19 days in, 11 days of turbo

Can you learn to love the turbo? I'm not sure, but at the moment it is the only bit of exercise I get, the only time on the bike and the only time in the fresh air. So yes, I guess at the moment it'll do. I'm worried that I won't be able to cycle for more than one hour at a stretch after this layoff though. Realistically I think there are at least another 8 weeks to go before I can even contemplate going out on the road again, so I am spending a bit of time each day trying to devise my turbo-training schedule. My current favourite is an aerobic workout of 3 minute intervals with a minute off between each interval, increasing then decreasing the power over the session, peaking at 310W and starting/ending at 220W. In the current warm weather it is quite a tough and sweat-fuelled workout, especially as I am riding the majority of the hour with my hands off the bars!

I have also discovered 3M Coban - a self-adhesive compression bandage, which I have been using on my little finger post-turbo or post-stretching exercises to reduce a bit of swelling around the fracture. I'm not sure how it adheres as it feels totally non-tacky. It is reusable and amazingly effective. My daughter loves it and we are now in a routine of evening cast and bandage removal and reapplication - she is quite the Florence Nightingale. She's even found me a replacement grab hand in case one of my own hands drops off! My left wrist (fractured scaphiod) feels OK at the moment, but I can feel that I am loosing strength in the hand. I'm looking forward to the therapy sessions which will help me regain strength and movement.


I can't say that this enforced rest is helping me overall though. Jobhunting is monotonous at the best of times, but when it is the main activity that fills your day it seems so much worse. Waiting for responses seems to take an eternity. I still enjoy interviews, but getting to that stage has proved to be so much harder than any time in the past five years. An inability to help around the house is also incredibly frustrating - having sat around reading, surfing and jobhunting most of the day (I am grateful that I can type reasonably easily now) I then have to watch my wife struggle with school pickups, teatime and bathtime with the kids, knowing that my contribution is limited to minor cooking (no lifting pans though), a little storytelling and kissing the kids goodnight. If you'd asked me a month ago whether I would like the opportunity to avoid washing up, gardening and tidying for eight weeks I would have bitten your arm off! Now that the reality has hit home I would be happy for a decent pan scrubbing, pruning, weeding and paperwork session. Sad but true...

I've given my Marmotte place away today, which feels like yet another season goal just cast aside. To say I'm disappointed about it is an understatement. Last year I got to within 4km of the finish and had to bail out due to the worst cramp I had ever had. Paul, a fellow Dynamo I had gone out there with also had unfinished business - he had virtually passed out on Alpe d'Huez and was rushed to the hospital for oxygen and an IV drip - the big softie! Anyhow, I found out last week that he was not going out either this year (coincidentally it was Paul who drove me back from Hog Hill after my accident a few weeks ago). We've trained and raced together a fair bit this year, and along with another Dynamo, Mark, had sorted out a really good, pacey winter night training ride. Unfortunately Paul was calling to say that he had suffered a(nother) accident whilst racing - he dislocated his shoulder and lost a couple of teeth. Ouch! Get well soon Paul - I'm sharing your frustration!

10 days in...

So I'm now ten days into the injury. Still in the two casts - one on the left wrist and another (at least it is removable) on the right hand. All the cuts and bruises are getting much better, but I am still a long way from riding out on the road again.

I've been back to the hospital for a therapy session for my little finger (broken). I have very little movement and it will take a few weeks of stretches to get the range of motion back - at least most of the previous range of motion. The wrist is another matter - I have a fracture of the scaphoid bone (a common fracture) which is non-displaced (hurray) and at the waist of the scaphoid (hmmmm). The best place for a fracture to occur is at the distal location where the blood supply is most effective. The worst place is the proximal location (poor blood supply) and the waist falls somewhere inbetween. The level of blood supply defines, to a large extent, the efficacy of the healing and the likelihood of avascular necrosis (a bone degeneration which causes arthritis). Essentially I am going to need to keep the cast on for at least another 5 weeks and then take it from there. I am slowly becoming resigned to loosing fitness and, even worse, not being able to enjoy cycling in the sunshine until sometime in August, all being well.

