Looking for the wisdom of you Suffferlandrians.
I‘m back in training since beginning of January after abdominal hysterectomy surgery which was kind impactful beginning of November. I have waited for approx 10 weeks before I returned on the bike.
I did the Full frontal and - little surprise- my FTP has dropped around 20% after that long pause and, apart from slow walks, physical inactivity. Based on that I started the Fitness Foundation plan
Now it turns out that the plan is way too hard for me. I had some intervalls and failed to do the Chores, had to skip ISLAGIATT (on the second week of the plan already) and today had my personal Waterloo at Bavaria Burgberg where I was required to do 10+9+8 seated 10 Sec sprints NM at 697 watts. I dialed down to 590 and still had to quit after 8 sprints - I just didn’t have the sheer power to turn the pedals.
I reckon that the best thing to do for me right now is to lay a better foundation and start with harder intervalls in a month or so.
And here‘s my question: due to the lack of fitness my HR Zone currently is much higher than it should be. So if I do a Z2 ride according to the watts, the HR is st Z3 the entire time.
To build fitness and base now, how do I proceed? Do I dial down the watts in order to stay with the HR in Z2 or do I continue with watts in z2 and the elevated Z3 HR and with increasing fitness it will eventually drop?
I‘d like to build a solid foundation for the summer and the coming intervalls (Burgberg I will be back!!!) but not sure what is the best way?
Thanks for your input
I’ll be interested to see other opinions on this too, but for what it’s worth, here’s mine.
I think your second option of riding in your power zone 2 and letting your heart rate drift into your hr zone 3 is the better option, provided that your hr is not pushing the upper boundaries of zone 3. If that’s the case, you’ll be working too hard.
As you said, as your fitness improves, your hr at this level of power will begin to fall.
If you do your first option (hr zone 2 at current detrained state), I’m afraid your progress will be exceptionally slow.
I tend to agree with @Steve_Q, I would not be overly concerned if I let the HR drift up a bit. After my hip replacement post getting hit by a car, my decline was much more dramatic that you experienced. No ride seemed to match where I was so I had to improvise. i wish I could say I followed a specific approach that I could share with you.
On the advice of my orthopedic surgeon my primary focus was listening to my body. It was ok to push a little, go as hard as I was comfortable with but not to the point it hurt. That meant sometimes I pushed the HR, sometimes the watts. As he put it: “Be aggressive, but be careful”
Not sure how much that helps, but do know you can climb back. That I know for certain. Good luck!
Normally I’d say, “how’s the bike”, but in the instance of your legendary badassedness, Sir, I’ll ask, how’s the car?
Edit: and of course, welcome to the forums @Bici_Klette, and good luck with your return to fitness journey. I have no sage advice and only wish you well.
Couldn’t tell you. He/She hit me and drove off, leaving me in the middle of the road! Two cyclists came riding by a few minutes later and I had them call my wife to come and collect me and the bike. I was the hospital emergency room 15 minutes later as opposed to waiting 45-60 minutes for an ambulance to arrive and get me to the hospital an hour after that. FYI - the bike as undamaged!
I train by myself in the basement. I struggle to stay in Zone 2 because when I try to carry on a conversation I find myself running out of interesting things to talk about very quickly.
Okay. So, I’ve reread your post and, since your asking for guidance from Sufferlandrians, I will add in my 2 cents. So, besides suggesting Kitchen Sink at 125% on repeat I offer the following.
I will preface all this with saying I am not a coach, not an elite athlete, not a physician and not a botanist So, with those caveats in mind:
if there’s no medical contraindication to doing so, I would stick with a plan. Fitness Kickstarter is probably a good one. Structured training will result in gains, even if you’re not feeling it in the moment.
ALL of the plans will result in improved fitness provided you have about an 80% compliance following it. So, it’s perfectly fine to completely skip a workout or two. And, it’s completely fine to skip an interval or two within any one workout. Sometimes you’re feeling good, sometimes not. If you need to reduce intensity, that’s okay too.
Or, and I’m not kidding, ignore everything I just said, ride whatever vids you know you’d “enjoy” at whatever intensity you want and not give a fiddler’s fart about your HR zones for a week or two just to get the routine of riding back. Then, restart a plan with the above points in mind.
I only try to carry on a conversation with myself when I know I am near the Zone 2 boundary. I do not need that many things to talk to myself about to do that.
Wow that sounds terrible. All the best to you.
Be agressive but be careful sounds like a plan. I do have medical clearance now to restart workouts but I do still feel the impact on my core and abdominal muscles. Especially when using force and during intervalls.
Thank you!
Hey @Bici_Klette, one more thing, and this is just further proof that I’m not a doctor. I recalled that you said you had an abdominal hysterectomy, is it possible that the hormone changes resulting are having an impact on your training? If so, there is an actual sport scientist in Castle Sufferlandria that might have a tip or two. Paging Dame Isi @IsiSchneider_KoS
Finally, if you haven’t already, given the nature of the surgery, have you added some core (or whole body) strength training and/or yoga to your mix?
Very good point and might very well be. Hormonal situation seems to be affected indeed, have put on some 6kgs in 6 weeks. Part of it certainly due to inactivity but as my diet was not soooo bad I was surprised and shocked by the speed of this.
But in fact yesterday during the intervalls it was not my aerobic system that stopped me but really the power - I hust didnt have the power to make it through the intervalls and ended up in the spiral of death
Would be very interested in hearing Dame Isi‘s 2 cents on this
Regarding strenght and yoga, despite having the clearance to re-start from the Doc I do feel that my core is not happy with any specific exercise of abdominal muscles yet. So I put that off for a little longer.
Just do Zone 2 by HR and not power. Try to do at least one and a half to two hours plus each session. gradually you will your power for the same HR will gradually increase and if you were fit before then it wont be too long before you are back on track. Be strict with it, if your HR starts creeping into Zone 3 then back off and stay in Zone 2 HR. pick rides/workouts that allow you to do this if in ERG mode otherwise use any rides etc you want and go into level mode so you can control the effort
That’s some serious surgery! Loads of major muscle groups cut through and stitched back together, not forgetting the yanking etc to open access wider.
You’re right to be really careful about trying core to soon, but when ever you do, it will hurt initially whilst your body works out what scar tissue is in the wrong place/ joining the wrong bits.
I had a similar experience after crashing and breaking my back a couple of years ago, leading to surgery and wrecked abs.
I made up my first few weeks of short easy rides, just to get bum back and core used to position, and only started dialling in intensity really slowly. Dialling down Suf workouts quite a bit. Even so, there were good and bad days.
On the up side, I did hit my best power targets within 6mths, so there’s light at end of tunnel.
Stick at it listen to your body and don’t overdo it
strength is what you lose first and what needs to be rebuilt asap. start with something simple like chair squats (sort of low reps, put a backpack on if it gets too easy), wall push-ups, that kind of stuff. find a good physio who’s into sports PT, they tend to know their stuff more than regular PTs (unless you’re in Germany where most PTs don’t know f*ck). communicate your needs, everyone is different. oh, and focussing on strength doesn’t mean you shouldn’t cycle, just don’t prioritize it until you’re strong enough to cope with more than just everyday life.
hormonal responses are very individual. I’m pretty sure there could be an influence but it’s better to consult a physician than me trying to make some wild suggestions
So, with those caveats in mind:
Thank you! Appreciate your input. Well apart from the Kitchen Sink at 125%… 