[LEL] After effects and recovery

[leeg]

Just back from a couple of weeks in the Pyrenees.  Family holiday and didn't take a bike but sneaked some pedals and shoes into my luggage as I'd seen that there was a hybrid in the house we rented.  Didn't make it more than 100m up the hill from the house before my left knee was very painful.  It was bearable on the flat but the only flattish road was the main road down to the coastal plain so just drank wine/beer and ate for 2 weeks.

It had started on the hills after Edinburgh and I'd had to pedal practically one legged on all the steep bits after that.  I thought a couple of weeks rest might clear it up but looks like a trip to the physio beckons.

[Bunker22]

Started flying around my 210k for Augusts RRTY on Monday, then ran out of energy and enthusiasm after 120k. The last 90k were hard even though its mainly flat. If I hadn't run out of potential days to do a 200 this month I think I would have packed. Felt very stiff legged yesterday and today.

[Bobby]

Started flying around my 210k for Augusts RRTY on Monday, then ran out of energy and enthusiasm after 120k. The last 90k were hard even though its mainly flat. If I hadn't run out of potential days to do a 200 this month I think I would have packed. Felt very stiff legged yesterday and today.

Exactly the same for me on Sundays DIY 200 for my RRTY.  I was crawling for the last 50k, and sore for a couple of days afterwards....

Hopefully that's just down to 3 weeks off the bike...

[Phil W]

Ha, got my 200 for the RRTY this Sat. Will let you know how it goes.

[RobW]

Ha, got my 200 for the RRTY this Sat. Will let you know how it goes.

Good luck!

[Bobby]

Ha, got my 200 for the RRTY this Sat. Will let you know how it goes.

If I was doing it again, I would not push hard for the first 100, whilst I felt fast + strong I seemed to suddenly slow without much warning... On reflection I should have taken it slow and steady!

Good luck

[Hummers]

Very odd but I have found that I have gained flab and lost fitness with....

Oh, hold on....

I have just come back from holiday of excessive beer, wine, pasty and clotted cream consumption 

It will be Cold Comfort farm from now until the End2End 

H

[paul851]

Doctors tomorrow as I've had a twinge of angina on one of the local climbs  Hopefully nothing more than overtired and trying to hard to soon after LEL .


Paul

[john jackson]

Only minor tingle in the little fingers of both hands. Initially it was the 2 little fingers in both hands. I did use track mits with lots of padding whilst driving of the first week. Skin pealed from palms of both hands this week. It took about 10 days before I had a full 8 hours sleep. I was waking after about 5 or 6 hours especially at first light. Rode the 82 mile Wild Wales challenge with 3000m of climbing last weekend feel strong all day. I start racing on the velodrome in October I hope the road miles will help with the 1km events!!

[Phil W]

Ha, got my 200 for the RRTY this Sat. Will let you know how it goes.

If I was doing it again, I would not push hard for the first 100, whilst I felt fast + strong I seemed to suddenly slow without much warning... On reflection I should have taken it slow and steady!

Good luck

It went fine, steady effort although could have eaten more but cafes were busy so just had cold stuff. Moving average mid 20's so seems all is well after LEL.

[Chris S]

A surprisingly tough DIY 300 yesterday (including 100km of headwind across the rolling North Norfolk coast) has aggravated LEL-induced issues; sore hands, sore achilles, sore wrists. We'll be more than ready for a rest when it comes!

[DrMekon]

Another unbelievably brutal physio session on Friday AM, and the legs are feeling great. Somewhere between the mix of time, very aggressive massage, horrific stretching and heat/ice treatment, all the swelling and liquid around my ankles appears to have gone. Really went for it on fixed this morning, hitting 180bpm on one climb. Couldn't feel myself compensating on my right ankle like I have been. Just felt great, really. Three toes on each foot still feel like they belong to someone else. Being careful to wear loose fitting shoes, etc. Not sure what else I can do.

[simonp]

8 nights in Roses, Spain. Known for its food.

Last night we got home, and I weighed in. 76.5kg…! Heaviest I’ve ever been, by about 0.5kg. This morning, 74.5kg => hopefully the damage isn’t quite as bad as it first seemed. Having said that, given the amount of swimming I did, it hopefully isn’t all fat.

