Help a Dame out

[DameCristy]

…of Couchlandria.

2023 was my best year of cycling ever. I logged over 6000 miles. I rode 1200 miles over 10 days (and enjoyed it). By the end of the season, I hung onto the A guys in a group ride (they could have dropped me if they had tried, but still). I regularly cycled my 40-mile round trip commute. Life was grand and I was strong.

This year, I had no goal to speak of. Family commitments prevented any cycling getaways. In July, I caught covid for the 4th time and this time it went long. I was sick and arthritic and exhausted for four months. I tried aerobic exercise too soon and relapsed.

Now here I sit, detrained and 20lbs overweight, wishing I wanted to get my form back badly enough to try.

Help me out. I’m recovered enough to cycle again; I just haven’t. So I’m here for inspiration and maybe a kick in the pants. What do you do to make yourself fall back in love with cycling and go home to Sufferlandria? How can I get my mindset back?

[Glen.Coutts]

I think I found my chubby riding buddy!

Start with No Place Like Home then maybe Kitchen Sink? I kid, of course, sorta.

No Place Like Home, Recharger, The Way Out are all GREAT reintroductions to the joy of Sufferlandria.

Sorry to hear about your experiences with Co-vid, @DameCristy. Clearly the wrong kind of suffering. Are you from a place where you can actually ride outside? Nothing beats riding outside to reconnect with your love for cycling. If not, then ease your way back. Winter is LONG and there’s no hurry.

My 2 cents, maybe a revisit to the MTP to set yourself a new Mt. Suf. Something to work towards and rewards along the way. Like you I do better when I’ve got a big goal. You’re already a Knight so, how about Everesting or vEveresting?

Edit: or maybe you’d like a donut?

[Sir_Brian_M]

I just start with the shortest Sufferfest videos, and in Level mode. Turn off the power display and just ride by feel. Then throw in some of your favorites.

I’ve been down for over a month first with pneumonia, and now residual bronchitis.

A few days ago I could only manage 9 minutes of Earth Cycle. Today I rode Igniter. Over the next week, I’m planning on Recharger, No Place Like Home, TGTTOS or TWO.

Basically you’ve got to make it enjoyable first. Retest in a few weeks to establish a baseline for training.

[DouthatBiker]

@Glen.Coutts

Are you from a place where you can actually ride outside? Nothing beats riding outside to reconnect with your love for cycling.

THIS!!
Before I even got to Sir Glen’s response, I was getting ready to write the same…
@DameCristy you mentioned commuting.
Not having ever been in a commute situation, other than an occasional drop-by-the-Y (where I was the Property/Maintenance director) to do some basic checks or duties on Holidays and such, I’m not sure of this, but I suspect that many commute situations are great in that they provide the chance to ride, but may not always have a great FUN FACTOR.
If you ever found cycling FUN (and I’d bet on that,) that’s the first thing I would aim for in your return. Stuff the training and competitive angles and just think of somewhere you just want to be on 2 wheels, pedaling for pleasure, seeing sights you enjoy, and if there’s a chance for a friend to join you in that, all the better (as long as they aren’t going to drag you along or push you to achieve a speed or time.)

There is nothing wrong at all with competition, challenges, goals, WORK!outs, but those are best set aside when you’ve lost your former form and you know you can’t touch the power or speed you once took for granted. They were, after all, only an indication of lots of hard work, consistency, and SUFFering that you achieved over a long period of time.

Instead of feeling discouraged at how much you’ve seen slip away, just allow yourself the freedom to be where you are right now.
It’s not terribly different than getting older, and I mean old enough that you finally see the losses mount enough that you know you won’t touch the segment times you used to feel could still be approached again “with just a little more hard work and discipline.”
Just over 2 years ago September, I was still under that delusion and unwilling to think otherwise.
Then pleurisy and pneumonia hit me back to back and dropped me off a cliff. I’d never missed so much biking time that I did during that stretch, and frankly, I still did get some riding time that was so much slower than I had EVER ridden, as I fought to keep some connection and form.
And once I was back on the bike again, it was a really slow return to form, hampered by a hit from Covid that December, and then a very long, gradual climb back up the fitness ladder. I was 64 when that happened, and I still felt I would get right back to where I was before any of that happened.
2 years out, I’ve begun to accept that I probably will not touch 48 minutes ever again on a big climb that is a sort of ultimately difficult climb around here, one that my PR is 41:40 but that was about 20 years ago, pre-Strava era for me, and I haven’t even done it under 50 in well over 2 years. I’m still hopeful for a perfect storm of fitness, weather, and determination to coincide and let me squeak beneath 50minutes one more time this coming year when I’ll be 67.
But if that never comes about, I’ll still ride that mountain and have FUN doing it, even if it takes me 55 minutes to top out.
(On a day I’m willing to suffer trying to achieve the sub-50, it won’t SEEM fun, but I know if I DO crest the peak under 50, I’ll be IMMEDIATELY JUBILANT over a pretty meaningless-to-anyone-but-me time.)

