Beasty's sweaty plaster cast - the road to recovery 2014/5/6/7.....

Just discovered a carrier bag with HR strap, mini pump, 2 x tubes, 2 x tyre levers, 2 x cleat covers and 2 x CI numbers, together with a checklist from the hospital noting I was unable to sign for my possessions as I was "sleeping":)

Better update this with what I've actually been doing

First go on the Wattbike was a couple of weeks ago during the bank holiday weekend and just ahead of heading back into hospital for the operation on my face. Essentially I treated it pretty much as a 20 minute warm-up, just to get the legs turning and blood circulating. It still felt like hard work, particularly given the pain in my arms. Average power was a measly 160w with a max of 959w

Last Thursday I tried something similar - this time I managed to average 173w but the max was 924w. The issue I'm having continues to be with the arms and in particular the left one where they never confirmed a break in the wrist, and the brace for my broken elbow was removed earlier in the week. I continue to get some pain in the wrist area when holding the bars in the traditional manner, when I'm out of the saddle to push hard though it feels a lot worse. I've tried with and without a removeable splint but it does not make much difference. The right arm is uncomfortable but that feels like the cast is simply a little tight. Everything settles down though when I adopt the TT position. The other point is my HR hit 173 (max is aropund 186) - a level I rarely see except when racing - I guess it's highlighting how far out of condition I've become over the past 5 weeks.

Then earlier today I gave it another go - it's still painful but everything is heading in the right direction - average poweer 199w, max 970w average HR 156, max 170.

Probably try another 2-3 sessions next week and hope I can get this cast off sooner rather than later (which should give me more training options)

So I managed to get nearly 6 hours sleep last night and I thought I would make the most of the rest by getting out on the bike today ...

Should have realised when suffering the pain of putting on the lyrca gear, socks, gloves and shoes that perhaps it was not the best idea at present (and getting it off again later was even worse!).

5 minutes in I was in pain in both arms, and any thoughts of getting to Balscadden to watch today's open race dissipated. Every defect in the road was painful and I had to swap hands regularly. Even approaching a corner was challenging, as to stop would rquire a firmer grip on the bars which was only going to add to the pain. So I decided to keep it very local, and only did just under 30 mins at an average speed of less than 10mph!! Normalised power was a mediocre 140w or so, and the Strava "Suffer" score was 8 - mentally it felt more like 80+! The only good news was I could use the brakes properly so I never felt as if I could get into a dangerous situation.

So what does that mean? Really I am not in a state to ride on the road and cannot see things improving enough for a couple of weeks minimum (which is a little unfortunate as I am definitely not allowed to drive either for those 2 week, meaning I'm pretty much reliant on walking and taxis). It also means that any idea of racing has got to be put on the back-burner. Indeed I really cannot see me doing much if any road racing this season. I may be able to do some shortish TTs later on (the TT position is definitely a lot less painful that trying to grip normal bars in any position). The only other realistic option this year may be a bit of track league, but even then I think I am realistically talking late July (after a holiday break) at the earliest.

In the meantime it can only be back to the Wattbike, and getting the new indoor training facility completed to allow me to concentrate on at least building some fitness in a far more comfortable environment. Hopefully once I can do a decent stint on the roadbike I'll start using the commutes to build the fitness more. From a practical perspctive any racing objectives for this year are pretty much abandoned, and the main focue will be getting in a state where I can race again at a decent level next year

RobFowl wrote: »

Have awarded you a suffer score of 410 on the basis of exceptional effort, well done.

Did have the Boards jersey on, but decided, rather than disgrace it further with my slowness, I'd better head back home ...

Beasty wrote: »

Really I am not in a state to ride on the road and cannot see things improving enough for a couple of weeks minimum

Saturday was 2 weeks after I wrote the above, so I gave myself a bit of breathing space and left it until yesterday to give the road bike another go.

The good news is I manged 50% more time-wise (45 mins) as well as speed (24 kph). NP was up just above 200w which was a significant improvement. I had enough grip to feel confident getting out of the saddle on hills, although trying a sprint effort was a different kkettle of fish

A lot of the time I found myself steering with one hand while resting the other - one arm was difficult to straighten and the other difficult to bend!! Both were quite painful after the ride - probably should have taken some painkillers beforehand!

