Back after fracture

[dave76]

Hi all,
as some of you may remember I fractured my patella and shinbone on February 26. I was in a cast for two weeks and a half. Then on March 11 I was allowed to move my knee with no load on it and to start physical therapy. I also started doing some isolated leg training on the good leg. On April 11, I was allowed to walk and resume pedaling with both legs. And now I am allowed to go full gas as long as I have no severe pain.

After my accident I paused my TR subscription and for now I have been training at constant power using the Wahoo app. But since I can now resume training, I was thinking of restarting my TR account. I am wondering however, if I should continue doing some manual workouts off TR for now. Also once I go back to TR, should I start with base or with build? My right leg is currently 30 to 40% weaker than my left leg. I am continuing physical therapy in the gym, but cycling is part of recovery. So I would like to do what works best and I am open to suggestions

thanks

[eddiegrinwald]

Hey @dave76,

Congrats on being given the okay to get back into training!

First and foremost, I’d recommend listening to your doctor’s opinion on things before anyone else’s on this forum.

Generally speaking though, I’d recommend starting a brand new plan with Plan Builder and following the full 12 weeks of Base training before moving into a Build phase since you’ve been off the bike for a few months.

I’d watch things carefully though, and make sure to really pay attention to how you’re feeling – not just your leg but your body as a whole. You’re probably still burning a good amount of calories building new bone, so make sure to eat a healthy diet along the way!

If you’re still doing any PT, I’d prioritize that before cycling, and don’t be afraid to ride easy through the beginning of the Base phase if you need to. It’s all progress!

Best of luck moving forward!

[dave76]

Hi @eddiegrinwald
yep I asked my doctor before I did anything on the bike. As I wrote earlier, he set power limits at the beginning and has now told me I am ready to go full power. In particular, I can do an ftp test and start from there.
I actually resumed some training a month ago as I said, so I have done some hours already, but I guess I will start with some base and see how it goes.
My question however, is whether it’s worthwhile to spend money on trainerroad before I have recovered my right-leg strength completely or whether I should train by feel for now and use TR when I am closer to 100% with my right leg (I am not at about 60% I guess).

[TrekCentury]

@dave76

My question however, is whether it’s worthwhile to spend money on trainerroad before I have recovered my right-leg strength completely or whether I should train by feel for now and use TR when I am closer to 100% with my right leg (I am not at about 60% I guess).

If moneys tight or your on Social Security like me, then wait a month. If you’re working, it’s the cost of a cup of coffee, spend the money. Keep everyone employed.

[eddiegrinwald]

I’d definitely say that there are benefits to be had by using TrainerRoad!

There aren’t really any downsides that I can think of, especially since you’ve been cleared to return to normal training.

I could probably justify how any/all of our features would serve someone just getting (back) into cycling or returning from injury particularly well.

Plan Builder would work really well in terms of getting you set up with a plan in a way that is unique to your current situation.

Adaptive Training will help to keep the training stimulus just right by giving you workouts that you find challenging, but not too difficult for your current abilities, and AI FTP Detection will keep an an eye on your fitness as you progress.

Red Light Green Light would be particularly useful in this case since you’ll want to increase your training load slowly and sustainably. This feature would work well as a reminder to take it easy and think about your progress long-term.

I know when I was coming back from injury it was really hard not to think, “Oh, great – I’m back! Time to get back to where I left off!”

RLGL would have definitely kept me in check though and said, “We’ll get you there, Eddie! Take it slow though, and give your body time to readjust!”

The muscle on your right leg should come back pretty quickly, and in my opinion, there’s no real harm in using your bike to get things back in shape. As I mentioned before, it wouldn’t hurt to continue doing any PT you may have been prescribed or other single-leg exercises to speed up the process. Just make sure you’re not overdoing it. Again, make sure to communicate all of this to your doctor and stay in touch with them along the way!

Again, there aren’t really any downsides if you can swing it!

Just shout if I can help out with anything along the way.

Best of luck with your recovery!

[dave76]

Hi all, I figured I would continue on this thread rather than open a new one.
I am back on TR and I started with FTP detection. My pre-injury FTP was 220W. AI ftp detection gave me 200W, but I preferred doing a ramp test, and I got 184W which I think better reflects reality.
Now I am puzzled by the new green/yellow/red light feature.
I selected a mid volume plan because in the past month I have been spending 5-8 hours per week on the home trainer (without TR).
In particular:
Week 15 (when I was allowed to bear weight on both legs): 1h + 2h PT (light strength training)
Week 16: 5h20 +2h PT (slightly less light strength training)
Week 17: 8h22 +2h PT ( strength training: starting to push hard)
Week 18: 6h22 +2h PT (strength training)
Week 19: off because I was travelling with no access to a bike (I did some unrecorded strength training)
Week 20: cleared by PT for full training. 4h30 +2h PT (my TR subscription starts on Saturday)
and here is a screenshot for Weeks 20 and 21. I do not get why yesterday and today are yellow

Just for comparison, here is my intervals.icu fitness graph for the last six months. Injury was on Feb 26.

According to intervals I am “fresh” today but I tried to place anything longer than lazy mountain today, and AT suggests to downgrade it to 45 min recovery.

[eddiegrinwald]

Hey there,

I’m glad to hear that you’re getting back into it!

This doesn’t seem unrealistic to me as you’re really just getting back into training and RLGL is simply trying to keep your ramp rate sustainable.

If you look at the training load section of the image you shared, you can see the obvious drop in late February following your injury, and then a second pretty drastic drop in early May as a result of your time off from the 4th to the 15th.

The last little part of that purple training load line shows a pretty steep spike upward and RLGL is actually catching this and making suggestions to slow your increase in training load in a way that will allow for long-term growth without building too much fatigue.

Prior to your injury, you were getting a pretty good amount of volume in without any real issues, so I’m sure you’ll get back to that point before long. I’d recommend following RLGL’s recommendations along the way though, and remember that yellow days don’t mean “don’t train”, but rather take it easy. If you’re seeing a lot of yellow on your calendar, that means that you’re probably pushing things as far as we’d recommend.

Red days are suggested recovery days, and I’d definitely recommend taking those days off to recover and prepare for more hard work down the road.

Let me know if this helps and if you have other questions about any of this. I’d be happy to chat some more!