I don’t know if any of this connects for you, and you may have opportunity to challenge some of your old PRs in time to come, but yea or nay, change the expectations of yourself to whatever is realistic NOW. And put PURE FUN back at the top of the list for every ride. Ride different places… neighborhoods, back roads, rail trails, wherever your bike can take you, and with no time/speed demands. Stop and take some pics when you see something beautiful… just for yourself to enjoy and remember later.
In fact, if you’ve done that before, revisit some old pics, stir some good memories. Relive some of the rides that you just had a blast doing.
And never think that you cannot do it anymore. Eat the elephant one bite at a time…

[sir_james.p]

I’d say find a goal, something to train for. I was in a similar position a few years ago, prolapsed a disk, couldn’t ride for months, had the surgery, had to lay up for another few months, so after that had lost loads of fitness, had put on a fair bit of weight (also looked like Tom Hanks in Castaway, as with a bad back standing at a sink trying to shave was really uncomfortable, so I didn’t). Basically I wasn’t me.

Couldn’t find the motivation, was worried my back would never return to a place where I could do a lot of riding and didn’t want to try, for fear of finding out that that was true.

But then thought bugger it I need to get out and do it, and if I break myself trying, then I have lost nothing as if I didn’t try I wouldn’t be riding anyway, so I signed up for the Etape du Tour the following year. By this point I had 10 moths until the event. I started steady with some z2, then z3 stuff and just built it up. Long story short the following year I had a day in the Alps which was the hardest day I had ever had on a bike, I suffered so hard the laser goats felt sorry for me. I got to the finish at the top of l’Alpe d’Huez and I had a sudden release of emotion, the pent up worry I had that I wouldn’t be able to finish something like that again, wouldn’t be able to race, the agonising pain I had been through with my back and the hard work I had put it was all behind me, I’d beaten it, taken what other people would have used as an excuse not to bother and come back stronger. I stood on that finish and cried (I quickly stopped when my friend appeared because I’m British, so we are meant to bottle it up a shit out a diamond just before we die), I had gone very deep on that last climb. I am stronger for it, it has taught me how deep I can go, and now when I am suffering, I think back, and know I can go deeper.

It won’t be quick, it will hurt and there will be set backs, but the fact that you are here asking for a kick in the pants, says to me that deep down you want to get back on that bike, you want to get started, and once you get that first kick of endorphins, you’ll be rushing back for more, and when you get back to where you were before, and stronger it will feel bloody good!

[CPT_A]

I’m sure you’ll get lots of great advice, @DameCristy. I will just say OMG SAME! Killed it in 2023, got run down by a truck this summer and struggling to come back. (No COVID, thankfully).

As you’ve already discovered, don’t take it too fast. It’s even more annoying that I can’t recover as quickly as I’d like, but is what it is.

Definitely getting out and having the wind in your face helps. Also reconnecting with your (IRL or mythical) cycling buddies. HEY! YOU SHOULD COME RIDE THE KNIGHT RIDE WITH US SATURDAY!

[JSampson]

@sir_james.p

I started steady with some z2, then z2 stuff and just built it up.

Same for me in 2023. Z2 went a a long way to getting fitness back in 2024. First consistency, then duration and finally intensity.

@sir_james.p

the pent up worry I had that I wouldn’t be able to finish something like that again, wouldn’t be able to race, the agonising pain I had been through with my back and the hard work I had put it was all behind me, I’d beaten it, taken what other people would have used as an excuse not to bother and come back stronger.

Been there. This sort of stuff stays with you forever and makes a big imprint.

@DameCristy Your outreach shows that you have the fire somewhere inside you. There are lots of resources available to you to meet whatever goal you want to achieve. Sign up for something that is months away that you think is near impossible and start training. What do you have to lose? Even if you don’t make your goal you will be better for it.

