In the sport of cycling consistency is key however, we all experience periods of detraining. Sometimes it’s by choice, such as at the end of the season or after a big race, but sometimes work, illness, vacations or other responsibilities take us off the bike despite out best efforts. This spring, I experienced my longest period of unintentional detraining since I started riding bikes consistently in 2022. It began with a couple of back-to-back colds in March, followed by two GI bugs in April. During that time, my daughter also fell ill with the same GI bug resulting in dehydration. She also dealt with an ear infection and a separate episode of fever of unknown origin, which led to a trip to the ER and a pneumonia diagnosis. My husband also got hit with the dreaded stomach bug and missed Barry- Roubaix! All that to say, that for six weeks, there was very little cycling going on in the Hagerman household. Then, when everyone was finally on the mend, it was time for a planned vacation to Europe. Now, I’m not complaining about that. I’m just saying it was another two weeks off the bike. Unless you count a very wild e-bike ride through the streets of Portugal!
So, for the last four weeks I have been crawling my way out of the misery that is unintentional detraining. This is what I’ve learned:
1. Being detrained is tough. Its so demoralizing to struggle on trails, group rides or a hill climbs that you used to crush. I know it sounds lame but you have to give yourself grace. Don’t expect to be right back to where you were before detraining. It feels terrible now, but it WILL feel better; it just takes time.
2. Start small and build. For me, this looked like what I would consider moderate-length rides at slow speeds. I used this time to really focus on skills such as cornering and body bike separation. Focusing on correct body placements and mechanics gave me something else to think about other than my elevated rate of perceived exertion.
3. Ride with friends. Being able to socialize while riding made those miserable miles so much more fun. Eventually when I was ready to push the pace, I reached out to riders who I knew were faster than me and would inspire me to ride harder.
4. Mix it up! Hitting unfamiliar trails and routes allowed me to let go of those expectations I had for myself on trails I knew well. I wasn’t concerned about my PR on this hill or that trail because it was all new to me. I would just let myself think,” maybe everyone feels terrible on that climb” and let it go.
5. Celebrate the little things. It took about two weeks of consistently riding to feel that mountain bike flow again, three weeks to start doing longer rides and four weeks to feel strong on climbs again. Every time I realized I had made some improvement I made sure to recognize it and be proud of myself.
I’m still not where I would like to be this far into the season. My last two races didn’t feel the way I wanted them to, and I still have moments where I’m frustrated with myself and my progress. That being said, there are frequent moments that inspire me to keep pushing forward. Just the other day, I was riding a gravel route that I ride all the time near my house. As I pedaled slowly up a particularly steep hill two ladies on bikes came flying over the top from the other direction, huge grins on their faces as they used that momentum to bomb the rugged downhill. Like me, they had to climb a steep long hill to get to the top. Unlike me, they were crushing it and now had a ton of speed and were going to have one hell of a downhill. I couldn’t help but smile and let out a whoop. I know how hard it is to get that much speed going up that hill because that’s how I used to ride it at the end of last year. It was the look of pure joy on their faces that gave me the encouragement I needed to push up that hill and finish the ride. I know that if I can keep moving forward and keep showing up, I can get back that feeling of sailing over the hill.
Thank you to our 2024 Iceman Ambassador Meg Hagerman @hagermanm