Anyway, I'm more than pleased with the power output given my current condition and the fact I've hardly been able to do anything for 8 weeks. Average cadence was up from 53 to 76, but really needs to be moving into the 90s - that way I hope to improve heart and lung conditioning a bit quicker, although it's getting clearer all the time that this is going to be a bit of a long haul. Maybe I'll be able to do a TT or two and perhaps a track league night towards the end of the season, but I really cannot see me being able to race much this year.

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Marshal duty beckons so...

No comment - may see you on a corner on Wednesday mind ...

My current symptoms include irritability and general grumpiness - tends to be later in the day when I'm getting tired though...

So Tuesday I was travelling - over in Manchester and, amongst other things, had my annual medical at BUPA

Now, of course, in my current state I was not expecting to set any PBs, although I was slightly surprised that I even managed to do some testa such as the "grip strength" one, when my left arm was not too far adrift from where it was last year

Then there was the VO2 Max test - the way they do it is never going to give an accurate result, as they only take you to 85% of the max HR as predicted by the 220-age calculation (and then extrapolate to 100%). Given the HR I hit on Sunday I do suspect I would get above the 186 I have recorded previously if I really pushed myself in my current (relatively unfit) state. So they assumed a max HR of 167, an understatement of at least 10%. Then there was my weight - up 5kg, or over 5%, since the crash. A couple of years ago I "hit" a VO2 max of around 44 and last year it was 40.2. The important thing though was the testing protocol was pretty consistent, so I was staggered when the informed my that they measured it at 42.3!. All other things being equal I should have expected a 5.5% reduction due to my increased weight and another 0.5% as they reduced my perceived max HR - so I had a 6% "hill" to climb just to maintain last year's fitness, but actually exceeded that by over 5% - an 11%+ "positive swing" when I've been injured and pretty much off the bike for over 9 weeks!!

I guess this is confirming what I had already suspected - that I had come into this season (significantly) fitter than ever before. What amazed me though was I was expecting a major fall-off due to the inactivity. However this, in conjunction with what I have managed over the past couple of weeks, is confirming I probably have not lost very much base fitness at all, and hopefully it will not be too difficult to regain it once I do manage to get out a bit more, both on the road and on the indoor trainers.

Again though it's not all good news - 2 days travelling has really taken it out of me - way beyond what I had anticipated, and it's taking at least 24 hours just to get over that. I am still very easily fatigued (and getting back to a regular work routine is not helping on that front, although it's not yet full-time), although the pain in my arms after Sunday's road session subsided a lot more quickly than last week, which means that hopefully I'll be able to up my road sessions a bit going forward.

Back travelling this week, which helps explain why I'm posting this at quarter to five in the morning - it's 8.45 in the evening where I am.

So Tuesday was a complete write-off as my travelling took over 20 hours door to door. It certainly tested the current status of my recovery, and while I've been on the West Coast of the USA I've found myself getting fatiqued very quickly - clearly jet-lag is playing a part, but I do usually adapt very quickly to this particular journey.

Anyway, in terms of what I've done, I was out on the bike for nearly 80 minutes last Saturday - 25 or so minutes than I've done on any other occasion since the crash. Both arms were still very painful and knowing I would be back on gym bikes after the break for the journey was a bit of a relief.

I've now done 3 gym bike sessions this week, mainly being variations on what set out to be relatively easy interval sessions, although I have tried to up the effort towards the end of each session, usually hitting 170+bpm. I've also being, for the most part, keeping cadence at 100-105. Coming back to the HR figures, which is the only real data I have to go on, the pleasing thing is that at the end of a hard interval, even though I've kept working at a reduced rate, I've been able to get the HR down by 30+bpm within a couple of minutes - an indication that my heart is re-gaining efficiency. Not as spectacular as when I crashed mind, when my HR went from 160 at "point of impact" to 80 withn 70s, altough I was clearly unconscious at the time (a few minutes later I lost the "remaining" 80bpm also:eek: - the wonders of the Garmin allow me to track a lot of stuff which looks a little scary now!)

I'm going to be sticking to the hotel gym bikes for a few days yet, although when I get back I'm hoping the new training facility will be complete;)

CramCycle wrote: »

See you on the track in Autumn?

You'll definitely be seeing me at the track. I would like to think I could do a couple of track league evenings before the season is out, but remain in the hands of (at least one of) the medics on that front...

