Matt Page blog: Recovering from Mayhem
In the few weeks that have passed since Mountain Mayhem I have been feeling every emotion possible. Immediately after and the following day I was feeling on top of the world. I wasn’t tired and managed to get out on the bike for a 15 minute spin just to check everything was OK. Amazingly I had no aches or pains at all, not even when sitting on the saddle again! The dhb Knowle shorts and Udderly Smooth chamois cream certainly worked its magic. The realisation of achieving the biggest win of my career was only starting to sink in.
Tuesday came round and the fatigue was starting to kick in, although I got through the day OK the tiredness was creeping up on me. I didn’t ride Tuesday or Wednesday as by then I was feeling pretty awful! Extremely tired and lacking the motivation to do anything except sleep and eat! It is hard to explain to someone who hasn’t done a 24hr solo race just how bad things feel in the days and weeks afterwards. On Thursday I went out on the Mountain bike, but had a nightmare of a ride ending in a puncture and a walk home which really didn’t help the motivation. My run of good luck seemed to have ended!
One of the questions I have been asked most often since Mayhem is “How do you recover, and how often do you ride afterwards?” Well it is a hard question to answer, as I simply ride when I feel like it and don’t get myself down if I don’t ride for days at a time. The 2 weeks after for me are always unplanned. I don’t do any hard sessions and any rides I do are for enjoyment and not training. After a week of recovering I was starting to feel more like myself and the rides were becoming more frequent and I was even starting to feel quite strong on the bike. I wasn’t expecting to feel that powerful for at least another 1-2 weeks, hopefully this is a good sign that I am recovering quicker than I have done in the past where, as after SITS I didn’t feel 100% for 6 weeks!
The period of ups and downs continued throughout the week as after feeling good for a few days I was tired again and decided to stay off the bike again because I simply didn’t want to ride the bike. This all changed this weekend though, as some of the guys from Wiggle came down for some riding at Brechfa forest where I live.
We had a great weekend riding the red, blue and black trails and the weather even held out for the majority of the time! It was a great to have the guys down and share the wonderful trails with. I am now back in training mode to prepare for the Bontrager Twentyfour12, which is less than 3 weeks away. I’ll be putting in 2 weeks of hard training and then an easier week to rest myself before the race. Given the time it took me to recover from SITS last year I am more than a little worried that I won’t be 100% to do another 24hr solo race within such a short period of time.
This Sunday I have entered the Devils ride sportive, a tough 100+ mile route over the roads that I am familiar with. It will be a great test of my recovery and endurance and will be the only fairly long ride I’ll be doing before Twentyfour12.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Your emotional roller coaster after Mountain Mayhem sounds very familiar as I went through the same turmoil after a recent 24 hour event. I was advised to go swimming the following day, then again a few days later. For me this really loosened up the joints again and helped me feel fresh. The sheer tiredness hit me on the Tuesday following the Friday night/Saturday ride, fortunately I had booked the day off work.
One of the best forms of recovery, especially after a solo event, is to get out for a ride with your mates. The ride will be less strenuous and far more enjoyable than racing, reminding you of the fun that can be had on the bike. Having another goal to aim for a few weeks later will help to ease you back into the training pattern.
Keep your blog going – it’s a great read.
July 10th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Thanks Richard and congratulations on your SDD time!