5 Months Since Surgery

I made one more step in the right direction. I was able to complete all 8 passes at the Alta Alpina Challenge. The good news is that I finished. The bad news is that I didn't feel like I was riding my best that day. Last year I had the dreaded DNF at the actual Alta Alpina event, but ended up finishing all 8 passes on a solo ride two weeks later (more details here) in 14 hours and 14 minutes. This year I finished about an hour slower (Strava links 1 and 2).

I felt good early, then started to fade a little bit on Carson and Blue Lakes. However, I managed to get a second wind at lunch time without really taking too long of a break. As usual, my plan was to take it easy on Ebbetts to save some energy for Monitor. I was able to do that, especially on the west side of Ebbetts. However, when I got to the top of Ebbetts I was having breathing issues. This has become a pattern for me, unfortunately. It's happened to me twice at DMD and twice now at the AAC. I get short of breath when I stop to fill up my bottles. I'm not sure how to describe it. I don't think it's exercise-induced asthma because I don't feel any tightness in my chest or anything like that. I feel like I'm breathing hard like I would if I were actually pedaling. You might expect this after a tough climb, but only for a matter of seconds, not minutes. I can just sit there for a long time and I'll still be breathing hard for no reason. That makes it difficult to eat/drink, and more importantly I think I let my mind run away with it a little too much. I've quit rides because of it before and quitting seems like the only option. But maybe this AAC was a breakthrough. I sat at the top of Ebbetts for about 30 minutes, thinking I'd just muster up enough energy to ride straight back to the start. If I wasn't going to finish the ride, why not sit there for as long as I wanted? Well, it turns out that my breathing eventually got back to normal and I was able to finish the ride. If this happens again (hopefully it won't), I'll have more confidence that it will pass.

I may have finished the ride, but I wasn't exactly setting the roads on fire. I was in my easiest gear, struggling. Part of it was because my legs were dead and part of it was because I was afraid to push too hard and suffer another breathing problem. I took longer than normal rest stops on the Monitor climbs, but nothing too unreasonable. Once the final Monitor descent was over and I knew I was going to finish, I decided to make a little effort on that last little hill before the finish. It actually felt pretty good.

You may have noticed that I didn't mention my hip at all. It wasn't really an issue. I feel like I underperformed, but the hip was no excuse. I did 10 repeats of Geiger Grade 2 weeks ago (more on that later), and after that ride I decided that I am no longer defined as a guy with a bad hip. I'm just a rider like everybody else out there. It may sound small, but that was a big breakthrough for me. I was being too much of a drama queen about it. We all have our issues, right? I'm no different.

Again, this happened for me sooner on the bike than it did off the bike. A week later I went camping with my wife and we were playing in a river with our dog. I didn't feel much like playing in the river. My balance isn't what it used to be and what if I fell down on my bad side? Well, my wife called me out on that. I thought about it and realized she was right. I was letting my hip hold me back. I was using it as an excuse. I got in the river and guess what? Everything was fine.

What's the next goal? Everesting. I did Geiger x 10 (Strava 1 and 2) 2 weeks ago. I managed to do that in just under 12 hours. I'd need to do a total of 14 repeats to hit the magical 29,029 mark. In total it would be 221 miles and ~30,000 feet. I was pretty happy with my performance on the 10 repeats, but I know adding 4 more is a whole new ballgame. Nevertheless, I want to give it a try. I don't have a specific date in mind. My original plan was to do the AAC and then try Everesting two weeks later. I'm going to be a wimp and look at the wind forecasts, though. If we're having one of those 15-25mph wind days, I'm going to change my plans. I'm all about accepting the mental challenge of a windy day, but not for a ride like that.

First things first, though. I need to make sure I recover well from the AAC. My hip was a little bit sore afterwards, to be completely honest. But hey, so was the rest of my body. Today is my 2nd day completely off the bike, then I'll do a super easy 10 miles or so tomorrow and see how I feel on Wednesday. I don't have any plans for this weekend. It all depends on how I'm feeling.

4 Months Since Surgery

June 4th was the 4-month anniversary of the surgery on my broken hip. Life isn't "normal" yet, but it's close.

My limp is much better. I still limp a little bit, but it's not as obvious and I'm not as self-conscious about it. I think it's one of those things that just takes time. As my leg gets stronger, the limp decreases. I have better balance on my bad leg, I can lift heavier weights, and I can use a tighter resistance band. I can do lunges now, which I couldn't do a month ago. My flexibility is very close to where it was before the injury. I still have progress to make. I don't climb stairs well. The lunges still hurt and my form isn't perfect. My left leg is still much weaker than the right except for maybe my calves. I'm getting there, but I'm not there yet.

I'm a little more patient now. At first I was so worried and I felt like some of my pain was a sign that something was going horribly wrong. I didn't have any trust in my recovery and I hated the idea that there was a foreign object in my body. Now I've seen progress and I've felt the pain decrease over time. I feel like a little pain here and there is normal. I'm still not crazy about the foreign object in my body, but I'm learning to accept it. I'm mostly pain-free. I still get pain when I sleep. If I've been sitting around too long, those first few steps after I get up hurt a little bit.

What about the bike? I did my first century on May 3rd and I've been doing one a week since then. It wasn't a goal of mine to go back to doing a century per week right away, but I've felt good and the weather's been nice, so I couldn't resist. Because things are going so well, I've made it an official goal to complete all 8 passes at the Alta Alpina Challenge on June 28th.. With that in mind, I did back-to-back centuries on the 24th and 25th. I did 120 miles on the 30th and will work my way up to 150.

I'm not as fast as I used to be (which wasn't fast to begin with), especially on the climbs. I'm not sure how much of that is my weak left leg and how much of that is just being out of shape. I'm not too worried about it at the moment. It may sound corny, but as long as I'm out there pushing myself and making progress from week to week, I'm happy.

I'm still lacking confidence in my bike handling abilities. I take it super slow through the corners and I'm extra cautious on the descents. I'm wearing the hell out of my brake pads. I had a moment on the Mt. Rose descent one week where I freaked out and my hands started shaking enough to make my bike wobble from side to side. I had to pull over and compose myself. I'm not even sure what caused it. I wasn't really going all that fast. I was just worrying about crashing. Overall, though, I am getting more comfortable. I did both sides of Monitor and Ebbetts and I never felt scared. I kept my speed in check, but I was never uncomfortable. I think this is another thing that will come with time. I do the Geiger descent a lot and I know it very well, so I just let myself go a little bit faster each time. I have my ups and downs, but overall I'm getting better.

Physically, my body feels fine. My hip doesn't bother me when I'm riding. A month ago I could still feel some pain when I was out of the saddle climbing. That's pretty much gone now. As long as the hip itself doesn't hurt, I feel justified in riding as much as I want. (The off-bike workouts I've been doing give me more hip soreness than riding does.) I did over 1,000 miles in May. A lot of it wasn't high intensity, but it's still a positive sign.

As a whole, I feel like there are two sides to my recovery: the bike side and the off-bike side. Recovery has come much faster and easier for me on the bike versus off the bike. However, the gains I make on the bike give me the confidence that gains will come off the bike in due time. I just need to keep doing my exercises, keep stretching, and give it time.