well, the title is self-explainatory. Now reached the 6 months of no-running.
In the typical psycological cycle of reacting to a set-back, I eventually landed in the "resignation and acceptance" phase...
I do my cycling almost every day, with no real scope. I do my excercises, etc, etc, etc. I gave up going to the physioterapist because it was really too much time-consuming for my job. I gave up any illusion to be able to run a marathon in 2009, so maybe something at spring 2010... but honestly I say this more for give myself a tangible purpose to my bike rides (very boring, always the same loop..).
So overall I do my cross-training like an honest factory worker, just do the job without thinking too much.
The tendons are actually improving, but very slowly.
9 comments:
Keep at it. It'll come around.
Its a real bummer when you can't do something that you really love and are good at, hope the injury clears up very soon!
thank you for the encouragement.
Today I went to see the orthopaedic surgeon (specialized in sport medicine) and he told me to have patience. Tendons are healing, but it takes time.
(the second part of the visit was a series of question on his side about marathon training: he wants to try his first marathon (he runs the 10k in 41') and wanted my advice...)
Hi!
Have you heard of Powercranks? This is a tool that has been developed to improve cycling economy and it turns out it helped runners improve their run tremendously (without running!). I am triathlete and just bought one set that I'm about to install on my bike. Basically it's a set of cranks that acts independently from each other. So each leg has to work individually to perform the full revolution of the crank (like isolated leg drills). It's very popular for injury rehabilitation aswell and I think you would benefit from it. However...Its very very very expensive!! Laurent
Thank you Laurent,
I have actually heard about these powercranks and I sometimes ride with a guy using them.
May you please give me more hints on how they could help recovery from a tendinosis ? because my problem is 100% in the tendons and due to my poor biomechanics (related to bow legs, etc), so I find hard to see how strengthening some muscles group can help.
I know that they go for 1200$!!
Anyway my immediate budget is oriented to replace my road bike: my existing one is a "vintage 1992" (!!) which is still going OK, but in 20 years bikes got much better and lighter...
Well, in your case, if your main target is running, but you can't because of your condition, powercranks are a good substitute. If you can ride a bike with your condition, powercranks will allow you to train the muscles used for running without running (without impact). Then, when you will have fully recovered and will be ready to hit the road again, your running fitness will be high hopefully. With regular cranks, you will improve only your cycling fitness. Am I making sense? By "injury rehabilitation", I mean that you can still train as a runner even with your injury (provided you can ride a bike). FYI, I bought my powercranks $899 (in the US)and put them on a cheap training road bike. I know that in France, you can rent Powercranks on a monthly basis. It is much cheaper! Laurent
Laurent,
your explanations makes sense. Now I will see first to buy the new bike and maybe I can fit the Powercranks on the old one.
My fellow running partner E. (a frenchman too, strong Triathlete) is going to buy them soon and so I can make a direct test of the system...
Great blog! I particularly enjoy the data on your Polar monitor and performance. Your tendonosis will heal eventually. Have you considered more specific vike training? For example, intervals, etc to help maintain VO2max etc.
I will be interested to hear your experience if you get PowerCranks - as far as I am aware, there isn't any scientific research suggesting that they improve running times beyond what adding aerobic volume through cycling would do...
Cheers,
William
www.endurancescience.com/blog
William, thank you.
I had not tried the Powercranks and I think it is not really worthy to try. Maybe they could be effective for a short spell, but who is going to ride for 6 months in Powercranks... I mean, I ride my bike and I want to enjoy it making real rides, with climbs, sprints, intervals, etc..
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