Injury Recovery from a shattered ankle

General Discussion
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Broke my Tibia/Fibula and most of the bones in my ankle on Thanksgiving 2022. About 3 months non-weight bearing, and now walking slowly and trying to get some recovery riding in, so I can ride this summer.

I’m new to Zwift. I have a Wahoo Kickr. I care more about increasing my duration and rpms then power right now. Trying to get more flexibility in my ankle. I can only ride about 3 miles or so and 60-65 rpms right now.

I tried the Fit and Fun workout , but even with it lowered to 75%, the wattage was too high for me.

Should I just focus on the “Just Ride” rides? Any workouts that are easier for recovery? One of my friends mentioned some kind of robo trainer?

Also, wondering if I should reduce trainer difficulty for now? Default seems to be 50%.

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Avoid workouts - you are going to be living on Tempus Fugit for a while.

Keep trainer difficulty to 50% to reduce the feel of hills and just stay in a small gear to avoid putting stress on the broken parts.

I had to do similar with broken neck of femur last year.

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Tempus Fugit? That looks like one of the routes/free ride? So just pick any of the free rides with lower altitude?

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I agree doing free rides is your best bet. The Trainer Difficulty setting has no effect in workouts but it does affect free rides. Set it as low as you need to. 0% is fine if that makes you happy.

If you want workouts to be easier, you can adjust the “FTP Bias” with the down arrow in the workout screen. That will let you lower the expected Watts by up to 25%. You could also change your FTP value to a lower setting.

Tempus Fugit is the flattest route in the Watopia world. It’s also very popular and you’ll find lots of riders on the road there. Good luck with your recovery.

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I don’t really have an ftp value right now, because I can’t ride enough to do an ftp test. I think it is at 0. Should I set it manually to something else?

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FTP only matters for workouts, so if you only do free rides, you don’t need to think about it. If you do free rides over 20 minutes Zwift should estimate your FTP automatically. You can manually adjust it by following these instructions:

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This isn’t completely correct, because if you set it too low your avatar will be ‘sprinting’ all the time.

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Doing free riding is your best bet. I’ve been where you are now, with a variety of past injuries. Do a ride with elevation gain that works for you. Don’t overdo yourself. Increase ride time and intensity at a pace that works best for you. Forget about riders around you. Focus on healing and where you want your health and stamina over the longer haul.

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Hardest thing is ignoring the others around you. But you have to do it. Been there and done that.

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At the start of 2019 I had a cycling accident and broke my left hip, acquired a basic wheel on turbo, started off about 10 minutes a day, within a couple of weeks I was back out on the road doing 12 mile round trips to one of my favourite local pubs, and gradually increased the ride length, 6 months after having the replacement I did my longest ever ride of 140 miles

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Whatever you do, don’t take recovery advice from @Fat_Pineapple

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Ha Almost A on ZP bite me Bailey

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Jeffery

I had Achilles surgery in September 2022 and I’m almost back to 100%. This is what I did.

I put together a plan with my physical therapist. Based on % of perceived power before op and time of session.

I rode in a boot until i was cleared to ride boot free.

First 3-4 weeks were at 25% - 40% watts output. No standing. Max session time 30 mins and up to 3 sessions a day.

After that i would build up 20% every 2 weeks and start to increase lenght of sessions.

Once you get towards 100% standing climbing is ok.
Sprinting comes last and will take a while to build up.

  1. trainer difficulty to zero, I’m normally 100%, 100% of the time
  2. ride with the slowest cat D pacebot, so you can get some social riding in.

I’ve noticed my recovery from intervals is the last thing to come back. Power coming back is addictive, stay in control…its hard🍍

Good luck

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After about a week I’m up to a little over 4 miles for my last ride. Also am able to get my RPMs above 70. Can’t really do more than 90-100 watts right now.

Not overly impressive, but better than last week.

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Jeffrey feel free to reach out directly, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or xxxxxxxxxxxxx. Happy to walk you through what I did and help you get there mentally

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That’s the big bit of recovery that often gets forgotten, the mental bit

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Please don’t post personal information.

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I hope you get well soon. Be careful after I broke my ankle and foot start to walk okay I did a lot of cycling. I got a very sore knees. Osteopath discovered that it was actually caused by my ankle which was causing my knee to off track slightly worth keeping an eye on.

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Yeah I get some knee pain walking. Not so much riding. It feels like my ankle isn’t straight, but I’m sure it just me having to get used to walking straight.

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Did you check cleats were set up right