[Chuffy]

8 nights in Roses, Spain. Known for its food.

Last night we got home, and I weighed in. 76.5kg…! Heaviest I’ve ever been, by about 0.5kg. This morning, 74.5kg => hopefully the damage isn’t quite as bad as it first seemed. Having said that, given the amount of swimming I did, it hopefully isn’t all fat.

0.5kg is a big poo. I wouldn't worry about it. 

[Chris S]

Well - issues continue.

Big toes still fuzzy. Left knee a real problem - popping and creaking, and quite painful much of the time, especially when riding.

More than an hour on any bike, and my achilles are throbbing.

But I'm not sure how much this is due to LEL directly, or to do with the amount of riding we've done since. LEL seemed to kick off these conditions (we'd been fine until then) - and our efforts since seem to have served to make them worse, little by little, each week.

Ah well - end of the season this weekend  .

[mmmmartin]

Well - issues continue.

Yebbut..... Surely that massive emotional embrace from fboab at the finish was worth it all?

As for me, my left foot has some numb toes... And I only rode half of it.....

[Feline]

Yes, my right foot is still quite numb. It feels quite odd when I'm running on the treadmill because I can't really feel the ball of my foot or the toes much. Weak pinch grip in left hand still there too. I'm not really riding the bike much at the moment to give it all a rest, plus it's raining and ICBA.

Based on post PBP recovery I expect the foot/toes to take up to 10 months to fully resolve. Nerve damage is never a quick one is it.

[jefmcg]

My thumb is a little strange still, but at least now it feels like my thumb, not something stuck on my hand.

Feet are still very numb.  We had to evacuate the building the other day (alarm systems failed, so we all had to stand around outside while they fixed it), and half way down the 34 flights, but feet were singing.  Luckily I was wearing stout shoes; I wouldn't have made it in heels.

[Lars]

It's gone downhill since the Flatlands 600. Quads got unbelievably sore after that, despite not riding hard on that one. Guess that can happen with relentless flatness without much ride position variation though, rather than due to fatigue. After a rest weekend did a DIY 200 and got sharp pain slightly above a knee. Had problems walking without hobbling for a few days after that. Plus achilles tendon pain and numb toes on the same side. Think for me too it wasn't due to LEL. But after that one of the hilliest 400s in the calendar closely followed by two 600s. Seems better now after 1.5 week rest with lots of stretching. Achilles still not good though. Will try an easy DIY 200 tomorrow to keep a RRTY started in April alive in addition to the two going since January. But looks likely that one will have to be killed off if the aches go on. Hope to see at least one of them through though!

[Lars]

Based on post PBP recovery I expect the foot/toes to take up to 10 months to fully resolve. Nerve damage is never a quick one is it.

Nope, nerve damage takes time. In 2001 I moved back to Sweden from the US. Stayed at my sister's house for 8 weeks while waiting for my own place to become available. Slept on a narrow iron-frame foldable crap bed. One random night must have fallen deep asleep on the side, pushing the side of the knee hard against the iron frame for hours. Woke up and noticed my foot was hanging straight down. And no matter how I tried to move the foot it was just hanging down. At the hospital was told I've got "drop-foot" - a nerve damage condition people sleeping rough on wooden benches can get sometimes. But extremely rare if you sleep in a bed. And also very rare in general. Took 2 years to re-gain the full mobility of the foot. So it makes sense a foot squeezed in a tight cycling shoe for many hours a day over several days with only a few hours relief from the pressure at a time may lead to nerve damage.

[Dai P]

Fingers back to normal, but toes, what toes! Still numb! At least I now know reading this that it is, if not normal, at least not uncommon.  How long until back to where i was before LEL.  Not rode since but heck, back on the wheels this weekend and sod the toes.

[DrMekon]

All better now - ripped around a hilly 200 at the weekend - had fun on the bike yesterday and today. Thoughts of running are even coming back Stretches feel Gooooooood rather than like something is going to snap. Hmm, toes maybe a bit numb-ish still. Can't remember what they were like before TBH.

I'm saying all better.