It’s a little under a month to go until the start of the Trans Pyrenees race, a reportedly 1700km (but closer to 2000km in reality) road ultra through the mountains of France and Spain.
The total distance, and thousands of metres climbed, will vary from rider to rider due to the self-routing that takes us from Saint-Jean-de-Luz on the west coast of France to Palafrugell on the coastline of the Costa Brava in Spain, before we turn to pedal back on a mostly fixed parkour along the route of Le Raid Pyrénéen Randonneur.
For those who want to read more about the race, then they can certainly explain it better than I can: https://transpyrenees.cc/
Much like the climbing profile of this race, my season has been a series of ups and downs, but I’m hoping to round things off with a summit finish in my final competitive event of the year.
To fill in some gaps in the storyline of the last few months, I scratched from Highland Trail 550 at the end of May due to a knee injury sustained during the second day of riding. I had strained both my MCL and ACL, and torn the vastus lateralis muscle in my quad. This put an abrupt end to my race, and halted riding plans until rehab and recovery were complete.
It took me over two months to find my way back to a start-line, through physio, rest, and then the gradual rebuilding of some sort of fitness. I was nowhere near top shape, but I was happy with the progress I’d been able to make.
I then began my biggest off-road ultra of the summer, the 2000km Great British Divide, and all was going well until my knee began to give out on the third day of racing. Pain increased, performance dropped, and once soft pedalling became excruciating I knew it was over. Queue MCL injury number two of the year, a re-aggravation of the damage from May, and another tear of the vastus lateralis.
At the time this felt like a season ending injury, and psychologically at least I was ready to hang up the wheels for a while. I had been careful in my first comeback, and all indications were that I was completely recovered, but that ultimately wasn’t the case. You can’t simulate being days deep in an incredibly hard ultra, over rough terrain and through storms, but I hadn’t had any doubt that I was ready to return to racing.
This made it an even bigger blow when I was proved wrong.
Fast forward a few weeks though, and my mentality has completely flipped. I’m motivated to train hard, if cautiously, and I just want to ride my bike a really long way again. No feeling is final, something I’m reminded of time and time again.
After some rest, my return to the bike has been easier than it was the first time around in every sense. For those after a little insight into a return to training after injury; slow and steady is always the way to go.
I began by taking a couple of weeks completely off the bike, only doing daily stretching and mobility. I went to the physio during this time, and for sports massage.
Once I was cleared to ride again, the easy build-up began. Hour long spins, pain free, before two hours, three hours, and now a little longer. No big efforts, but a gradual return to some tempo work. I’ve also mixed in gym sessions for some more controlled and measurable strength building. I’ve focused on some more targeted exercises than I usually would, and have incorporated single leg work to eliminate any compensation with my good leg, and even the power out again.
Functionality of the injured area is more important than fitness where a comeback is concerned; putting the time into rehab exercises and mobility off the bike is as important as the work on it. As tempting as it can be to speed things up when it seems like everything is going in the right direction, it’s better to take consistent small steps forward, than a giant leap followed by a crash back to the beginning of the process.
I’m already pedalling almost completely pain free, and I (and the professionals) don’t believe any more damage will be done by giving it a go. That said, as with anything in life adaptability is key. My original plan of heading into Trans Pyrenees with the aim of fighting for the win is well and truly out of the window, but completing this ultra within the strict time limit is obstacle enough! I’m confident that I will be on the start-line, and I’m confident that it will be an incredible experience no matter what form it takes, and everything else will reveal itself on the road.
With only 8 days to cover the full distance, and some very tight checkpoint cut-offs thrown in the mix along the route, I have pivoted my approach to taking things (a little) slower and giving myself a fighting chance of getting through this adventure in one piece.
As a very wise friend of mine said last week “If you’re going there to race then I would advise you to stay home. This is the time to look after yourself, bigger things will come.”
With that, it’s time for a bike ride. I’ll be blogging my way through the build-up over the next few weeks, so watch this space for some behind the scenes ultra prep content!
Molly Weaver
@mollyweaver94