I was progressing reasonably well with the plan, mainly indoors, either using erg or looking at the ride power figures etc and finding a suitable zwift group or bot ride. Then I hurt my back a few weeks ago. That was surprising because I have been carefully introducing resistance and strength work, nothing too demanding. I was incapacitated at times, sleeping poorly but the back improved and a week later managed a 2hr turbo ride. Then I was hit with flu or whatever bug has been going around taking down everyone around me. I think lack of rest made me vulnerable. A week has passed and I am almost back to normal bar an occasional out of control cough and higher resting HR- approx 10 beats more.
I hope to get on the bike tomorrow for a planned 90 minute recovery ride. Assuming all goes well I hope to then rejoin the plan properly Wednesday. My caution and the reason for this post is that the plan is now moving from base to build. Hello sweetspot!
It is a shame to miss 2 weeks of base but with the 312 11 weeks an away I would rather get on with the plan. Aside from fueling properly and monitoring HR and fatigue is there anything else I should do or be aware of?
Thanks in advance.
Personally if this event is super important and you prefer to take the safe route to just finishing the event, as compared to taking a risk for optimum performance, I would do only low heart rate for a week or two until you are 100% sure you are recovered. Do everything you can to sleep as much as possible, avoid excess sugar. I would personally do 5 days a week of low heart rate 60 minutes + one long ride each week. Every ride should feel almost like a recovery ride. Say with a limit of 180-age for max HR or below AeT if you want to figure out what that is. In 312km you are doing only slightly higher than this level of effort anyway for 90% of it so it’s appropriate training regardless.
Back injuries really suck… Then followed by flu pre-event is tough. Usually I blame a lot of this stuff on having a bit more stress that takes away from our bodies ability to fight it. If you started increasing overall training volume and added or increased strength training at the same time it’s for sure a risk. I also am doing the same, building strength and cycling volume at the same time preparing for 150km “ultra” in may. I am making sure to sleep 7-9 hours as often as possible.
Hi Alex,
2 prolapsed discs in my 40’s (i am 62)and a recommendation to fuse l4/5 led me to cycling after a 20y gap. Cycling literally saved me from surgery. As long as i am careful i am rarely troubled. So, i think here it was less the increase in general volume and strengthening work ( which really seemed to be helping) but instead some specific incidents involing taking a home gymp apart and moving it bit by bit, and some heavy weights, up to our attic. Just one weighted bend into a tight corner too many.
Ok, that sounds like sensible advice and i will try it this week at least. Resting HR fell to normal overnight for the first time in 2 weeks. That and a week of Dynamic Cyclist workouts before i return to the ,strangely, much missed conditioning work. Well, it IS part of the conditioning.
I am 58 and had back issues when I was younger but nothing in the last 15 years or so yes I am similar to you (but I never had any serious back injuries)… Your case is unique like most cases like this…
I do know that most strength training books suggest that frequently when someone begins or increases strength training and then has some small strange movement that seems to cause an issue where really it was the training itself that created the risky state and this last case was just the final trigger. I can’t say that is true in your case but it’s such a common scenario that it can’t be ignored.
But regardless it does not matter at this point, and for sure carrying weights upstairs is risky. I think we start feeling stronger and activities like this seem low risk due to our our recent training until we have an issue like this. So it might be this case of feeling stronger that allows us to do stuff we might not otherwise do even though it feels ok while doing it… Anyway this is all just theory and it sounds like you have had enough experience that you also understand this stuff. I hope I can set a big trip goal like yours in the next few years, if not later this summer.
I thought i would give a quick update on my Mallorca 312 prep and the outcome. Unfortunatley in late februray i developed some lingering chest pain, and tingling in the left arm and leg at the end of longish endurance rides. Inevitably i dialled back to about 6-8h a week and apart from some sweetspot, very little inensity. I would look at my CJ ride for the day and find something similar in a group ride in zwift. I had a battery of tests and pleased to say arteries are clear, BP is healthy, though I have highish colesterol that may be linked to chronic vit D deficency. Of greater concern was a diagnosis of a “moderately” leaking aorta. Once this was said i was resigned to not going to Mallorca whilst waiting to speak to my Cardiologist. He was on holiday and i finally had the chat only to be told he had revised his view and thought the aorta was leaking mildly as opposed to moderately. This was hugely significant. The latter anticipates open heart surgery whilst the former is not necessarily indicative of further deterioration and only requires careful monitoring.
So, I have a referral to a sports cardiologist, who will be more experienced in advising aging endurance athletes on training and risk, an Aorta specialist to consider causation and possible repair and an endocrinologist.
The chest pains and tingling remain a mystery but were probably related to a nerve or muscle injury.
I jetted off to Mallorca last week with strict instructioins not to ride the full 312 , and to keep HR top end of z2. Over 4 days i rode 400km with some 4500m of climbing. I completed the 167km route though had to fight the urge to continue to the 225km. HR average bang in mid z2 (128 ) with only a few seconds of 156 chasing a group. NP of about 180 though that fell when i drafted groups on the long flat slog to the finish.
I was a bit shaken and frustrated by the diagnosis at first, though now its been revised down i feel more comfortable upping training volume and intensity. I will of course heed what the sports cardiologis says.
THere is surprisingly little endurance athlete related avice on aorta related issues and so i will post here occasionaly as i learn more in case it is of assistance to anyone in future.
No, I am off to the Alps on july 12 for a week of long days in the sdaddle and a lot of climbing. Time to start a new plan in a few days. Any advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the update. In my mind that all sounds good. When looking for a needle in a haystack I like to see what ChatGPT can find as it seems to get right to the source. It seems to completely agree with your cardiologist but also says listen to your cardiologist and stick to zone 2 as much as possible.
While I would not fully trust what GPT says in this case, it will provide ideas that you can run by your doctors. If you just keep digging in and triangulating. I am using paid version which can be better than the free version. I coached a guy about 15 years ago, that had some heart surgery when is was in his 50s and in his 70s he won his state championship. He is mid-80s now and still cycling a lot. I don’t remember his exact details. My coaching to him was mostly just more zone 2, and lower the intensity and this worked very well for him and he was very grateful, especially after he won the championship.
Well, we do like a bit of z2 here!
I will heed medical advice. I would be foolish not to. I am concious lots of the advice relates to those who have had surgery, especially in relation to atrial fibrilation. I rode well within my limits in Mallorca but would like to bring climbing watts up to 200/210 if possible, close to 3w/k. I rode Sa Calobra at 230w average last year , this year at 180ish so i hope aiming for a mid point is both sensible and realistic.