July 4: Think I was feeling the effects of yesterday’s aggressive ride with the new HR monitor, in addition to the prior week’s worth of riding. Did a 2:15 hrs ride, but from the get-go my HR just wouldn’t come up. Try as I might I was never able to get the HR up over 125 - and that’s after yesterday when I was 125-132 for nearly 2 solid hours. Legs felt heavy but the cardio felt ok…other than the fact that the HR just stayed low. And add insult to injury where when I did a small climb, the HR stayed low but the effort felt high. 

So I met up with Judy and we did the bike trail to Ravenna. Now I was moving along ok on the flats, but it was just that the HR was so stagnant. Alright, so I’ve driven that point into the ground! On the way back, on the flip side, I just told Judy I was going to back it off and go easier so that I wouldn’t put myself any further into the hole. So I backed off to something under 110bpm. Felt like I was doing a noodle ride, which was kind of reassuring. Judy split off and headed home while I continued to Hudson. Along the way I saw Wally cruising by on his tri bike in the opposite direction doing his loop. Thought I’d see how he was doing so I detoured off the bike trail on headed out on Wally’s loop backwards. 

Sure enough we ran into each other somewhere on Newcomber Rd. Just shut it down the rest of the way and BS’ed with Wally as he rode with me down to Barlow Rd. Finished with my legs just feeling like they’d been beaten to a pulp. I mean it was painful to even walk up and down stairs. That in itself tells me that I’m a long way from being back in shape that’s for sure! I’m still amazed at how much that surgery took out of me. 

Took a nap after eating and hydrating and I was out for at least 1.5 hrs. Just felt like a walking zombie the rest of the day. Hit the bed at like 7 PM…Happy July 4th!