A Musing on My Occasional Knee Recklessness

I may not be the best role model for someone trying to figure out how to manage the post-recovery period after beating knee pain.

This occurred to me a couple of months ago. I was struggling with a little pain at the side of my left knee.

What happened: As some of you may remember, I broke my hand in two places while cycling on Aug. 11 of last year. That left me in the basement, racking up miles cycling in the virtual reality world of Zwift, and sometimes badly disobeying my doctor’s orders to minimize sweating under my cast.

Eventually the cast came off and I was cleared for cycling again, but by then it was late in the season and I figured I’d just stay inside, logging miles on Zwift, until April.

Now normally, I take off a month or two during the winter and only do easy stationary bike cycling. I figure it’s good to give my knees a little break. Not this year though. Frustrated about the broken hand, and trying to preserve some semblance of conditioning, I did long rides and races on Zwift, pushing myself hard. My best ride, I averaged 251 watts for 51 minutes, which I thought was respectable.

But, during a race on Zwift, I pushed down hard with my left leg to go up a sudden steep climb and got a sharp pain on the inside (medial) of my left knee. It kind of lingered for months. Every time I thought it was gone, I’d move my leg/knee a certain way – and bam – there it was again.

I think it was a ligament sprain. In any event, intense cycling wasn’t helping any. So early in July, I finally went into knee conservation mode. I began cheating on pedaling, putting more stress on my right leg. I backed off sprints. I went out on more rides alone.

It took about a month, but the knee got better and I’m fine now.

But the experience did make me think: Wow, I managed to heal my knees and then dove right back into the kind of crazy cycling I’ve always loved to do. Which is great on one level: I did succeed in returning to doing exactly the same intense physical activity I had grown to love.

However: a more sensible me might have toned things down a bit. I probably could have avoided some of the little burning-under-the-kneecap episodes I’ve had since 2011, when I published the book. I’ve talked about those before, and they never lasted more than a few weeks or a month, but I think they came about because, well, I like to ride my bike really damn hard.

If I had just wanted the most trouble-free knees, I would have adopted a moderate riding program, not the cycle-til-you-want-to-collapse riding that I often do. So maybe this isn’t the most sensible way to handle your post recovery. Still, I will say that I’m always careful now to monitor symptoms. When I feel as if a knee-related problem is starting to spiral out of control, I modify my behavior and nip it in the bud.

The takeaway here is that I’m not encouraging anyone to do what I’m doing. It’s rather hardcore. But I’m also saying with my example that, if you bring your knees back from a painful state, and do it carefully, that there’s a good chance you can return to doing whatever you want. Just take small steps to get there. :)