.... and error

Since my last update I feel as if the road work has been coming along nicely. I get less pain in the arms and have been able to do some longer efforts and a few intervals. That's resulted in me experimenting a little more to try and work out where the boundaries currently are. Alas they still feel a bit too close to home

Experiment #1 - hill climb repeats
A couple of weeks ago I did 3 repeats of the local Ardgillan hill climb. All went very well and I was hitting the sort of power I would typically get in the middle of winter. I was very pleased with that, until it came to the following day. Basically I was completely zonked in work. I was almost walking round like a zombie, with the after effects of the previous night's efforts really hitting home. So the take-home from that was I do need to be particularly careful not to overdo it, as recovery from any over-exertion is going to be "challenging"

Experiment #2 - the TT bike
Got my wheel back (it had been supporting Mr Irvine to his bronze in the National TT championships;)) and got the TT bike set-up. So I went out just to see whether I could get into a comfortable position. Result - a hell of a lot of pain in the wrist. I could not grip the bar ends properly with my right hand, making shifting (even with Di2) very dificult. Motion in my right wrist remains severely restricted, and I really don't know how much more it will improve. Having said that I felt very similar when I started back on the road bike and that has eased over time - maybe it is a matter of getting a bit more practice, or probably more likely changing to "ski" bars from the current "s-bar" set up. I also had quite a stiff neck throughout the ride and getting down on the TT bars is increasing the strain

Experiment #3 - the track
Went down to Sundrive last week to take part in the junior training session. I did quite a bit of it solo, but built my confidence and joined in with some of the sprint efforts, which went well. However the need to hold onto the track bars continuously resulted in a lot of pain in the wrist. I deliberately tried to keep going as long as possible just to test things. I'm hoping/expecting that to improve over time

So where are the injuries up to? As already outlined the right wrist remains, quite literally, a pain. Hopefully that will continue to improve with practice. The left elbow stiffens up quite a lot, and I've got some plans to try and regain strength in both arms

I am continuing to get physio on my neck and shoulders. They basically deteriorate throughout the day, making it very difficult to turn my head even 90 degrees each way when it's getting late. Cycling tends to make it a bit more flexible, but there is no way I would feel comfortable doing any fast group riding at present, given the need to be aware of what's going on around.

The other big issue (linked to but also beyond the cognitive problems I outlined in my previous post) is fatigue. I travelled over to Scotland on Thursday, and attended the 2 track cycling sessions at the Commonwealth Games on Friday. By Friday evening I was again totally zonked. I paced myself better through Saturday, but could feel it coming on again on Sunday morning - so I gave a couple of Rugby 7s sessions a miss and again just went to the velodrome. I could have gone to Athletics and Swimming on Monday, but just got in the car as I knew I also had a long drive that day. In the past combining all of this (as I did with the Olympics and Paraklympics) would not be a big issue. Currently though I know that anything involving significant effort and/or concentration is going to be a problem unless I pace myself

This past week I've been feeling pretty crap until Friday when I felt a lot better. That seems to be indicative of how this recovery is likely to go for a while particularly as I try to balance more things. Even though it was a short week, there was something quite "challenging" at work I had to do, and the pressures of trying to do too much were clear

I wondered if getting on with some exercise may help so I gave the Wattbike a go on Tuesday. It didn't go particularly well and after 35 mins I gave up after what was (supposed to be) a relatively easy effort

I was feeling a lot better on Friday, but there was no cycling that day as I had gotten wind that the main medic who treated me at the scene back in March would be at the Newry Wheelers 3 dayer, so I headed up there to thank him as well as some of the guys at the club who had helped at the time and in the days thereafter.

So I managed to glean some "interesting" info from various discussions I had in Newry - the first medic was apparently on the scene very quickly - the message rhat was relayed to some of the organisers appears to have been along the lines that the initial thoughts was I would not survive. Fortunately the other medics were on the other side of the dual carriageway following another race and were also on the scene within a minute or two. My HR dropped from 160 to 80 in the minute after the crash - apparently indicative of a blocked airway, and without urgent treatment I would not survive. Fortunately these guys were close enough and got there just in time....

Then on Saturday I gave the R5 its first run out. I was feeling fine and managed to head out for 80 minutes.

