TSS ramp after an injury?

mortimer99 said:

...My question is how quickly to ramp the TSS up again and the intensity after my week off and two weeks of really not riding much before that. Before the IT band started givening me trouble, I was typically doing SST work for the most part (I have been riding for about 2 years and am 40 years old).

Do I start over again? Lower intesity work, short distanceces etc?
How fast do you loose fitness?....

A month away from steady training is pretty typical at the end of the season. Sure you'll lose some fitness, but probably not as much as you think. Those first few rides will probably feel pretty bad with blocked up legs, but a month isn't all that long.

I'd personally focus on the IT issue and perhaps see a good bike fitter. No sense in getting your training ramped back up just to experience more IT issues. But in terms of training I'd start by just getting a week of steady riding with no 2x20s or 5x5s or anything with that much structure. Then I'd probably do some steadier efforts working from high L2 up into SST and see how those go. After a couple of weeks you should be back into the swing enough to try some L4 efforts, reassess your FTP and reset your training levels.

I took much longer than usual off the bike this fall with a lot of work stress and having finished a very long season. All in all I was away from steady training from mid September till almost Thanksgiving with just a few rides here and there. The ramp back up was much tougher this year and my power for long intervals was down by almost 15% from my in season training. It sucked, but now I'm about a month into steady training, my CTL is climbing steadily and my power has come about half way back to what I regularly saw mid season.

The point is, you haven't been off the bike all that long, but I'd start by working on any flexibility/fit issues that might be leading to your IT troubles and then just get back on the bike. Don't jump right back into structured L4 or even high end SST work but just get the pedals turning again. Listen to your body and you'll know when to start bumping the intensity or TSS.

Good luck,
-Dave

Great insight Dave. I have read several of your posts and always value your input.

Actually I just had my bike fit after the first week of issues with my IT band, after 2 hours they ended up raising my seat almost an inch and dropping my bars. I had no idea I was off that far, but I had just basically changed all the components on my bike including seat and post...maybe I got mm mixed up with cm [img]cyclingforums.comsmile.gifOpen ↗[/img] when I was measuring..
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daveryanwyoming said:

Don't jump right back into structured L4 or even high end SST work but just get the pedals turning again. Listen to your body and you'll know when to start bumping the intensity or TSS.

Yes, one much walk before you run, so to speak, and there's no point is risking aggravating an injury.

Be patient and keep the rides steady to start with. Also, I would be addressing what the root cause of your injury is and attending to that, making the necessary changes.

After that, then the workload can start to pick up.

Alex Simmons said:

Yes, one much walk before you run, so to speak, and there's no point is risking aggravating an injury.

Be patient and keep the rides steady to start with. Also, I would be addressing what the root cause of your injury is and attending to that, making the necessary changes.

After that, then the workload can start to pick up.

Thanks Alex, I appreciate the feedback. I think the root cause was that my seat was almost an inch too low.