My First Good Day...

In a minute...

I measured my quads last night, because my left leg looks shriveled to me. It turns out that I lost 1.5 inches (circumference) of girth off of my left quad during the last 4 weeks (two of which I have been riding... or something like riding). This is in comparison to the right quad (measured along my cycling short tan line), which also lost some muscle for sure. I thought that was a lot... no wonder I can see a difference and it really looks a lot better than it did a week ago.

I knew it was bound to happen and it finally did. I felt weak all weekend, but still managed a 3 hour ride... the NP result? A measly 210 watts and I felt like I was really working. Both legs were fried after the effort, which was my main goal for the workout... I want to make sure that my left leg is getting a hard workout regardless of what else happens. I know I am overcompensating with my right leg to keep up with whoever I am riding with, but the power meter results are horrible (left leg measurement only on ergomo- that is the leg I fractured). Obviously, this shows my left leg is not putting out.

After two weeks of 150W to 205W efforts, I went out for the Tuesday night group ride. Within ten turns of the cranks and I new that I had turned the corner. My power meter lit up in front of me and showed 220 Watts while I was warming up. I cant explain it really, but it seemed more like I had purchased a new meter that was now working. The perceived effort was the same as throughout the last two weeks, but my left leg was putting out.

It was great... every additional watt that my lefty will put out is obviously needed. I went out with the race team and held through several hills. I broke off before I got dropped and did some work on my own while waiting for the slower group to catch me. After 20 minutes, I had a NP of 260Watts or so and wound up with an hour and a half at 230 Watts I think. I spent some time over 500 Watts for the first time since the injury and even sprinted up to 700 Watts for a spell.

This is the first week of my retraining program. The program will be separated into two sections... aerobic and anaerobic. The 4-5 week aerobic program will consist of two key workouts per week... Tuesday will consist of VO2 max intervals (increasing from 3 to 5 intervals, in duration from 3 to 6 minutes, and in intensity from 1.1 % to 1.13% FTP) and Thursday will consist of FTP workouts (working toward 2 intervals of 20 min and 98% FTP). The prescribed VO2 intervals seem too tough and if they are, I will adjust as I go.