Hi guys
I am thinking about joining TrainerRoad. I am indoor bike guy who was doing PowerZone training on the Peleton app with a keiser spin bike. All was going well, I was regularly doing 4 sessions a week and my FTP was increasing. Happy days.
I then fell down the stairs and broke a bone in my foot. After 8 weeks of doing absolutely nothing, I think I am nearly ready to start training again. I am a bit bored of Peleton and wanted a change and have been thinking about signing up for TrainerRoad instead.
For the first few months my objective is to simply get on the bike maybe 3 times a week, perhaps just doing 30 minutes a session. In fact I probably be happy doing 15/20 minutes sessions just to get started! I wanted to take things easy and get the training habit established. At this point, I don’t care about my FTP score and really don’t want to push myself until the foot has had a chance to recover.
Is TrainerRoad going to work for me? Is there an easy/recovery type program for my situation?
Thanks all.
Yep, definitely. In my running phase, I suffered some tendinitis and the discovery of a fractured 3rd metatarsal. As long as you have the OK from your doctor, hop on the trainer and power up a 30-60 minute low intensity workout using TrainNow in the app (it will recommend an endurance level workout). Repeat as much as you like per week until you’re ready to bump up the intensity.
Alternatively, sounds like you should grab a bike and go for a ride outside, especially if you’re in the northern hemisphere where the weather should be nice for riding. You won’t need to buy a subscription for TrainerRoad unless you (a) like to ride inside or (b) want a structured training plan.
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I broke my foot falling down stairs back in November. I didn’t have any problems with getting back onto TR about eight weeks after the break, and I think it’s a fine solution. You can pick the endurance and recovery workouts to start, and as your foot continues healing, you can test some of the easier Sweet Spot workouts to see how it goes.
My own injury took 12 weeks to heal to the point that I no longer needed follow-up appointments, but it was still sore for a while after that. From eight weeks out, I gradually built the intensity while making sure I still didn’t have pain. I tried to keep things easy on my foot by keeping my cadence high. Even after I was “better,” it was a while before I could do any standing intervals.
Other than learning to tolerate the pressure on the pedals, the toughest thing by far was clipping in and out of the pedals to start and stop. If I were smarter, I would have probably changed to MTB pedals.
You got this! There’s no fixed plan, but you can definitely guide yourself to recovery with [some] structure.
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Thank you Ciarrai and megsambit. Very helpful. I think I will give it a go.
Please can I just ask one more question. I think TrainingRoad has a ramp test which is i think the equivalent of the FTP test on Peloton. I am not sure I can face that at the moment. Is it possible to ignore that for the time being and just ride some low intensity rides. I know may FTP score from peloton although that will be a lot lower now. Is there a way to make that work?
Thank you
I broke my metatarsal mountain biking and my foot caught a root that sent me over the bars with a concussion. I tried walking it off for a week. Finally had enough and went to the minute clinic. Apparently I broke my metatarsal on that root sticking out . I had about 8 weeks also of recovery. I was in a boot for 6 weeks or so.
I started back with easy riding just to get the groove back and get consistent. No hard efforts at all and really just went on how my foot was feeling. Great advice above and I’m mostly echoing that, also you’ll be back feeling “normal” before you know it!
Luckily it’s not anything more serious.
Also I tried focusing on my foot mobility with stretching and toe movements just like they have in the link below.
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I broke two bones in my ankle last year and after 8 weeks of no physical activity I was both out of condition and had muscle atrophy in my leg. When I got the OK from doctor to begin exercise I did the 30mins endurance rides on TR (ie Petit) for several days as I regained my range of motion. Eventually confidence was coming back and I gradually started doing low intensity intervals.
However as someone who has had both a Peloton and an indoor bike trainer (Wahoo Kickr), you can probably get going on the bike you have as you recover. Chances are your physical therapist will want you working on specifics and there’s no need to plunk down more money until you’re sure indoor training is what you really want.
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Definitely skip the ramp test.