5 lessons I have learnt from 5 months away from racing

From Injury to World Cup podium. 

I am a person that can't switch off from training, I am well known for overtraining and the thought of having a day off even if I poorly made me stressed. My mum used to say, "One day you will get an injury and when you do you will be a nightmare!" 

My mum was right about me getting an injury in my career, but I just thought I was pretty much invincible, oh how wrong I was!

On 14th December 2018, my knee dislocated whilst I was receiving a sports massage while training in Girona. At the time I was mid-way through my cyclo-cross season and didn't realise how long this would take to recover from. 

After a busy Christmas of getting second opinions, I met a London surgeon who told me straight that if i didn’t get surgery I would ruin my career, Iinstantly trusted him and soon after received my surgery date, Tuesday 8th January 2019. I headed up to London with my mum, I was actually super excited. I had been struggling to walk, thinking all of the time that my knee would again dislocate. So, I thought we would have a nice night away and then go exploring in London after surgery. Mum laughed.

The morning after my surgery, I awoke covered in blood, the needle from the drip had been stabbing me all night, my leg didn't even feel connected to my body as it was so painful. 

I was discharged from hospital and hobbled on my crushes to the nearest cafe, we ordered coffee and before it had arrived my leg began to throb. 

Lesson number 1 learnt, my Mum really does know best. We left the shopping and headed home. 

Rest, Ice, Elevation and compression were the instructions I was given when I left the hospital. All three of these became my new training routine, instead of hours on the bike I was spending hours on the ice machine, in compression tights and keeping hydrated with lots of water. Rest is what I really struggle with. The night I arrived home I was in the kitchen trying to make dinner, a couple of days after the surgery I was in the gym (still on my crutches) I would pull my bad leg up onto the crutch and use the leg machine on the right leg, I even brought a plant pot mover so I could go on the rowing machine, the physio said I would slip a disc so this turned into my water bottles mode of transport. The problem here was by overdoing it the swelling would get worse and it turned into many sleepless nights with a very painful leg. I continued with yo-yo of overdoing it and then getting frustrated.

Lesson number 2 rest was really best and I eventually limited myself to the amount of time I spent walking around.

Overtraining was always paired with under fuelling for me. It wasn't until I took a step back that I realise was I was doing. I always thought I was super healthy, but I remember going on holiday mid-season, eating nothing but salads coming back and losing a lot of weight but naively all of the weight was muscle. I knew that this couldn't happen during my rehab. My main training goal when I was injured was to get my period back and to grow muscle in the injured leg, both of which required fuelling my body properly with all the different nutrients. I started introducing fat back into my diet and for the first time in years, I enjoyed the cake on my birthday. Five months on from surgery I am enjoying all different types of food and I no longer have "good and bad" food groups. I enjoy a slice of cake when we are at a party and my sister and I have hot chocolate every night before bed. I have gained muscle and stayed at the same fat percentage.

Lesson 3, under fuelling and overtraining is a disaster waiting to happen, life is very short not to eat your Grandparents cake! Everything in moderation.

( This is one of the beautiful cakes my cousin makes !)

Nothing makes me happier than my cycling bubble, eating, training and resting. If one little thing would get in the way of my bubble it felt l like I had wasted the whole weeks training. Without realising this had cut out friends out my life and doing the things I love doing. 

I thought that seeing friends in the evening would impact my sleep or nutrition and meeting up in the day would always impact on my rides, making them feel rushed. So, I stopped seeing my friends. My aim in cycling has always been to be happy, without realising I had lost sight of this. When my bike was taken away from me during my rehab, I didn't have much else in my life apart from cycling, which I always said I didn't want to happen. So, I made time to see my friends during the week. The only rule was no excuses were allowed. I started to see friends for coffee and meals, some which I hadn't seen for a couple of years. I began to rebuild old friendships, this gave me happiness and a huge smile.

When I started riding again I cycled with friends and family, this was something that I had stopped doing because I felt it would alter my training. I worried it would have an effect on my performance. I can confidently say my training has never gone so well. I was even back riding with my Dad, just like old times, this made me feel so happy.

Lesson 4 friends and family are so important they will be there through the highs and the lows, but the bike won't be! 

A happy cyclist is a fast cyclist.

My 5th and final lesson I learnt is appreciation. Sometimes you have to lose someone or the ability to do something to realise how important it is to appreciate the small things every day. 

I have won medals at World Championships and not been happy with my self, but during my rehab, I realised I would do anything just to get to the start line of a any race. So now when I am called to the pens, I appreciate how lucky I am to be there, it makes me enjoy racing 100x times more than before when the pressure was focused solely on winning, rather than embracing that day no matter the outcome. Appreciation also links into me taking the time to embrace all these amazing places I travel, making the most of exploring or meeting my family so that if my race doesn't go as well, I have still had a wonderful week in a great location, apposed to of been in my bed all week resting in hibernation only focused on my result.