Cycling in the sunshine, not turbo-ing in the sunshine. I tried a turbo session today, perhaps unwisely opting to do a similar session to that I did a month ago. Aerobic capacity training, a one hour session, not crazy power levels or interval lengths but still quite intense. Boy did I suffer! Full sunshine, no cooling breeze, heart rate way, way north of normal, supporting myself on the cast on my one almost-good hand. I managed to complete the one hour session, but I was clock-watching after 20 minutes, and at 55 minutes felt that I was exercising in a furnace with a bass drum thumping in my ears. My god, at this rate I may have to take up jogging again just for some relief!

One of the trickiest issues about having a cast (or casts in my case, with one being removable) is showering. Washing with one hand is simple enough, trying to avoid getting the other hand wet isn't. So I asked a nurse friend to get me a cover for showering that goes over the arm to keep it waterproof. Ha! It has obviously been in a cupboard in the hospital for years, and has now finally seen the light of day. Take a look at the box - there's something really dodgy about it:

If the picture on the front is a little weird, check out the dude on the back:

I never thought the wearing of a hyperbaric arm chamber could be so stylish. He's fully clothed in the first picture though - what's he doing, planning a walk in the rain? He's hardly dressed for a shower. Maybe he's a bovine vet? Bloody hell, roll on August!

Not to plan

Well, that was interesting. I got out to Hog Hill after a good rest, felt pretty fresh and was looking forward to the race. I didn't really want to warm up, but after seeing my clubmate set off for the industrial estate for a quick spin I decided I'd do the same. Big, big mistake!

Basically - moment of inattention, hit a rock/large piece of rubble in the road, lost it, both hands dropped off bars, grabbed at bars, up onto shallow kerb, hands jolted off bars again, hit a low wall quite hard and went down. Patched up by first aid medic at the circuit then late night in A&E to find out that I had broken left wrist, broken finger on right hand...also sore and cut knees, cut fingers, road rash on shoulder and dented pride. My Isaac has a nasty scrape on the rear seatstay, and the bars, front wheel and shifters took most of the impact. I now have to type with the only finger on right hand that is not bandaged. At least my clubmate came 2nd and only needs 5 more points to move up to 2nd cat, so he was in a good mood driving me to hospital last night!


Off to hospital again in a week for follow-ups. I might not be able to ride for about four to six weeks, or attend the Nocturne tomorrow (and I got Rapha pink velcro put on my casts specially). I think that's my Marmotte buggered as well. Very, very unhappy. Still,you have to laugh - I was only just complaining of needing time off the bike. I didn't have this in mind though...

Resting

One of the most difficult things to do when training is to know when to take a break. Leave it too late and you run the risk of being burned out, which as I've found in the past means that you are pretty ineffective for at least a week. Which is why I decided to listen to my body at the end of yesterday's ride and take a few days off over the next week.

It wasn't the nagging feeling of heavy legs when setting off for a long ride that prompted the idea of a rest, nor was it the feeling of queasiness in my stomach on the final climb of the day up to Box Hill. It wasn't even the exhaustion that overwhelmed me when I got home after the 70 mile ride, having been towed the last 10 miles home by a clubmate. No, it was a point about 30 miles into the ride through stunning Surrey countryside, in the most perfect of weather, when I looked around and thought "you know, I'd rather be doing something else".

It happens once in a while and is always a sign that I am in need of a physical break from cycling. Sure enough, as the ride went on my legs got progressively heavier, I had no zip, no zing, no need for speed, hell I couldn't even be bothered to keep up with my clubmate on the climbs, even though he was taking it easy! I had other things on my mind too, like waiting to hear if I'll be called back for another interview for a job I'm particularly keen to get, so to say I was distracted is probably an understatement.

So the plan is Wednesday (today) rest, Thursday Hog Hill (just because I have the offer of a lift there!), Friday a very easy 1hr spin, Saturday and Sunday no riding at all (watching the Smithfield Nocture on Sat), Monday easy spin with a few hard-ish efforts, Tuesday Palace, Wednesday (maybe) Eelmore. A very different week - unstructured with plenty of relaxing, punctuated by the odd race. Can't wait!

I've never attended the Nocturne before and will be really interested to see how the bunches cope with the tight circuit around Smithfield Market - one of my favourite parts of the city. The forecast is heavy showers too, but hopefully there won't be too many incidents. There are quite a few Dynamos in the womens, support and elite races so I shall be trying to get plenty of good snaps. And my guess (and it really is a guess!) for the winner of the elite crit? I'm going to go for Dean Downing. We'll see...