Journal of professional cyclists Ian MacGregor and Timmy Duggan

Recovery Update

The last couple weeks have been a bit of an experiment.  I arrived in Colorado from Europe last month with a solid 2 1/2 weeks of EZ riding in Girona under my belt.  With I little “base” I started to up the training intensity a notch or 2 for a good block.  Initially things were good, I did moderately hard 5-10 minute intervals on my time trial bike and even went at maximum heart rate at a couple points to see how I would react.  Even at above 190 I felt fine with no dizziness or anything like that.  I did a few solid rides in the mountains with some shallow climbing.  And this week I’m really paying for it all, unfortunately. I’m really just knocked flat all day.  I just woke up from a 4 hour afternoon nap and I havent done anything all week except take a hunting certification class. (Im proud to announce I passed the test with a 100% and shot the elk target right through the heart on the first shot in the firing range.  So this fall Ian will have another hunting partner.)  I realize that my recovery is just not up to a normal level yet.  Doing just a third of what I would normally do in training just wipes me out after a few days.  I feel like my teammates who just finished the Tour.  I basically took this whole week off to recover, either doing a short EZ ride or not at all.  Fatigue can be a common side effect of traumatic brain injuries even months after the injury.  I have to maybe give my injury a little more credit and seriousness.  Although I handled training well initially, repeated efforts at a harder intensity render me unable to recover normally for now. With brain injury recovery, its one thing to have a normal every day life and have it not affect your work, sleep, social activities, etc. anymore.  But in cycling I am working with the top few percent of my capacity.  Although I may be fine in my every day life, that few percent I am still missing comes out in my recovery ability.  But its all ok because now I know and I can back it off.  I also realize that I have to be realistic with the rest of my season.  I wanted to make a solid run at the National Time Trial Championship but it will be tough for me to be at a high level by then.  I will at least race just to get the sensations back again!  But for now I have to really take it day by day and focus on my recovery.  I will spread out harder rides and take as long as I need to recover from them.  It may not be as fast as I would like, but my recovery is happening and I have to take it slow.  I am also continuing to work with a psychologist and even a hypnotist for some other lingering issues.In a few days I will be down at Craig Hospital for another MRI scan and doctor update, so ill let you all know what they say.  Thanks for your support