Hey,
So I just started the process of coming back from Patellar Tendonitis. I just had a mild one, so had a total of 20 days off, with some rides in the middle (see attached photo). The first physio said ride as long as it doesn’t hurt, hence the middle rides there, but when my regular physio had time again for an appointment, he asked me to take a full week off - 20th to 27th. So the baxter below yesterday was the first trainer after some time off.
Coming back now though, physio asked that I try to keep it under 80% for the first 2 weeks or so… This is easy to do when doing group rides, but seems hard when trying to get the most out of the trainer.
How would you do to get back on track with under 80% intensity? I set this up as for now:
Any thoughts? Also lowered my FTP from 290 to 280, as a start…
If it’s only two weeks, I’d just focus on re-establishing frequency and however much volume you feel is appropriate. Given the amount of time off the bike you probably don’t want to be jumping straight back into super intense work right away, so that should give you a chance to build back into things.
If you’re confident you can keep the intensity suitably low on group rides I’d probably take the opportunity to do some more fun/social riding! I also think brushing up on general bike handling/skills work is a really valuable thing to do during lighter periods- it’s a good way to improve performance in the long run even when you’re not working super hard.
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Drop down to Trad Base LV. TB workouts start super easy. They would keep you on the bike while you focus on the off-bike strengthening your physio has prescribed. You probably have exercises to do every day or every second day before your bike sessions. You could even repeat days for more workouts per week. When you feel ready, ease back into sweet spot.
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Yeah, doing 3-4 times a week at the gym for my exercises!
Gonna check out TB! Thanks!
When he says stay under 80% does he mean of FTP or like 80% effort? If it’s the latter then you may be able to throw in some tempo intervals but if he meant of FTP then, yeah, you’ll be slightly constrained in terms of workout availability.
Hmmm that’s a good question, he pretty much said “try to start riding again, up to about 80% intensity, but skip the hard intervals for now!”
So I am guessing that its of FTP… Which makes sense!
Otherwise I could do most workouts as long as they are under 0.8 IF hehe.
Hmm I don’t want to tell you to go harder than you should but if he isn’t a cyclist or works with a lot of cyclists then I would doubt he knows what FTP is. Obviously I would start slow and make sure endurance feels okay before bumping up to tempo or SS but that might be something I would clarify with him.
He works with a lot of triathletes and stuff, so he is plenty aware of the different levels and such.
Now when I think about it he also said “80% of threshold” 
