Coming back to Cycling after Injury

Injury and illness can be a frustrating thing, especially when you have the cycling bug. Once you get over your injury, it’s a great feeling to be back on bike, but you have to be careful not to get carried away. In coming back from injury, the most important thing is common sense, but cyclists aren’t always known for abundant common sense – especially when it comes to estimating our abilities and state of fitness.

After 4 weeks off the bike (blood clot), I was pleased that I was still relatively fit when I got back on bike. Yet, when I later did some tests, I was disappointed to see my times much slower than before my injury.

• Shock. training makes you fitter! Sitting on the couch doesn’t! But, I’m hopeful l that the fitness will soon come back and hopefully peak later in the year.

Difficulties in coming back after Injury

• Danger you could do too much, too early and cause injury to be repeated, setting back your recovery even longer than necessary
• Some muscles will have wasted causing imbalances in the body. This can cause knock on injuries, due to over stretching other parts of the body.

• After long break, start with short distances and steady pace. Build up distance and intensity gradually. The last thing you want is to over-stretch yourself. Gradually building up cycle effort allows you to carefully monitor any set back, and see the extent to which the injury has recovered.
• Be careful of setting goals too early. If you have a target for a 100 mile sportive 3 weeks after injury, it can become very tempting to push too hard. To achieve a big target requires great determination, but recovery from injury requires listening to the body and patience rather than stretching yourself. Once you have a fixed goal, it’s hard to be patient with yourself. Think about long-term, not short-term.
• It depends on the injury. Some heal very quickly, others can leave a persistent weakness (e.g. ankle injury) Seek guidance of medical professionals / physios as to how much you can train. Every injury will be different.
• Even, if you have no obvious pain, it may still be worth seeing a physio to gain feedback from recovery of muscles as you get back into cycling. A physio may be able to suggest exercises to help recovery and prevent future injuries.
• Be careful about setting time frames – like, ‘I will be fully recovered in 3 weeks’. In one sense it is good to be positive, but some injuries may not fit into our own time frame.
• Don’t be discouraged about time off the bike, the body is quite adaptable. You will be able to catch up from time off bike. In particular, don’t feel guilty for time off training schedule.
• Remember time off due to injury happens to everyone. Marco Pantani bounced back from a seriously fractured leg, Lance Armstrong came back from cancer. Any great pro-cyclists will at some time have come back from serious injury.
• Consider cross training to maintain some basic aerobic fitness, whilst your cycling is limited. e.g. swimming may be great for people with knee problems.
• Make cycling enjoyable. If you are free of pressing targets and races, coming back to cycling can be a way to enjoy simple pleasures of cycling. Look for some scenic routes, cycle in a social setting. There’s nothing better than getting back on bike for first time in 4-5 weeks. Take recovery as an opportunity to enjoy cycling.

• Coming back from long Lay off. – related article from 2008 on coming back to cycling after several years off the bike