[emacdoug]

Lots of good advice already! We’ve all been there in one way or another.

I know this all too well. Has happened whenever I have some forced time off the bike. Either from hurting my back or illness or my dad passing away. Sometimes happens after a couple rest weeks, or sometimes a month or more.

I’m kinda in the same spot as you had been. I had Covid the beginning of Sept. I may still be in the throes of long COVID or sinusitis. I have only been able to get back on the bike twice since then. I rode Open 15 on Monday at 96w and it felt alien and hard to simply push the pedals. I’ve hit snooze more times this week than I have in years. I can’t do any hard efforts yet. I’m just hoping to restart my routine and stay somewhat healthy while I also let my body finish recovering. Trying not to push myself too soon so I don’t end up taking another month off.

In the past what’s worked is mostly about first just going back through the motions to re-establish my routine. Sometimes that’s just setting an alarm and waking up and doing yoga and a short recovery spin. Just as long as I’m regularly getting back on the back. The more days in a row I can do that the easier it is to make it a habit again and the more my muscle memory starts to kick in.

Then it’s finding an event of any type for motivation whether that’s the TOS, a KOS, a big event, or just regular group rides (like the Saturday morning Knight Rights).

Usually start by riding mostly low intensity. Then adding in some random efforts. Maybe adding in Recharger and Open 30 to give myself something enjoyable to ride to. Then maybe ride some Sufferfest videos at low intensity. Often that gets my juices flowing to want to add in some intense efforts while not actually doing them. Then building up a lot of Zone 2 and allowing myself to choose when to start adding in more intensity. Then once I have an event in mind and some base miles under my belt I can start to think about a training plan. And if you can get out and around others who are enjoying their riding and having fun it can rub off on you. And like others have said, sometimes you just need to get outside and remember why you love being on your bike.

Sometimes it just takes a week to get my mojo back. Sometimes it can take a month or two. But as long as I stick at it and keep waking up and getting on my bike then the feeling comes back whether that’s sooner or later. It can depend on why I was off the bike. Overtraining can be harder to come back from. But so can medical issues.

The new things is, the more you miss it, the more likely you are to put in the effort to get back into it.

[Heretic]

What did you like about cycling in the first place?

As Nietzsche said - “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”

[emacdoug]

[ozmadman]

Just have no goal at all as it can be a bit daunting knowing you have a particular workout/ride to do. My mindset is… just get on the trainer with the thought in mind that you can just plod along very easy and get off whenever you want, whether that is 5 minutes or an hour etc. don’t force anything and if you dont want to continue then don’t, there’s no rush!. They say “the hardest thing about exercise is getting out of the chair” but what you will probably find is that once on the trainer you will probably end up doing more than you planned too. Good luck and keep us posted on here.

[DameLisa]

Im going to pipe up with some other thoughts. How old are you? Peri menopause? Get the protein in. Creatine is the bomb for…they say brain fog, but I find it helps with motivation. And try out some adaptogens. Likewise, they fire me up in terms of motivation and focus.

Check your Iron and VitD levels.

Just check there isnt something funny going on with the good old female hormone levels. Just a blip really affects us so much. Slight tweaks like the above have been a game changer for my motivation and focus.

Youll find your way back to us soon. Because you can never leave.

[Glen.Coutts]

@DameLisa

Because you can never leave

[Critmark]

I think my advice is much more basic. If you can do it weather wise, just go for a ride. Anywhere or nowhere, just enjoy being on a bike. You’re a Knight, the fire is still in there. Let the open air stoke the fire. HAVE FUN!

[emacdoug]

And this is why I love this forum. Very specific and knowledgeable advice from people who know!

[pauloserra]

Amazing turnout from people !!!

To me all has been pretty much covered, it can be of (little) comfort to know that you (we) are not alone in this.

+1 in the had some issues, picked up a couple of extra weight, how do I get myself back in the mindset.

Tried riding outside in the road bike, but the position got a bit uncomfortable due to extra chubbiness. The gravel bike feels fine, so that’s how it will go even for road rides.

It is a bit demoralizing to struggle on places you used to feel good and attack, but there are days the good feelings get back.

What I find works very well for me is music to get in the right gear, and just getting at it.

