These kinds of average paces take me back in the day to my first rides on my single (cause on the tandem, Alex typically wouldn’t let me do anything less than 20+ miles .. and his strength made our average pace faster than I could do on my own).

As my symptoms improve, my nutritionist will allow me to bump up my rides, but for now, such is life as a person recovering from adrenal fatigue. It has put a huge dent into my world and plans of racing time trials this year, let alone the annual centuries I will miss. However, with proper care of my body, I should fully recover and quite possibly be a stronger rider overall when it’s all said and done. Look out world, CyclistChick is coming back!!!

Please join me on my journey back to my former self. Feel free to leave comments, and become a follower if you don’t want to miss a single mind blowing post!