Training blog - page 3

Day thirteen: Wednesday 1 February 2006

Bike.  I went out for another bike ride, this time covering 45.32 miles at an overall average speed of 16.4mph.  I felt absolutely awesome and could turn on the power whenever I wanted, something I've always tried to do but failed miserably.  I was averaging well over 17.0mph at the time I approached Barford, about 5 miles from the end of my ride.  The road surface was pretty dry and free from ice even though the temperature was -2C.  At about 11.15pm, I was turning a bend at about 20mph, when my front wheel went over a manhole cover, which I believe was either very wet or icy.  I lost immediate control of the bike and saw my front wheel disappear from beneath me.  Anyway, it took a good 15 minutes for me to get back on the bike to ride the 5 miles home, in absolute agony.  I managed about 10mph during this remaining distance.

By the time I got home, I couldn't move either arm.  I did manage to take off both gloves and saw my left thumb was pretty much snapped straight forward at a sharp angle, so this was clearly dislocated.  My right elbow was incredibly swollen, so I had a few X-Rays pretty much as soon as I got to Accident and Emergency, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.  The results showed I had also fractured that elbow.  An overnight stay in hospital followed, then the next day I'd go into the operating theatre for my thumb and elbow to be operated on.  Other injuries were a badly bruised top of left foot, minor bruising on top of right foot, severe bruising to right hip, groin strain, severe grazing to right shoulder and grazing to right knee.

Thursday 2 February 2006

I had my operation and it was revealed that I had completely ruptured many ligaments in my thumb, so these had to be wired back together.  An approximate six inch long incision was made under my right elbow, so that part of my elbow bone could be screwed back on to the main part.

Regarding time off the bike, this should not be longer than four weeks but in the meantime I can do limited exercises in the gym such leg press, leg curls, basically anything which does not involve upper torso.  I was rather hoping that four WEEKS was a slip of the tongue and that the nurse meant DAYS.  Not so.

Friday 3 February 2006

I'm now back from hospital and plan to do some light yoga this evening, nothing too heavy.  I will also be devoting this time to planning what specific exercises I can and can't do at present. 

Day fourteen: Tuesday 14 February 2006

Gym.  Yesterday, I went back to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to have a total of 19 staples removed from my elbow and six traditional stitches cut from my thumb.  My left arm (thumb injury) is still in plaster and will be for another four to six weeks, which is not good for time away from the bike.  I have about 90% range of movement in the elbow, but find I still get sharp pains shooting up my arm if I do anything sudden with it ie. tapping.

I decided to resume my training programme today, having rested for eleven days.  I did manage to leg press two and a half sets of 10 reps at 150kg, so I resumed only five kilos down from where I had got to prior to crashing.  This exercise did aggravate my groin strain though, so I eventually had to stop just 5 reps short of what I'd normally do.  Calf raises at 100kg were successfully done though, as most of the load is on the shoulders and calf muscles.  On another positive note, I reverted back to 50kg on the leg extensions without any sharp pain to the knees.  Three more exercises followed; torso twists 2 sets of 15 per side, 'Superman' ball raises 2 sets of 15 and leg curls 3 sets of 10 at 35kg, so all in all, I only did about 50% of the range of exercises.

Next week, I'll start visiting the gym twice a week and also on Sunday 19 February, will be recommencing bike riding as I have realised the bike can be ridden fully under control by riding on the drop handlebars at all times.  Overall, I'm delighted I can return back to the training routine albeit in a limited way at present.

Day fifteen: Sunday 19 February 2006

Bike.  I resumed cycling today, wondering whether the arm in plaster would hinder getting some miles in.  I totally disregarded speed; this was secondary to the pain I was experiencing in my right arm (elbow).  The first five miles were quite difficault (heavy breathing etc.); this is quite normal after a couple of weeks off the bike.  The arm in plaster was difficault to keep in one place as I couldn't really grip that side of the handlebar, but eventually managed to sort this out.  Incredibly sharp pains hit my elbow each and every time there was a slight imperfection in the road surface, although these disappeared within seconds.  Apart from ruts and manhole covers, a very course type of gravel is often used nowadays to resurface roads, well in Norfolk anyway, presumably because of its hard wearing properties.  Avoiding as many potholes etc. as possible took up all of my thoughts.  Anyway, I managed 32.36 miles today at an average speed of 14.5mph.

Overall, I was very happy to be back on my bike.  Considering the circumstances, I have to be content that I rode over 30 miles; it could so easily have been a broken leg rather than an elbow.  I'm not sure many nurses would agree that I should be riding so soon after the operation.  I would very much like to keep to the June date but find myself approximately three weeks behind where I should be according to my six month training plan, so it is important to make up for lost time as soon as possible.  The pain is manageable though as I continue to focus on being fully prepared for the French Alps.

Day sixteen: Monday 20 February 2006

Gym.  To compensate for lack of action on the bike, I did a two hour session at the gym.  To give myself variety, I changed the order of exercises done.  Firstly, I did my normal 'superman' ball raises, then torso twists (2 sets of 15 each side).  New apparatus was introduced to me; one which enabled me to do inner thigh squeezes, of which I did 2 sets of 15 at 90 lbs, then outer thigh pushes, done at one set of 15 at 80lbs then one set of 15 at 70lbs.  Leg presses followed with 3 sets of 10 at 150kg managed fairly comfortably.  My favourite exercise the calf raise came next and this time I managed 4 sets of 10 at 100kg, suggesting that maybe the weight load should be increased next time.  Again, the same applies to leg extensions as I achieved 5 sets of 10 at 50kg relatively easily.  Ditto with leg curls, even though I did the standard 3 sets of 10 at 35kg I felt ready to increase the weight stack to 40kg.  I then went back to inner thigh squeezes for another 2 sets of 15 at 100lbs.  More outer thigh pushes followed (2 sets of 15 at 70lbs) and to finish things off, another two sets of 10 calf raises at 100kg. 

Next visit, I expect to increase weight load on the following exercises: leg curls, leg extensions and calf raises.  Another plus is that I have not experienced knee pains for quite some time.

Day seventeen: Tuesday 21 February 2006

Rest day.

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