I sliced my toe last year, 6 weeks out. I sat around sulking drinking and eating crap. Put on LOADs of weight. Really was a bad idea. Wonder know if I looked after myself better I would have recovered quicker.

Fitness starts to properly fall away after about 2 weeks. I have found though that it comes back quicker than it was first time.

Personally, I think the key is to find ways to remain mentally engaged. Might be a good time to breakdown and clean your bikes, or other maintenance tasks you might often defer. Try to keep the passion and drive alive.

Another thing not to forget is if you have a SO or similar it's a good time to spend more time together.

What you wrote is my experience so far in 2018. I had a foot injury in December that required surgery early January. I was able to bike and swim some during the injury and later recover periods. Then came a couple business trips and a vacation. So, I had very little to no training in 2018 until I resumed about four weeks ago. My bike power is probably more than 20 W lower, my swim is 5 sec/100yd slower, and my run is well over 1 min/mile slower. My first race, Gulf Coast 70.3, is in 2 weeks. I am training to survive well. I am looking forward to good performance again in the fall. I do not know yet how long it takes to regain fitness after over two months off, but I suspect it is at least 6 weeks to get back to where I was in December.

I gained at least 2kg and I quit looking at Strava too.

Are you able to do some lower body work? Leg press or the one where you push your legs up into the pillow on the machine, just to maintain some action for your muscles?
Can you walk? Just take a walk to keep the body going.

I have been out for 6 months with a concussion, and also gained loads of kg, i would advise however hard it is to limit the amount of candy etc that you eat, or you will regret having to get rid of it again once you are ready.

When I broke 4 ribs a couple of years ago just 9 weeks before a target Ironman I got a call from a former pro/friend who said 1) don't gain weight - between depression and inactivity the tendency is to gain weight . . . just don't do it! 2) your base of fitness will allow you to come back so don't worry. You can read about my little story here: Pavement to Podium

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

PS - I started walking in the pool the day after the injury. I got to be good friends with the old ladies in the shallow end. It got me up and kept me moving!

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

Thanks for the good advice. And it's a good message from the blog - it's just another challenge to overcome.

Fortunately I don't drink so i can't slide too far back, but another week or 2 max and then i'm getting back on the trainer - no matter what!

This is a great time to get things done. Just try and look at it differently. It's not ideal but you can make the best of your time. Take it as a good time to get task done that are usually ignored for training. Make a bunch of healthy dishes and freeze them. Catch up on your reading. Once it gets a little easier to move or if you already can work on transition. Making the best of your time will help quite a bit.

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

Had a more serious injury of sorts that kept me out for several years. It was really frustrating and its really easy to question your worth when its going on. Find something else to occupy your time and try not to spend too much time on stuff related to your sport because for me it made it worse, just because I couldn't do it.

I badly bruised/cracked a rib last month doing some house work (so the wife has been put on notice that house work is dangerous to my health and I will be avoiding it for the rest of season) and it is not the first time I broke a rib .

It depends on where you broke the ribs and how many were injured but I would expect you to be back on the trainer very soon. Rib injuries have a tendency to get worse before they get better and from my experience the second or third weeks are the worst. I think inflammation helps minimize the acute pain at first and its only once the swelling starts to go down that things really kick off. However once they start healing you can push pretty hard and you will not be doing any damage by riding on the trainer.

One thing to keep in mind is that you will be sleeping like s*** unless you are amazing lucky as to how you sleep. This will impact your training and can significantly weaken your immune system. I speak from experience when I say getting a cold with broken ribs is a miserable experience so don't try to do much until you are sleeping normally.

The good news with ribs is that within reason you can start training again pretty much as soon as you can bear the pain. Have you tried a gentle indoor bike? I've cracked and bruised ribs on a few occasions, find I can normally get on the turbo within the first 2 weeks.

If you can't train then best advice is to try and keep the calories down, and use it as an opportunity to get plenty of sleep and catch up on all the work and social things (that don't involve overeating...). And try to stay mobile, whether that's walking, pool walking, whatever you can do to get the blood flowing a bit and your muscles and joints moving.

What I did - since I have intense ADHD and cannot sit still

(broken tibia twice, shattered hand into 7 pieces, broke growth plate in ankle, most my ribs, all my toes, all my fingers, separated shoulder, broken foot, ripped multiple muscles, etc)

If you can - go for walks. Walk on the treddy or get outside and just walk. Listen to music and walk. Sometimes I would go to the gym with a cast and just stretch or foam roll. It got me out around active people which made me not want to eat crap food and still had benefit.

