Tuesday, June 4, 2013

I Hate following my own advice!


A Diary of Injury Recovery

Seven weeks ago, I went THUD and cracked a rib.  I’m “happy” to report that things are on track for recovery.

I am pretty sure I turned the corner in this last week.  Here’s a review.  I have gained some unwanted weight, thanks to the reduced activity levels.  I’ve lost a surprising amount of aerobic condition.  On the other hand, the rib is healing nicely, and I find I am capable of accepting increased training loads.  Not increased over previous norms, mind you, but definitely an improvement.

In the past week I reduced overall volume somewhat, from the “maintenance level” I had worked up.  At the same time I added a bit of increased effort.  How much?  Not much at all, but it’s a start. 
Here’s what I did:
  • Increased stretching routine to about 2/3 of pre-crash levels.
  • Began limited core/abs strength training, 10 minutes per day, 4 days per week
  • Added two short hill drill interval sessions, of about 15 minutes each
  • Used the fixed gear bike for two hours on one day.
  • Rode 10 hours at low cardio levels, distributed over 6 days.


Folks, I’m here to tell you, by early Sunday afternoon, I had the thought that I just might have overcooked it a bit!  By the end of a very modest two hours of riding, I was feeling cooked.  I am happy to say that the feeling did not last.  Recovery and rest took me back to a happy state.

That sketch of the effort doesn’t look like much, does it?  But it’s a good start.  I’ll increase this coming week.  It’s time to reduce the unwanted weight, and increase the aerobic capacity again.  But gently.  Very gently.

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