When I first started training on powercranks in the fall of 2004, after Ironman Florida, I had a hard time adjusting. But that was to be expected. After a few months though, I noticed a distinct difference between my right and left leg. The right leg had adapted pretty good, the left leg lagged. Again, this wasn’t surprising. It had always been my ‘weak leg’. At that time, the spring of 2005, I thought that given time, my left leg would also adapt, only a little slower than its right brother. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen. Although I was able to train on powercranks, my left leg always felt weird. It was like it was not really part of my body, more like it was screwed on like an artificial leg. Another unexpected thing happened: I noticed that my left calve was ballooning. Presumably it had to do all the work, so it grew more muscled in the process.
Of course I wrote to Frank Day for advice. He was not able to help me much because I was the first to approach him with symptoms like this. Anyway, I consulted a sports doctor who excluded the possibility of flow limitations in the iliac arteries (http://www.sma-cardiosport.nl/vaatproblemen.html). Hernia was also ruled out. But that still left me with more questions than answers. In the meantime, my left leg was growing stronger but at a painfully slow rate. The funny thing was: I had both good and bad days and also noticed that powercranking was easier in a more forward saddle position. The downside to that was that I had problems racing in a FSP. Anyway, last year I managed to complete a 180 K ride on powercranks and used them all year round. One thing I never comtemplated was stop using powercranks. They are a great training tool. I just knew I had to slug it out.
Two months ago however I developed lower back problems (while ice-skating) and visited a physiotherapist. This former triathlete noticed restrictions in the spinal nerve roots in the lumbal region (hope this is understandable English). He’s ‘cracked’ my back and given me a number of exercises. Although its early days I must say that I feel improvement. We’ll see. Because of the winter and bad weather I ‘ride’ mostly on my trainer, so thats an hour per session, top.
I have always been able to accept misery as part of my training (meaning that I know training can be hard and is never ‘roses al the way’), but I sure am looking forward to a normal left leg.
Gerard.