I'm pretty much in the same boat. Broke/bruised ribs a week and a half ago. Three different area on one side are very sore. However I'm lucky that I could breathe without pain pretty quickly. Getting up in the morning is the worst thing, shifting position in bed at night the second worst thing. I've read a bunch on it in the past week and nearly all sources state that you can do whatever if you can bear the pain and that light exercise is good. So I've been walking either to or from work (2,5 mile walk) and I jumped on the trainer as soon as I thought I could (after 8 days). Light spinning, and it was bearable (sitting upright). I've been doing rides on the trainer 3 days in a row now and things are getting better (less painful). Running and swimming will still be out of another 1-2 weeks though I fear.
Haven't looked at a weightscale (out of fear) or much at Strava (jealousy). I have a half distance in 4 weeks and hope I can do that. Base condition was quite good, and it's a test race for full distance in august. So even if I won't be fast, it will be a good mental training opportunity in dealing with pain during a race, and training fueling during a race.

Buy more bikes.

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Strava

Have a beer. Sit back and relax.

That was what got me into this position in the first place - crashing and killing a 7 day old Supersix Evo! I had also just sold my other bike, I've now got a rental supersix (not hi-mod) from the insurance but i can't ride it. I'm waiting until the insurance pays out then i'll get a new one. I've spent so many hours looking at bikes, If it was porn i'd have gone blind by now.

Good advice about the walking. Except it's the UK so it's pissing with rain.

I reckon next week i'll be able to do easy rides on the trainer - how much value is an hour in Zone 1, other than 500 calories burned and the psychological well being?

and when i can train properly again is it going to be a case of ramping up slowly, rather than hitting climbs and sprints?

Broke my lateral malleolus at SwimRun Bay of Islands on the 15th. We managed to finish, but it really sucked. That was the end of the season for me and I was heading to the UK to see my parents, so 2 weeks off was happening one way or another (a few runs notwithstanding).

My coach has assigned daily core and mobility stuff for me to keep me ticking over, but not being able to run is really eating me. Hoping to get back to swimming with pull bouy as soon as I get home, and maybe indoor rowing until I can swim. First time I’ve had an injury like this, and it is not fun. Hope yours heals well and fast.

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1 easy hour on the trainer is better than 0 hours on the trainer I reckon. I've done a few days in a row on the trainer now and can go pretty hard as long as my upper body is still. So I'm not doing sprints, VO2Max sets or 1 leg drills, standing up drills. But I do do threshold rides, and longest ride so far 1h15m. Hoping to do a 2 hour one this weekend. It doesn't amount to much TSS though, biking with fresh fresh legs every day.
Not sure how it will go when starting training properly again. I imagine a short very easy run, possibly with walks every now and then when it gets really uncomfortable, and easy running the first week(s) before starting doing tempo runs and interval work. Swimming will be similar, initially short and easy.
Based in UK too, really bumped last week and weekend that I couldn't go play outside when there finally was some nice, sunny and warm weather!

it is WAY better than nothing.
i don't know your pain level, but training with broken ribs has certainly been done. put your TM at 15% and walk at a speed to get your hr around 140. land flat footed and do it a lot. get on the trainer asamfp.

Echo the sentiment that around 2 weeks you start to lose fitness.

If you are unable to do any training whatsoever, do like others suggested and invest in friends and family more. Avoid pity parties. Eat right and learn up on the sport to be even better when you get back after it.

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Ryan
http://www.SetThePaceTriathlon.com
http://www.TriathlonTrainingDaddy.com
I got plans - https://www.trainingpeaks.com/...dotcom#trainingplans

When I broke my ribs a few years ago my dogs daily walk went from 1 mile to about 3 miles. After about 3 weeks I was able to get back into light activity so the walks gradually reduced back down to a mile. Helped a lot to keep me sane.

Two years ago, I had shoulder reconstruction surgery. I spent the immediate rehab time researching potential changes to my training regimen and figuring out ways I could get back on an indoor trainer as quickly as possible. I ended up tossing the training changes (Planning under the influence of Oxy is not a good idea.) But I was back on the trainer in less than 5 weeks -- 5 months sooner than expected. The next week, I was on the bike riding slowly in a parking lot.

Then, a few weeks later, I had major knee surgery. More research of innovative training techniques. More binge watching "Cops." Back on the bike within 6 days after surgery.

I kept my weight in check and came back fairly quickly. How? I considered my decreased calorie intake to be, essentially, a revised training plan. And my rehab (4+ hours per day) was especially effective because I was already accustomed to the discipline of training. My multi-decade discipline of training was key to getting back in the game quickly.

Strava never had any relevance. Your not normal.

Going to tri that! Just checked at the gym here and they had a deal. A £1 membership from now to June 1st (usually £11.50 per session). So I'll be trying the threadmill uphill and also the climbing stairs machine this weekend. See if I can bear the pain. Might get some stronger legs! Thanks for the tip!

Pain don’t hurt. Being slow is excruciating.