The cross training experiment continues
In an earlier post I mentioned that something I am doing differently this year is trying to do more cross training. Now that I am doing it, I realize all the more why athletes need it. I just hope I can survive it!
For me an important part of cross training is that it needs to be something I enjoy. It has to be something I enjoy more than riding my trainer. Where I have gone wrong in the past is doing cross training that I don’t enjoy more than the trainer — say, running for instance.
What I arrived at was basketball. Here is a sport that I used to love playing. I would spend hours on our dirt driveway shooting baskets. As I grew a little taller I would put a concrete block in a strategic spot and dunk. Unfortunately, that is one part of the game I never got. I never graduated from the ability to dunk a volleyball.
I played high school and was “the man” on my team. In college I enjoyed pick up games and intramural league. As a matter of fact, basketball was one of the reasons I spent the last three years of college digging out of a giant GPA hole!
It was actually a football injury that ultimately moved me away from basketball and toward cycling. In high school I was a wide receiver and sometimes an option tailback. In one game while running out of the backfield, I made an abrupt change of direction while planting my left knee. The cleats got hung up in the centipede grass and my left knee twisted. Immediately it swelled up like a melon.
I recovered from that for the most part, but during college I could be walking up a flight of stairs and pivot left at the top and there would go my knee. The same would sometimes happen as I played basketball. I just never knew when it would.
The doctor said I needed to build up the muscle around my knee. I did some gym work in an attempt to improve the stability of that region. I still had a fear that my knee would go out at any time.
Once out of college I got married, started a job and basically stopped playing basketball all together. That is what brought me to the bicycle. Not exercising left me very unhealthy. I knew that cycling was a way to exercise with low impact on my knees. The rest is the history of this blog!
Now I’m looking for something to shake things up and basketball certainly fits the bill of being something I enjoy more than the trainer! Plus, I’m less than a mile away from some awesome facilities. Last night was my second night of pickup. I saw dramatic improvements in my game. Giving up the outside shot, I decided to do more slashing toward the basket. That combined with picking up some trash points from offensive rebounds had me scoring pretty well.
The body has taken the toll though! We moved to full court and I was doing a bit more running. Plus, I’m wearing my Mizuno running shoes which offer zero lateral ankle support. I never sprained my ankle, but I could definitely feel my ankle muscle straining.
My knees also took a bit of a beating. As we were finishing the final game, I could feel a tightness in the tendons just below my knee caps. By the time I went to bed, it hurt to bend as I lowered myself to sit on the edge of the bed. This morning it was even worse when I got up. I’m pretty sure some actual basketball shoes would solve some of these issues.
At the same time, some of the other muscles that were screaming at me after my first game night were much more happy. My t band was pretty much what it is now days. I basically live with that pain — it is the new normal. However, my hamstrings and upper body were not complaining.
This is good. All the years riding my bike have given me the stamina to run with the youngins’. Running with the guys on the court is giving me a break from the monotony of the trainer while also strengthening those muscles that the bicycle doesn’t affect. It makes me enjoy the time on the trainer more if for no other reason than because it helps take away the aches and pains!
This morning is a commute morning to work. I’m sure the fixie is going to give those knees a workout. Still, I’ll enjoy it all the more because of last night. Now to to get some shoes!
Tags: Cross Training