Today it was back to the Wattbike in much better nick than I was on Tuesday. After 50 minutes I had managed to up my best power since the crash all the way up from peak power to just over 30s. Next week, depending on how I'm feeling, I'll try and do a commute or two then see if I can push up the 1 minute power

Last time I updated this was just under 3 weeks ago, and I've got to say the first two of those weeks I was feeling different again, getting in around 5 hours on the commutes each week plus the odd WB session. I did both back to back commutes and 3 commutes in a week each week, and had achieved neither before that. I was feeling almost "back to normal" for a lot of the time, even if some of the physical problems in the arms were still giving rise to some discomfort.

The problem I have though (and I expect this following my discussions with the neuro-psychologist) is that my recovery is not going to be continual and there will be setbacks.

So I guess I should not be surprised that there was a backlash this week. Monday I felt pretty lousy, but Tuesday I was a bit better and gave the WB a short session. Wednesday and Thursday I was not feeling great again (and Friday I was travelling all day which definitely fatigued me). The common factor with these periods of setback tends to be a bit more stress at work and indeed home where the wife was away for a few days leaving me with the kids to look after when I was away from work.

Things brightend up a bit towards the end of the week though and today I helped out with the McNally Swords CC beginner spin. That was 80km door to door over 3hrs 25 mins. The longest post crash spin I had done before today was 2 hours so I was more than pleased to complete it without major issue (although the arms were definitely aching towards the end, along with the legs of course!).

Hopefully I'll get another commute or two (or equivalent WB sessions if the weather is bad at all) over the next week and I can perhaps get out for another long spin next weekend

So, having done the 80km club spin a few weeks back yesterday was an opportunity to push it a bit harder and further. I'd taken in a couple of days watching the World Track Masters - an event I had been competing in over the past 2 years - and it was on to a "corporate" cycling event in Cheshire and into the Peak District.

I had chosen the shorter of 2 options - 60+ miles with 4,000 ft of climbing

I turned up to breakfast and found myself sitting next to one of the "celebs" brought in by the company running the event, former 2-time Ras winner and current GB track coach Chris Newton. I took various opportunities through the day to glean whatever info on the GB setup I could!. Then we had a late addition to the team - Rob Hayles, who currently is mainly doing a bit of media work. We also had another Ras winner, Kristian House, there, but he was shepherding the longer of the 2 routes

Anyway, we set off on the Cheshire plain - the weather was pleasant enough although some of the motorists did leave a bit to be desired. We then moved into the much lumpier Peak District where we would encounter the 2 climbs of the day - not particularly long but definitely hard work. The problem I found though was on the descents. They were very fast, but as I was completely unfamilar with the roads I was always going to be very careful. That meant I was on the brakes most of the time and the grip I was exerting was making both wrist and elbow very uncomfortable. I was certainly enjoying the slight inclines more than the descents in the circumstances

Anyway after a bit more effort there was then a lunch break, when some of the pros decided to take the mickey out Hayles and turn his rear wheel round!

After lunch there were a few more slight inclines - with correponding ropey descents - by the end of the ride I had clocked over 30% of the ride with zero cadence.

Then Hayles decided to take us on a detour through Lyme Park - not only a detour but also claim to be a short cut - we would just have to go down a bit of an offroad "track". After a couple of hundred meters of the descent Newton punctured. My arms were in agony and every turn of the wheels on the rough, very stoney, surface caused pain. Hence while he was changing his tube I and one other decided to take the walk of shame. The track surface for the next couple of hundred metres was far worse than higher up and we both knew we had made the right decision.

We got back onto the main road and proceeded back towards the outskirts of Manchester. Then the heavens opened. The pace picked up a bit, but agian in my condition I was in no mood for taking any risks.

We got back to the hotel from where we started. I saved the ride on the Garmin and saw the total distance was 99.3km - if only I could have ridden the Lyme Park track! Anyway, Newton actually headed back to make a few circuits of the nearby roundabout to clock up the tonne. I think everyone else was working in miles...

Overall it was a great day out and getting the chance to have a natter with Chris Newton (who I now realise was born only a few miles away from where I was and knows the area very well) and Rob Hayles was even better. Total climbing was shown on the Garmin at just under 1,000m and moving time was 4 and a half hours - that's a lot more than I've done since the crash and I was definitely feeling it by the end. The weight I've put on was telling also (although was a definite advantage when I was freewheeling!). It showed I've got a way to go still, particularly with the ongoing arm problems, as well as my lack of confidence when the rain came

Cheers for that RS. Shortly after the crash I had ambitions of getting back into racing within a few months. Such hopes evaporated over time but it was only when I saw the neuro - psychologist back in June that the full scale of what I had been hit with really started to dawn.

