Injury Recovery: Part 39 - If you can't ride look like you can

Ok so this is what writers block feels like!!!!  Just spent the last 2 hours looking at a blank screen whilst watching a re-run of friends and trying to figure out what to write since my last entry.   To make matters even more interesting Sarah decided I was more interesting and I can tell you Sarah watching me write does not help.

So that got me started.  The last month and a bit has seen the ups and downs continue but I am pleased to say more ups than downs.  After a couple of failed attempts to restart training something had to change.  Every time I got on the bike trainer I experience pain in my back and glut.  By the third time it got old.  It took 3-4 days of rest and FT exercises to feel ready to try again and then it was like hitting the reset button and I had to start all over again.  It did not take a rocket scientist to figure out something was wrong. 

During the week of sunshine we had in January I looked out of the window and I just had to get out on the road despite the challenges.  I decided on the mountain bike over the road bike, and if I could not ride at least I was going to wear some of that kit I purchased for the race session I missed.  I even talked a very reluctant Sarah into joining me.   We headed to a stretch of road locally that is flat and glorious to ride.  When training it makes a great time trial segment and when relaxing it meanders through farms and along the river.  I won't lie I had mixed feelings about getting back on my mountain bike even if it was on the road.  Those feeling evaporated seconds after setting off.  The sun was shining and it was surprisingly warm for a weekend in January.

It struck me as ironic that it was my first ride on the mountain bike for fun, every other ride had been in anger whilst pushing myself to the limit and second guessing my ability.  It was wonderful to be back on the bike and to relish how good it felt to ride just for the sake of riding, the only agenda being to enjoy the ride.  We took 50 minutes to ride what would normally have taken me 15 to 20 minutes and it felt good.  Even better the next day was not a reset.  Bolstered by the experience I hit the trainer and boom I was back to square one. 

At that point I had to do something and it seemed the problem was bike specific.  If nothing else I needed to make sure that my bike fit was correct.  It was at that point I decided to seek bike specific help.  At the same time I focused on listening to my body and playing with Foundation Training to see what helped.  I found that getting deep into the Wood Pecker really helped and I could significantly reduce the pain and even eliminate it for a short period.  I was then blown away at my next visit to the balance spine when my adjustment almost completely eliminated the pain.  I had an imbalance and I needed to work on correcting it.

I started with a bike specific PT and in the first couple of sessions we focused on firing deep and different muscles.  It came a quite the shock in one session to find out I could not engage my butt muscles.  I quite literally lay there and nothing, I could not even conceive how to fire the muscle. It has been a mental journey to reconnect. Hmm, I can now say I have reconnected with my butt, now that's not something you admit to everyday.  It was also a revelation to realize that I could not relax my back and let my ribs drop and flatten my back a shoulders to the floor.  I know this should not have been to surprising but when you live with injury you don't always see the trees for the forest until someone helps you. 

The upside of the journey is the ability to simply enjoy riding with no agenda and to remember why I love to ride.  Even better Sarah has decided to ride with me.

My training for the last few weeks has been a 30 minute recovery rides at 70% of my FTP focused on allowing my body to adjust to riding without introducing cardio.  The riding combined with FT wood peckers and PT exercises has been going well and yesterday I was able to increase my FTP to 80% with no impact.

Oh and if all else fails I have a cunning fall back plan.  Electric bikes that if nothing else will allow us to get out in the wind.  I have visions of being paced by Sarah which would be super cool.  But I digress. I am openly optimistic but I know there is along way to go and the reset button seems just a hairs length away.  If it happens I know it will be hard but I will just have to get up, brush myself down and start all over again.  

Every day is a gift so MAX it OUT.