Originally Posted by
illusiumd
Well I'm not sure what my goals are. When I went to the physical therapist - she said I was getting out of balance - that my glutes were way weak for what I ride.
I'm finding that my quads are always crazy tight and I have a hard time going up stairs.
My goal used to be getting faster. Now my goal is getting healthy and being able to keep this commute - I cannot imagine having to make this trip in a car it would suck my soul to nothing.
OK. Well, maybe you need not a proper training plan, but more a lifestyle plan.
You've been riding hard for quite a while. At this point, just speaking about the cycling, I suggest not riding hard at all for a while. Take your normal cruising speed down to where you can breathe easily and somewhat slowly. OK to go a little harder on the hills, but keep it down. For a speed reference, I ride about a 16 average on hilly rides, and cruise in that easy-breathing zone on the flat at 17-18, though that's after a good bit of base training.
Try that for a month and then try going hard on two rides/week.