Re: 16 weeks shaky to say the least

Actually my fitness is pretty good and I came back to ride the indoor trainer to get some kind of work out. I could not pedal in a efficient manner to get anywhere near tired or winded. I did think about using the pedals inside to get better but it is still not the same. My problem is my cardio is is good and efficient. Also I add doing weight work with my arms. I doing curls and bench press and lift out with 8 pound weights.
I needed to do that to get my right arm and shoulder strengthen up after broken collarbone. Right now I am stronger in the arms than per-accident. I was doing therapy for my right hand after the metacarpal pinning surgery. I was released and my grip strength was 95 pounds in left hand and 90 in the right. The therapist thought I probably would get even stronger. The normal grip strength of a 63 year old is from 70-100 pounds so I am at the higher end at least.
As as working jazz guitarist and luthier my hands are pretty strong and grip on fretting hand. I went from not being able to open a twist top beer bottle after pins removed to twisting it off with no trouble in about 3 weeks.
My issue is the foraminal stenosis but not going to do anything with that like surgery or far as long as I can do other stuff. Back surgery is at best hit and miss. They found the foraminal stenosis on MRI 11 years ago so I am sure it is worse. I don't want to know. They told me then my running days were maybe over but I keep at it for 6 more years. My family dr said he did not think it would keep me from running then and he was correct. However at 63 I have to be careful now.
As a kid we fall and simple get back up and take off. At 20 we fall and get up and shake it off a bit and continue. At 40 we take it easy getting up and then take some time off to heal up. At 63 we hope we are able to get back up and function at some point in the future
Deacon Mark
On 9/10/2024 3:00 PM, Zen Cycle wrote:

On 9/10/2024 12:42 PM, Mark J cleary wrote:

Ok had the big crash 05/20/24 (other thread explains.) Broken collarbone, hand, and great trochanter too. The great trochanter was not found in original x ray only a month ago. Not displaced but hurts in some positions. I have been riding indoor train pretty much with maybe 4 weeks off during parts of recovery. I ride usually 25-35 miles inside. Use my regular clipless pedals.
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Today first ride outside in 16 weeks I have some sciatica in my right leg, the one with broken trochanter. Stopping and simply standing on the leg and unclipping had me worried. My leg can give out in certain positions so very cautious. I bought some flat pedals with spikes thinking that would be easier to deal with. However, today I did a 25-mile ride out in the country stay away from anything potentially problematic. Well now I cannot ride in flat pedals I was completely off. Could not get a groove going because my shoe keeps hitting the cranks at various points and sometimes, I overpower pushing down and simply cannot pedal smoothly at all or least for very long.
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My first question is if anyone else has ever done this going back to flat pedals and cannot use them well? Second question is I think the trochanter is not so bad of a problem. but the sciatic nerve touchy so feel unbalance stopping to dismount. My sciatic nerve does not hurt so much at all but just the tingling on the outside of leg going down to foot. Does not go numb and my back does not hurt. Anyone deal with this issue?
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  It seems to me that it might be wiser at this point to put the flat pedals on the indoor bike and practice your pedaling technique. When you can use them comfortably indoors, put them on your outdoor bike and take it for short rides to better fine-tune. FWIW - 25 miles was probably a bit ambitious to start off with. No matter what anyone tells you, riding outside _is_ different - you're engaging significantly more core and stability muscles keeping the bike upright than when it's locked into a trainer. The added muscular engagement can reveal problems you don't have indoors.
 I'd also suggest consulting at least an exercise physiologist about the tingling. As you noted in your reply to Andrew, it could be any number of things, but experiencing a nerve sensation could be an indication from anything as simple as a pulled muscle that hasn't healed to a microfracture in a vertebrae that was missed in any of the various scans. Performing a repetitive motion when it happens can lead to serious other issues from over compensation of non-injured skeletal-muscular structures, worst-case leading to possible permanent injury in those areas as well.
 

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Deacon Mark