Hi all, I broke my foot 6 weeks ago after being hit by a car. I was fairly fit pre breakage, but now my CTL is lowest it’s been in 2yrs and I’ve put on some weight post holidays. As you can imagine, it’s all quite depressing really, as I’ve scuppered many summer plans.
I need some cheerleading, hype squad and success stories to get back on the bike and road to fitness!!
Anyone experienced something similar with a lot of time off the bike?
On July 28th last year I developed gluteal tendinitis. Bad news. Not being able to sit down in a chair was no fun. Body’s reaction was to make my hands swell up like balloons. Doctors could never figure that one out. Hands never returned to normal. I call it arthritis they are not sure. Hahaha.
Off the bike for a month or so. Put on some weight that has was hard to get rid of. When you can’t ride, frustration says eat more bad food to make you happy. Getting back on the bike was no fun thing either. Sux when it hurts. Sux when you can’t go fast……
Goal was to do my early 100 mile April event. I finished 45 min slower than the year before. Pretty trashed for the last 20 miles. Pretty depressing.
It took me 1 year, almost to the date to get back to where I feel good on the bike. I can now do V02 workouts without dying.
I’ll leave the story where I ripped all the muscles from my Achilles tendon for another day
I found Carrie Cheadle’s book Rebound to be helpful. Its a sports psychology book focused on injury recovery. My main take aways were: 1) getting to a place where you accept the injury, 2) taking all that energy you put into training into the things you need to get better. No hype necessary. Having a plan to get better and working on it makes me feel good, just like having a training plan and executing that makes me feel good.
I exploded my back in May shortly after setting a 30min power PR that I wasn’t sure I’d ever attain but had been trying for years to hit. All that energy I’d put towards to training and bike stuff I redirected to getting better. What ever it took. Some of that was getting a massage, lining up appointments with sports medicine / ortho doctors, later physical therapy, doing the PT routine on my own, trying to get the diet back on track, stretching, etc. Even not riding and finding something else to keep me occupied so I could rest and recover was part of it, so becoming a degenerate gamer and playing Tears of the Kingdom was part of the recovery plan. (and reading.)
I had bowel/ colon cancer back in 2019 and was off the bike for over 5weeks but came back to set a lot of PB’s by the end of the season and they’ve all been smashed now. You can get back on it too!
Great for you to ask here – wanting to move forward is an important first step.
In January 2023 had an unexpected diagnosis of aortic insufficiency, which led to my my cardiologist talking about an aortic valve replacement “when, not if…” Met with a top-rated cardiac surgeon in Oct 2023 expecting just to learn about options for the future, and was a bit surprised when he said “I’ll have my scheduler come in to set a surgery date.” In Dec 2023 I had open-heart surgery replacing my aortic root and implanting an artificial (bovine) aortic valve. On my 70th birthday in May 2024 I rode 70 miles, and I’ve had a number of long rides this season. I don’t have the same top end, but as a diesel I can keep it going.
I’m having my second total knee replacement in 10 days. Looking forward to coming back from that and doing more things than I can do now!
It’s the long game for sure; I have to remind myself of that regularly. Keep looking forward!
Aaaah, I’m so sorry about the accident :(. If you approach your return to training from the right angle, you can get back to where you were in no time 
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I suggest you intially place your focus on the process over the end goal. Fall in love with the ability to push your body again. Use Progression Levels as a measurable way to see improvements and use that as a source of motivation. The rest will take care of itself.
We’re all rooting for you!! Let us know how you get on 
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