I missed the 8 week update 4 days ago so here's the general rundown:
- My back still hurts, but not as much.
- I'm able to bend a bit more without "paying for it" later.
- The three smallest toes on my left foot are still tingly/numb. This might be permanent but perhaps too early to tell.
Under the category of "really weird stuff", I've started riding again (more below) and after each ride my left calf and hamstring are incredibly tight and painful. Doing the "wall stretch" for my calf literally feels like I'm going to tear the muscle. I also have kind of a weird "hitch" in my pedal stroke, sort of like a worn bearing in the bottom bracket. I've been focusing on trying to spin smoothly.
I've been using a foam roller to try to break up the knots in my hamstring/calf. After more than a week, I've finally gotten them to the point where I can do it without screaming in pain so that's progress.
Since I was cleared to ride on 8 October, I've ridden 283 miles in 17 days, all on the recumbent on the trainer. My longest ride thus far is 34 miles. I've started doing a bit more climbing and pushing a bit harder.
I'm pathetically out of shape. I don't play the age card very often but I'll play it now: I hurt all the time and it seems to take forever to recover from even a moderately hard effort. All of the muscles involved in cycling really hurt. It's getting better but really slowly. It seems like three days riding in a row is about all I can manage and the sessions/distances have gone 10-11, day off, 16-14-19, day off, 16-24-20, day off, 34-26-22, day off.
I've had some extended times off the bike in the past, usually due to accident or injury, but it is objectively taking me a lot longer to regain fitness now that I'm older. I've got detailed data
going back 20 years and it is most definitely taking me longer to ramp back up and I ache a lot more after riding.
We have a Jacuzzi tub in the master bath and I've been using it with Epsom salts in the water to try and reduce the soreness and it does help. In addition to the aforementioned foam roller, I've also started doing more stretching. I've started some really easy core strengthening and have discovered I don't have any core strength.
I'm able to do more. I can e.g., bend a bit at the waist and towel off my feet after showering. Yesterday I put air in the tires on the car and realized I was bending to do it rather than kneeling. Although this probably isn't a good idea, the point is that I could do it and not have agonizing pain during or after. I also sat up in bed (lifted my upper body) instead of "log rolling" to get out of bed in the middle of the night. Again, probably not wise but not debilitating. I carried some 25 lb bags of water softener salt.
Things that I'd like to do in the next few weeks include riding the DF on the trainer and seeing how my back responds and riding outside, either on the recumbent or DF. It's cold AF (wind chill of 26 F as I write this) so I'm not in any hurry to go outdoors. I'm hoping for a bit of a warm spell, at least in the upper 40's, before venturing outdoors.
Stay tuned!
