I feel really lucky right now. Simply because, I’m back. I’m back with my Cervélo Bigla team and racing again. I am trying to enjoy the moment because I have been dreaming about it for so long. I didn’t think I’d be able to race at this point in the season. I thought I’d only be back at the end of the season.
Last year was the hardest year I’ve ever experienced in my life. In May after a racing block, I had a break. After I started training again, I started to feel pain in my Achilles. That’s where it all started. It took six months to get rid of the pain even though I had long periods off the bike. It was really frustrating because after a while the doctors couldn’t see any inflammation, but I could feel something all the time. What made me the most frustrated was the uncertainty about my situation – no one knew what was wrong and when I would be back on my bike.
In October I started feeling ok, and what do you think happened? I got problems with both my knees. That forced me to take another break! It was extremely hard mentally to get all these “knock outs”, where over and over injuries forced me to stop doing what I love the most. The knee problems took me about 5 months away from real training. But slowly, it got better and better. When I joined the team for the training camp in February, everything suddenly changed. I started feeling great again on the bike. Every ride made me so happy.
Photo by Sean Robinson/Velofocus.com
When you’re injured, you feel every little detail in your body and I’ve been doing this for so long. Every morning I checked everything – how was my body feeling, did I have pain? When you focus so much on every detail, you can overthink things easily. I think that’s one of the reasons it took so long to return. I was afraid of feeling pain, because it would meant I had to stop training again.
When I joined the team, I didn’t have time to think about the knees. It was a turning point. Training with all my teammates made me really enjoy my bike. I enjoyed training alone at home but I was always afraid of pushing myself too much, because of the injuries. So it helped a lot me to be with the team in the sun and have fun.
The team did an amazing job last season and it was really hard not being part of it. When the injury first started and I couldn’t race, I took a break from social media completely. But of course I missed the team and followed every moment, cheering them on. I was so happy for them through the whole season but as someone who loves racing, it was frustrating to sit behind. I had had a great Spring and I felt it was only the beginning, I was about to become even better. The injury was a hard punch in the face.
The day of the race, I was sitting on the bed pinning on my race numbers. All of a sudden, I started crying. It was very emotional for me.
I returned to racing in Trofeo Binda this year after 11 months away. The day before the race I was nervous but not extremely nervous. There was no pressure on me from the team because I was out for such a long time. It was relaxing. I was focused on enjoying it and helping Cille as much as I could.
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Marie Vilmann after Liege-Bastogne-Liege Femmes – a 135.5 km road race between Bastogne and Ans on April 23 2017 in Liège, Belgium. Photo: Velofocus
The day of the race, I was sitting on the bed pinning on my race numbers. All of a sudden, I started crying. It was very emotional for me. I had been working for 11 months just for that one moment. 11 months that felt like ages. The tears just started to flow. Cille was in the room and she just started crying because we’re best friends and she supported me through the whole year. It has been a very hard time for her as well seeing me injured and frustrated. She was very happy to have me back.
I supported her as much as I could in the race. She told me she was thinking of me in the final because of the work I had done in the first half of the race. I’m getting all emotional again just writing this now. Throughout last season Cille and I would talk on the phone about her amazing results and we would laugh and have fun. Then we’d talk about my situation and it would be a lot more serious and sometimes we both started crying. When I was down and thought I’d never get through this, she was the one who told me “You will make it back Marie, I believe in you, I will wait for you.” She brought me through the dark moments. It’s really special to have a true friend like her.
