I would like to make my eager contribution. Since about 6 months, I have been struggling with a hamstring injury, suffered during a strength training session in zwift.
270 watts with a cadence of 45 was just too heavy for my left leg. I wasn't short of breath but I felt something was wrong. I tried to cycle through it, because that's what real men do, right?
Worst idea ever.
Several visits to the physiotherapist and accompanying exercises made the pain disappear. I thought about doing exercises at the gym after that, specifically for legs to get stronger. That went smoothly until the day I decided to increase the weight drastically. 1 day after that heavier strength training, back to square one! Since then, I did regularly wonder, what if
@MartinL was still my coach? I could do it all myself, I thought. On the other hand, these kind of injuries can come sooner or later. I haven't done any stretching, until now.
I did get the hardest shock of what effect such an injury has. On your morale alone. I didn't stop there, though. I train twice a week in the gym, 1-2 times a week in calisthenics and every Sunday I cycle my mountain bike tour, with some longer easy endurance training on my lowracer in between. Now I just have to see that I don't get so wide that I don't fit in the Snoek anymore.
Oh yes, I still see a physiotherapist every week. I did see that by means of a scan one can see what is specifically going on, such as a muscle tear. This is on the agenda.
Here in Belgium, we also have competitions, where I used to play a meaningless role. This time thanks to the help of MartinL who set me on my way, I got stronger and faster. I can still remember when at 140 watts I couldn't read the newspaper, so to speak, after a while I could do it at 180 watts. Heavy interval blocks became a habit over time. With 3-4 training sessions a week, it is normal to get better, with the necessary rest/recovery of course.
Now, what I wanted to say about those races in Belgium: there are still people that I want to prove wrong. It turns out that an injury is slowing me down now, it is a huge disappointment. Because unlike before, the will to perform well is there. That's really annoying! Anyway, who knows, maybe the Snoek will soon be able to ensure that even with an injury you can come out with a win. It sounds a bit arrogant, but a place in the top three is quite achievable. I rode 44.1 km/h/217 watts average with my lowracer + injury (when I felt a bit better) on my training track a few months ago. I can only imagine the speed in the Snoek at that power level.
