spessx

How do I not lose fitness?

I could ride my trainer but I sweat like crazy and the doc says not to get the cast wet.

Any ideas?

-s

echappist

First things first, i hope you have a speedy recovery.

2nd thing, the trainer may have to be your best option. Trust me on this, it's a lot better to maintain at least a baseline aerobic fitness than to have it go away. Of course, your body may disagree and may want to concentrate on the healing portion, thus making you lose a bit of fitness anyway, but you won't lose nearly as much. As for cooling, i'd get one of those humongous fans to keep everything dry. Good luck!

TheKillerPenguin

Having gone through the same thing a few years ago, I will say that you can definitely still ride out on the road. The cast won't exactly smell....pleasant, but it really won't slow you down, and discomfort is minimal.

Just don't crash. That would be bad.

STP

I'd go back to the doctor and tell him I was going to ride and see if he can come up with a better cast/splint option for the time. They may have an option. Just tell him it's not negotiable. You're going to ride and he can either help you or he'll be left replacing the cast every time it's nasty.

Copperhed51

I know a junior who rode/raced with a cast on his wrist. HTFU

mattm

I don't think you'll lose that much in 6 weeks.. just stay active (up & walking around, maybe walk more than usual) at first, then towards the end I would start getting on the trainer to get the legs moving.

I was off the bike for about 10 weeks, and came back with less power than before, but I think that was due to some of the injury itself, not being off the bike. 6 weeks will be done before you know it - heal up!

saratoga

I rode MX with an external fixator attached to my broken ulna in a previous life (with fewer reponsibilities)

Look at it this way, that cast is going to stink by the time you've had it on for 6 weeks anyhow. Hit the trainer if you can.

echappist

Man, I wish this were true in my case. My LT power was tested to be 280W indoor a week before my injury. 2 weeks after the injury, I was back on my bike. I was so weak the first three months back that even after five months of training, my FTP was only 255. It's slowly going back up to my pre-crash form now.

It seems to me that different injuries will sap your strength differently. Hopefully your body can repair the wrist and maintain strength at the same time.

ericm979

Hit the trainer. Or get aero bars.

Which bone did you break?

Ygduf

On any trainer you're going to sweat like mad. Ask them if you can move to a removable splint after a few weeks. The few doctors I've ever talked with about injuries were willing to work with me within reason to facilitate lifestyle things.

Don't they have washable casts now? You'd think they would have come up with one of those.

mattm

I must admit that I've been weaker since back on the bike (all numbers are down 10-20%), I just don't think it was from being off the bike - it was from the injury itself.

In my case my left leg/ankle took a beating, as did the muscles in my back.

I mean if you had to take a 6 week vacation from riding, do you think you'd still lose 10-20% of your fitness? That just seems a bit much to me, I think it has more to do with the injury.

ericm979

Yes, I would. But I seem to need to train a lot and very consistently in order to be fit. I've seen other guys my age who can sit on the couch playing chess for weeks, be slow when they first show up to the group ride, then only a couple weeks later be much faster.

When I broke my wrist (navicular bone) I asked about a fiberglass cast and was told that plaster works better. I was in a cast for 12 weeks and it would have been longer but I told the doctor that if he put a third cast on I was going to go home and cut it off. The bone was about 2/3 healed (on the x-ray) so I was very careful and wore a wrist brace when off-road motorcycling (how I broke it in the first place).

Ygduf

Yeah, when I missed about 6 weeks in Dec/January due to some vacation/weather/ill conceived notions about becoming a runner I lost about 10% off the top. That's the hardest 10% to get back. My power numbers took about 2 months of regular riding to get anywhere near there again.

kleinboogie

According to my PM I lost 16% of my power after 2 weeks off. It took 2 weeks to get most of it back and another 4 weeks to actually make gains...but it hurt like hell. Felt like I was dragging an anchor. GL

EventServices

Nobody's mentioned it yet, so I will: watch your food intake starting now. Don't kid yourself. Every extra calorie you ingest now will delay your recovery to race fitness just that much more.

I like STP's answer in post #4, but if that fails then I'd start walking ... a LOT... briskly.
I'd like to hear a member who can explain the doctor's reasoning. Getting it wet? It doesn't seem to me that that's going to hurt the recovery. It sounds like the doctor doesn't want to deal with a yucky cast.

echappist

words of wisdom right there. First two week after my injury, i ate whatever i wanted and didn't gain weight (probably lost some muscle mass). Afterwards, it went up 5 lbs and didn't come off until i got serious about it.

bostongarden

Good luck!!!!

waterrockets 

I've had a couple 6-week-off injuries, and they really aren't that bad. Whether you need to take 6 "off" is questionable.

+1 I have several friends who have trained outdoors with a wrist cast. Just pick good courses (low traffic, few stops, and few bumps) and pay attention.

Be careful though. "Extra" calories may be tough to identify because it takes a poopload of energy to grow new bone. If you're actually hungry, keep this in mind. I broke my collar bone, added an extra lunch to my diet most days, and lost three lbs. I was growing a lot of bone though: this was a spiral fracture, so a lot of surface area to the break, and my collar bone is much thicker now than it was before the crash.