Old 10-13-15 | 02:05 PM
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yankeefan
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Joined: Oct 2014
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From: NYC

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Coping with injuries and setbacks, how do you do it?

What's up 41?

I haven't posted in a while because I've had a lot of setbacks fitness wise and it's starting to affect my mental health. I'm male, 22 and a grad student and last summer I finally learned how to ride a bike. Ironically, both my father and older brother have been amateur racers for decades years but for complicated reasons I never learned to ride as a child. I used to a super clyde (BMI was damn near 40 at one point) but a couple years ago I developed a fitness obsession and lost a ~100 pounds hitting the gym and running; since then fitness/outdoor activities has always been an important part of my life. When I learned to ride a bike last summer it was love at first ride and I quickly accumulated some serious mileage in part due to my previous cardiovascular conditioning as a runner.

The past couple of months have been exceptionally challenging for me as I had a very demanding summer internship that left little time for long summer rides, so I switched back to running due to the fact that I can get a good workout in a fraction of the time it would take while cycling. Unfortunately, having not ran for a long time (I prefer riding) my form was really bad and I repeatedly pick up niggling injuries in my hamstring and metatarsals. I made the classic runners mistake of trying to do too much too soon, assuming I could just naturally pick up the mileage after an extended break from the sport. To make matters worse, I was briefly hospitalized towards the end of the summer for an unrelated illness, and the recovery also interrupted my training regimen. Finally, summer ended and I took my earnings from the internship (as well as some cash from selling a couple of my organs) and got the vector 2S power meter in addition to Hunter Allen's book. I was determined to rebuild my fitness and up my game for next season--only to break my leg a less than a month later while skateboarding. I'm 3 weeks into a 6-8 weeks recovery and lying in bed all day, not being outdoors and doing what I love is absolutely driving me crazy. I've gained a lot of weight due to emotional/boredom eating and I can't stop thinking about how much my fitness is deteriorating given how much work I did during last winter/spring dropping a lot of pounds and "base training" dreaming of finally doing a century during the summer. I feel like a wreck and I'd really love your input on coping strategies to help me get through the recovery. I really hate not being on the bike and the sight of it as well as my unused power meter is almost enough to bring me to tears.
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