Weightless

Back to training today.

On the trainer again this morning. Today's movie choice for the Kickr was Gangs of New York, which is a movie I have been meaning to watch for a while. It is also an epically long movie, so I only got part way through it. Not a problem though since I will be back on the trainer on Thursday so I can finish it off then. Lucky. Enjoying it so far. DiCaprio is dreamy as always.

On the Kickr this morning I had an unfortunate but unavoidable reduction in power. I could have pushed harder but it would have put my heart rate through the roof, which isn't really the point of the session. Instead I kept the power level down and the heart rate under control. Part of lower power might be a bit of tiredness from not enough sleep, however, I suspect it is also a symptom of my body losing a bit of fitness. Not unexpected, I am still training, but nowhere near what I had been. I am also fairly certain that the reduction in power that I have seen on the Kickr over the last few weeks is at least partly because my body is still healing. I would be interested to know how much of a person's energy is expended on recovering after a major injury or surgery. I might have to Google that...

This afternoon's session will be the interesting one. This afternoon will be my return to running. Well sort of anyway. Actually it will be my return to the Alter-G treadmill. Previously I have used the Alter-G to assist with speed work. Today though it will be all about rehab, taking advantage of the Alter-Gs ability to reduce the impact of running. Start doing some work whilst protecting the shoulder. That is the plan anyway. Even with the Alter-G the intent of the session is to keep it very low intensity, more than walking, but not a lot. I may wear my sling too, just to give my shoulder some support, but I will play that bit by ear.

I am very keen to see how it goes. Whether it even works, or whether this is a step too far, too early. Fingers crossed for working. This will be a big step towards returning to racing if it works.

Plus the Alter-G will be set to reduce my body weight by 30%, effectively bringing me down to 52.5kg. I am really looking forward to seeing what running at such a reduced weight even feels like.

This session, combined with a 'swim' in the morning, are going to give me a good insight into how the next few weeks are going to go in terms of training.