SUFFERFEST videos are absolutely the best motivators for me. Storyline music, always gets me pumped up. Even if I have to set some to 80 or 90% still the best.

Other than that, just doing something to get the habits back in. You don’t have time for a 2 hour workout ? Do 1 hour…

You got lazy prepping and now it’s almost too late to get to work in time ?
Do 15 minutes…. Still a lot better than 0.

I have big goals coming up (I signed up for them a long time ago) trying to salvage what I can.

Those PRs are a looooonnnggg way to go, but who knows ? The fun is in the process, results will get there (or not, but who cares ? Unless it’s your job… )

Best of luck on your way home Dame @DameCristy !!
If it’s worth anything your reaching out ended up helping me as well !

[DameCristy]

You Sufferlandrians are the best. Thank you for this outpouring of advice and sympathy. You’ve given me lots to think about, and, more importantly, lots of reasons to stop thinking and do!

Sir Paulo, you are so right, the discomfort from extra weight while on the road bike is very demotivating. I didn’t realize that was in my mind until I read your post. I will put my most upright bike on the trainer today.

Dame Lisa , I love your alertness to female physiology. I am 55 and well into menopause, but it still wouldn’t hurt to get some labs done now that I’m recovered to see if there are lingering issues.

@ozmadman , your advice to not force anything really resonated. @Sir_Brian_M, it never occurred to me to turn off the power display. What a great idea! Sir Jon, thanks for putting it in order for me: consistency, then duration, finally intensity. That really helps me think of this period of just working on getting onto the bike for however long and doing whatever as part of a real plan with direction and a goal. I don’t work very well if I don’t know where I’m going and why.

Sir Glen and @DouthatBiker, it’s winter here in Minnesota, so everything is indoors for the next several months. But honestly, that’s maybe even for the best. If I’m going to be riding for just 20-30 minutes, it’s always hard to talk myself into kitting up, putting on the sunscreen, pumping up the tires, etc. For the trainer, all I need is a pair of shorts, you know?

Sir James, you’re right that I need a goal. I am happiest with a Mt. Sufferlandria looming. I’m really looking forward to being able to echo your great story about conquering l’Alpe d’Huez!

@CPT_A , thanks for the invitation to the Knight Ride! Maybe in a few weeks…

Sir Evan, thanks for sharing your process - I made the mistake earlier of putting a training plan on the calendar thinking it would motivate me to be consistent. But it just wore me out. I appreciate your advice to just get used to going through the motions first.

Sir Stuart , you are right. The fire is still in there. Thanks for the encouragement.

And finally, Sir Glen, I absolutely hate climbing, your Everesting idea is terrible, I will never do it, and also in August, 2023 GvA gave me my instructions on the license plate of the car in front of me and has not let me forget:

Just be prepared to find another chubby riding buddy when I get serious about it

Again, thank you. I can never leave, and I never want to. Now I’m going to put on my shorts and go for an easy spin.

[DouthatBiker]

@DameCristy

If I’m going to be riding for just 20-30 minutes, it’s always hard to talk myself into kitting up, putting on the sunscreen, pumping up the tires, etc. For the trainer, all I need is a pair of shorts, you know?

EXACTLY, @DameCristy That’s one of the BEST benefits I’ve found for buying the KICKR Bike 3 years ago come January. It really is a game changer to at least have that option of using 30 minutes for the good on days that have otherwise slipped away. Throw on the shorts and get on the bike, and (if I still had SYSTM, and hope to again) rock that never-dull, favorite RECHARGER! I’ve never gotten off the bike after doing that without feeling FULLY CHARGED!

[Cervelovan]

Dealing with this but on a much lower level. Seems like the most recent COVID vaccine I took caused heart rate elevation (I had COVID last year, and I was quite concerned as I have asthma, but it was fairly mild) I read that there are cases where people who had COVID might get this elevated HR issue and even something called POTS. You had COVID FOUR times, that is crazy.

So, I am just cycling as I feel, no goals, or workouts, my body will tell me when I am ready to push.

[brucew]

Just be careful that you don’t push too hard too soon. POTS is one concern. In addition, there is something called PEM - Post Exertional Malaise. You feel the fatigue several days after exercising, even when you were trying to pace yourself. so no immediate feedback loop telling you that you pushed too hard. have you talked with your doc about your long covid, does your doc really understand what long covid is.

just trying to inform you so you can make the proper decsions.