Or maybe I should title this “What’s your problem? Look at Tyler Hamilton!”

Back at the end of May I busted my left clavicle (collar bone). You can read about it here “Broken Clavicle”. It’s been almost 3 months and everything seems to be healed up fine. I have a nice little bump where the ends of the bone have fused together. The long portion never pulled itself back down and it now doesn’t align with the small end. Thus the bump.

Occasionally my shoulder gets sore or I get a slight jolt of pain. Playing volleyball, especially extending the hands and arms out and upward, will make it sore. On the bike, if I bunny-hop or pull up sharply on the bars it hurts a bit in my shoulder. Overall though, I feel good.

During my earlier visit to see Dr. Testa, he created a workout schedule for me. It’s purpose was to help me maintain my fitness and allow me to get back onto the bike and racing as soon as possible. The schedule was designed for use with a stationary trainer. He also instructed that I should raise the front wheel so that the strain on shoulder was reduced and that I should stop an exercise if any pain arose in my shoulder.

Here’s the schedule he gave me for use with my bike on a stationary trainer. It’s a three week plan and each day is broken into a morning and an evening workout. Having two workouts per day reduced the stress on the shoulder.

Recovery Training Program

Week 1

Days 1-3

morning: 15′ = easy spin
evening: 15′ = same as morning

Days 4-5

morning: 25′ = easy spin with high cadence (95+ rpm) for last 10′
evening: 25′ = same as morning

Days 6-7

morning: 30′ = alternating 5′ high cadence (95+ rpm) and HR (75%-83%) with 5′ lower cadence (85-90 rpm) and HR (<73%)
evening: 30′ = same as morning

Weeks 2 and 3

Day 1 (off)

Day 2

morning: 20′ = easy spin with high cadence (100) and HR (75%-78%)
evening: 30′ = 10′ warm-up, 5 x 2′ increasing resistance at 60 rpm and HR (<83%) with 2′ recovery

Day 3

morning: 30′ = 10′ easy spin HR (<70%), 10′ easy spin HR (75%-80%), 10′ easy spin HR (80%-88%)
evening: 45′ = 2 x 10′ and HR (75%-80%) with 5′ recovery, easy for last 20′

Day 4

morning: 45′ = 10′-15′ warm-up with cadence (90-95 rpm) and HR (<70%), 2 sets of raising HR (70%) up to HR (93%) with increases of ~2.5% Max HR (for me it’s 5 beats) every 2′
evening: 45′ = same as morning

Day 5

morning: 25′ = easy spin with last 10′ at 100 rpm and HR (75%-80%)
evening: 40′ = 10′ warm-up, 5 x 3′ increasing resistance at 55-60 rpm and 2′ recovery, 5′-10′ easy spin for cool down

Day 6

morning: 25′ = easy spin with last 10′ at 100 rpm and HR (75%-83%)
evening: 40′ = 10′-15′ warm-up, 3 x 10′-12′ at HR (80%-88%) and 4′ recovery

Day 7

morning: 25′ = easy spin with last 10′ at 100 rpm and HR (75%-83%)
evening: 45′ = 10′ warm-up, 30′ constant spin at HR (80%-85%), 5′ cool down

Fun! 🙂

I would also wear my sling during the workouts. I tried without it a couple of times but my shoulder muscles would start aching. I also found that sitting upright reduced the strain.

Soon after finishing this workout I headed out to Europe for a month long trip. The first portion of my trip was a bike camp in Spain. The training program above paid off and I was able to ride all of the routes and distances in the camp. Over the remaining portion of my trip I added many more miles and my shoulder started feeling better and better. Riding in the Pyrenees, watching the Tour de France live, and seeing Lance Armstrong kick butt were highlights.

Of course with Tyler Hamilton blasting the field with his broken collar bone I was getting no sympathy! But it also goes to show how quickly you may recover from this type of break.

Cheers!

More “Broken Collar Bone” Articles

Don’t miss reading the information and comments in the other collar bone entries:

Broken Clavicle (collar bone)
What To Expect From A Broken Clavicle (collar bone)
Chad’s Broken Collar Bone Report

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