ILTs Baby and They Burn



Too Tan To Be My Legs

It's happening.  Each week and almost each day I feel the leg getting stronger.  Less and less pain, little to no meds, sleeping soundly at night...it's all starting to come together.  But, I'm still a ways away from fully recovered.  I can't fully kneel on the ground, there is a tender spot on the outside, and the strength in that leg is only at 60%.  Many more miles to go before I am complete (Sleep).

I jumped on the trainer this week with a goal of adding in ILTs (Individual Leg Training) which I think is a key ingredient to building strong legs.  I've mentioned in past posting that this is a training tool I learned early on in my focused cycling training from Dr Arnie Baker.  He always put it in the context of lifting weights on the bike. 

Some may not know what this is so let me explain how this works. I would recommend trying it first on a stationary before testing it on the road.  You can get a bit off balance if you're not paying attention on the road.

Find a gear that seems pretty easy to medium when you have both legs pedaling.  You shouldn't be breathing hard.  Un-clip one of your feet and place it either on the back of the trainer where I find it easy to rest the toe of my shoe or on a short stool.  Continue to pedal with the other leg.

It may seem easy at first but usually about 30 seconds into this you'll start to feel a burn and maybe have a clunk in your stroke at the top of the rotation as you pull up.  That's OK because you are learning that you need to work on the pulling action of your pedaling.  If this is still too easy then shift to another gear.

I started with 1 minute and then shift to the other leg for a minute and then back for a total of 5 intervals.  Next week I'll add 2 minutes to each leg for 4 intervals.  The following week I'll add 3 minutes for 3 intervals.

I'll also mix in easier gear and faster rotation along with harder gearing and slower rotation as I progress.  Faster works on smoothing out your pedal stroke and the firing of hip flex er.  The slower method builds greater strength.  Can't you just feel that burn?

I also added in standing for 3 minutes, 2, 1 and 30 seconds.  Lastly I've put in 1 minute intervals X 3.  The beginning and end of the session is filled with warm up and down by spinning slowly and increasing the RPM every minute or 30 seconds.

While traveling this week I had called ahead to the hotel I was staying at in LA to see if they had a stationary bike and I was told yes.  When I got there and went to the fitness center it was true they had one but it wasn't working and hadn't, according to the receptionists, for over 6 months.  So I used the elliptical instead which wasn't too bad on the knee.  It's such a smooth motion and close to pedaling.  I added resistance and speed to an hour long session and walked away with the thought I might do that more often especially in a pinch.  I did have to ice that evening. 

Good week on the road and training.  I'll mark this one up as progress and a step forward in the right direction.