I swear when I’m in pain. Really, really badly. I suffer an almost acute sense of injustice at what has been meted out to me and my response is also to punch, kick or throw something at the often inanimate object that has stricken me with, no doubt, malice aforethought. So, cupboards, shelves, bikes, fridges – all of these things have felt the wrath of this (temporarily) angry, short man (the short bit is, unfortunately, not temporary. However, I am now conditioned to this affliction and the problem of being old rather than short has usurped vertically challenged in the list of things I would change if I could…). Nine times out of ten there are small children within earshot, however, and I have to use some of my late father’s vernacular – “Why,the fizzing thing!…..Well, the bally idiot!….What the thundering blazes! …etc” – in order to save the ears of my young and impressionable Vicky Pendletons in waiting. Imagine, then, my delight on a rainy afternoon at having the entire tarmac road racing circuit of Fowlmead Country Park clear of children and only containing a fast disappearing adult bunch of racing cyclists plus a few more stricken heroes nearby! I was able to air my not inconsiderable (list on request) inventory of curses, all of them far too strong to print here. And at the top of my voice too! However, I was not able to follow this up with the usual satisfying violence to an inanimate object as I was laying face flat on it. The tarmac. Which had all of a sudden risen up to meet me from my bike in a rough manner, rubbed itself all over the parts of my body not covered by my skinsuit and was now turning it’s own internal thermostat down to chilly. And I started to think…..I’m quite fit at the moment. And there’s an event I’ve entered that I really want to ride in one month. I’m going to miss it, aren’t I? And even if I don’t, how much time will it take before I’m this fit again?
This, some might say, irrational train of thought often occurs to trained cyclists (Runners are worse. Triathletes are near-psychotic in this regard. Sorry!) when they see months of hard training being confronted by the spectre of illness or injury. Often, riders who are quite clearly in need of a hospital stay will cheerfully remark through gritted teeth “Oh well, if I start training on the turbo now with my leg/arm/lungs strapped up I can still make the New Year’s day 10 mile TT!”. This optimistic yet at the same time woeful mantra can be heard as the ambulance doors thud shut with the finality of a coffin nail entering it’s final rusting place. But this is a common problem – crashes, illness, injury, children. money, relationships….LIFE! all play their part in sabotaging a rider’s carefully-crafted plans for a Gold Standard Marmotte or a 22 minute 10.
So – how much time can you afford to have away from the bike? Well, this like most things is dependent upon a number of other factors and is a more complex question than the answer I once heard from a cyclist I respect very much indeed: “I don’t care what anyone says, if you have 10 days off you start from scratch”. It was me who had the 10 days off….and it was me who, thank the merciful Gods of cyclists who have families and want non-riding holidays, proved him wrong. This happened when I had a break for 8 days (no cycling), returned to find a major crisis at my then day job which involved 3 days further non-bike time, and jumped back into hard training sessions with the local road race training group. I regained all my “top-end” quickly – 2 weeks. Why? Because I was fit to begin with and this has a lot to do with it. I have also been training (as opposed to going out on my bike) regularly for 2-3 seasons beforehand – the previous years hadn’t been sedentary either, just not very structured and involving a lot more beer and food…….but don’t just take my word for it. There are quite a few studies out there that echo this opinion.
Of course, how much time-out affects your fitness also depends upon the reasons for it. If you have a virus then your immune system can be weakened considerably and you shouldn’t attempt to resume training until you feel fully recovered. Having a sore throat is a warning sign: ease off the training or have a rest day when this happens. Similarly, my own crash earlier in the year meant that I was physically unable to bend my left knee due to swelling. This took a couple of weeks to subside and, in that time, I was unable to do anything much apart from hobble about. Frustration sets in for most cyclists here and it is important to try and maintain a positive attitude and look at the evidence from studies which have focussed upon de-training – it seems fairly clear that the more you have done in the past, the longer it will take to lose it.
So – for those of you who have been similarly afflicted by the tarmac/ a nasty virus/ your partner’s insistence on holidaying WITHOUT BIKES (Can you believe it? I mean, who would entertain the notion…) there is some good news and some bad news. Good news – been training for a while? Then the top-end goes but the endurance doesn’t for a while. New to training? Then you may have to persuade your partner/the tarmac/your GP to let you get back into things a bit quicker…or just forget about the New Year’s Day 10 and hit the bubbly instead.
My own crash was a walk (or hobble) in the park compared to the very serious accident suffered by Ken Jones, a Blackcat rider who was taking on the Alpine Challenge earlier this year. A blow-out on a tricky descent (Ken is a great descender – unfortunately equipment was at the heart of this one…) left him with very bad injuries. He remained cheerful throughout (ex-fell runners are probably a lot more hardened to suffering and misfortune than we are…) and his account of things has appeared on the Wattbike Blog:
http://wattbike.com/uk/blog/post/me_my_wife_and_the_wattbike_in_sickness_and_in_health
I am more than pleased to say that, at this time, Ken has got back the majority of his fitness and is on course for a very good 2014 – this in no small part thanks to his determination, but also due to the fact that he was able to complete workouts which were short but targeted at around 70% of his Maximal Aerobic Power (MAP) in a sequence where work and rest periods were manipulated progressively. In short, he’s going to be giving some riders a hard time next year in the TT events he likes….
Final note – for those of you eagerly awaiting the next instalment of Final Words from a Great Summer I am saving it for the shorter days in the hope that it inspires you in 2014!
theblackcatscyclingwhiskers 