DougPaul said:
I can lose so much strength in my quads over the next few days that I have difficulty getting down stairs.
I thought it was just me. My quads can feel weak for a week. They work but they feel weak and fatigue easily.
There is also a chronic form of the "catastrophic" overtraining...
I have been yoyo-ing since my accident. I'd build up some strength, go out and do something, and all too often redevelop the catastrophic overtraining. Since the last serious reinjury a year ago, I have taken 10 months off to rest* and have been able to hike Mt Carr (2K ft vert) 2 months ago and Moosilauke (2.5K ft vert) a week ago--in both cases with a slow and careful descent using poles.
* During rest, I can walk (but not so fast that I have a hard heel strike), trad XC ski on easy terrain (no downhill or Tele), and ride my bike (on relatively smooth roads). None of these seemed to bother the quads. (And none requires much energy to be absorbed in the quads.)
One of the difficulties in dealing with overtraining is that you may feel OK, but the muscle is still not able to handle the desired load. I had to learn to wait longer and longer before resuming activities... (As noted above, my last rest was 10 months.) I've lost count of how many times I reinjured, but I tried to learn from each one to try to figure out how to beat the problem.
I'm just learning that and have started walking down stairs more. May try squats with weights? Bike riding hits my quads hard as well. Long walks on sidewalks or paved road seem to raise hell as well. That's proabably a shock thing.
Initially after an injury/reinjury I have to wait a month to six weeks before beginning exercises. I start with some basic hip and knee exercises given to me by my PT (using Therabands (big rubber bands) and weights) and then move on to other exercises. Walking down stairs (or a hill), with weight as you get stronger is good. As Tim noted, bike riding is good for training the uphill motions (concentric contractions), but not for training the downhill energy absorption (concentric contractions). (I was in fine biking shape leading into one of those 2 hikes a week apart incidents mentioned in my previous post.)
There is a whole set of exercises for eccentric contractions: for instance lift with both arms/legs and lower with one. (Eg a squat using both legs on the raise and one leg on the lower.) Or use a helper on the raise (weight lifters sometimes do this). Jumping (in place) is another exercise to stress energy absorption. (My PT liked 3 sets of 20--work up to it slowly.) Lunges are another good one for working the quads both ways. And, of course, allow adequate rest between sessions (at least a day--maybe more).
As for walking on sidewalks, if you walk below a certain speed (3.1 mph for me), you can have a soft heel strike. Above that speed requires a hard heel strike and that you absorb large amounts of energy in your quads. (I used to be able to walk at 3.8-4.0 mph...) You can feel the heel strike--try slowing down until you are only using a soft heel strike. And don't let anyone rush you when you are walking with others.
I couldn't do a major hike two weekends in a row. I'm usually not feeling good until mid week after a big hike. At best I can do some light recovery exercise later in the week and limit my 2nd weekend to a 2 hr hike or an hour of stairs.
As noted above, it takes me 4-6 weeks to recover from the basic injury before restarting training. And then I need to carefully avoid reinjuring. (Mentally, this required me to simply give up on certain activities for the time being. Concede the battle in the hope of winning the war...)
I find that it takes me at least a week to fully ***** the effects of an activity such as hiking. The legs can feel OK for a day or two (just normal stiffness) and then weaken over the next few days. Generally, if nothing has happened within a week, I figure that I'm probably OK. (But note my earlier problems from two hikes with a week of rest in between.)
I'm sure there is other stuff going on in my body besides the pain going away and strength returning.
I can't speak to that, but beating this kind of problem can be tough. I went through a similar process with a wear-and-tear knee injury--it took me ten years but it hasn't bothered me since.
Doug