He certainly warned me off racing for a while and I've been deliberately trying to both pace myself and push the boundaries a little at a time. As a result I suspect I am probably way ahead of where I could have been (he had said that it was "normal" with my sort of injuries not to even think about going back to work for 6 months for example. I certainly went back too early but still feel I was probably 3 months ahead of where I would otherwise be). He tells me I'll be feeling different again in another year or so, and I'm definitely looking forward to that!

Progress on the bike has been pretty good since the last update. I'm definitely moving more towards "normality" although certainly not doing as much as I was at this time last year. What I am doing though is more targetted.

The legs are definitely getting there and I've managed to do a few efforts both on the road and Wattbike that are putting me maybe 30w or so (over an hour) behind where I was before the crash. It's a gap I feel I can narrow although it will take some time. The gaps over shorter timeframes are actually narrowing more rapidly and last night I managed to hit a post crash peak of 1,300w on the WB - that's my 3rd highest ever and only 21w behind my PB. On the road bike I can often get to or near 1,100w, when around 2 and a half years ago 1,000w was a more realistic objective.

The heart and lungs still have a way to go though and I'm regularly going within a few bpm of my max HR when in the past I would be 20bpm below it. I am sure that will come over time. I'm also increasing cadence again which does seem to put more of a strain on those organs than the leg muscles

The injuries though are still a bit of a concern. I guess I'm quite impatient as a lot of people who have suffered similar setbacks as well as medics and physios are telling me it's still early days. I've managed to ease the discomfort in the wrist by strapping it up a bit tighter, but both elbows can still suffer after a relatively short period on the bike. I've now got some exercises for them so will see how it goes. The neck and shoulders have not progressed for a while and indeed seem to have got a bit worse recently. Trying to go on the drops for an extended periods does put quite a strain on the neck in particular. Anyway I'm hoping to get some more physio and probably try and head off for some pilates sessions which hopefully will improve things

The brain injury and related fatigue are continuing to improve but there are still days when it can be quite a strain, particularly if there's anything stressful at work. I'm not getting as many power naps as I was. Today was a good example when I was absolutely shattered when I got back from work and I've been dozing on the comfy chair for a most of the past 6 hours.

Anyway, things are definitely still heading in the right direction. Certainly not as quickly as I would have hoped, but equally probably a lot faster than I have any right to expect.

Just seen the provisional Ulster calendar for 2015 - 1 March it is then (and I'm well and truly trucked :pac:)

Since the last update I've been continuing the physio, and the wrist is starting to feel quite a bit better, although that may be partly down to the lack of roadbike opportunities due to the weather. The other ailments continue to improve also, although it still feels a long process. Fatigue definitely continues to be an issue and I still have to pace myself in all walks of life, althought I feel getting out on the bike a bit does improve things provided I don't have too much else going on. One big negative is my weight and I realy need to start shifting a few of those kilos I've gained since the crash

The good news on the bike work is I'm still putting in the efforts at the sprint end of the time spectrum and keeping pretty close to peak power. I'm also maintaining it and staying close to my all-time PBs up to around 20s. Beyond that the power is improving. In fact on a normalised basis I've progressed quite a bit and am now approaching 250w over the hour, but I can extrapolate to 20+w higher from some of the shorter efforts (the CP curve isn't doing too badly either at around 240w for the hour).

For the efforts up to 10s or so I'm pretty much at or around my all time PB. Up to 20s I'm perhaps 5-6% behind and beyond that up to 3 minutes (which is representative of my pursuit effort) around 10-15% behind, but I've not done much in the way of all-out efforts over those longer time periods and hopefully could narrow the gap further if I did make a specific effort. The pre-crash power records are definitely helping me target performances as I feel as if I am now approaching those levels

I'm hoping to get out on the road a bit more over the next few weeks which with a bit of luck will help both on the endurance and weight

RobFowl wrote: »

There are some specific wrist strengthening exercises .......

I'm actually starting some specific exercises recommended for goalkeepers. Think I'll struggle to make it but still feel I have an outside chance of getting a match or two for one particular Premiership club.


Bet you thought all your birthdays came at once yesterday Rob:pac: