What happened when I didn't ride for 6 months

Training
1

So here is my deeply scientific N=1 study into what happened when i didn’t ride a bike for 6 months but ran 35 miles a week.
M50 74Kg. Previously FTP about 300W on about 6 hours per week. I had to give up cycling totally due to suffering pudendal neuralgia but i managed to keep running and i upped this to 35-40 miles per week. For calibration: I can do 5km in 19.30 and a 3:45 trail marathon.

This week i went back to the turbo and did a ramp test at 230W.

So running keeps you fit and sane but you still lose an absolute ton of cycling watts!!

Time to get busy again. I hope this adaptive training lark works… :slight_smile:

2

Good job on keeping the running up even with the issues! Those watts will come back fast, especially if you’ve still got the aerobic fitness. All the best for the return :slight_smile:

3

So you dropped ~24% from 300 to 230. Interestingly in 2019 I took 4 months off with no other endurance workouts and also dropped ~24% from 250 to 190.

4

I took 2 years off in 2016 and only lost about 35% very surprisingly, and even more surprisingly I had put 95% of that back in about 4 months!

5

When you got back on the bike did you too find it amusing & horrifying that your sweet spot intervals were at what used to be your recovery valley power? It’s suddenly very humbling :slight_smile:

6

yep - and the first few rides I stupidly tried to ride >20 miles on a bottle of water…that didnt end well…

But actually, after a horrendous couple of weeks of being consistent (but absolutely crap) it was like my body threw a switch and said “oh, you’re a cyclist again” and I suddenly went back to being the equivalent to a C group rider rather than a participant in ‘My 600lb life’. It was all improvements from then on.