Legs

ginger J

Hi there. Seem to be suffering with a lack of power through my legs at the mo. Did a 110 mile ride last saturday and 128 mile this saturday gone + commuting which is about 80 miles a week. Is it just a case of some rest time needed. Getting ready for the British Cyclosportive...
Cheers

Chris42

I'm doing the Sporttive, I only found out I was doing it a week ago, did a couple of 70 mile rides last weekend and normal 30 miles each morning this week.
My legs also feel tired but my speed etc has remained the same.

must ride hills must ride hills!

sloboy

It depends what's been normal for you week by week. For example, I'm a 70-miler most weekends type of bloke, and I find pushing well beyond 100 miles, say to 115 or so pretty much wipes me out for a few days, so needs a definite and deliberate rest afterwards to avoid getting into a downward spiral of fatigue.

Also, with less that two weeks to go, you could pretty much rest all the way from here to there and feel a benefit rather than a loss from increased freshness on the day.

I find before "big" rides I don't like to have too many days off with no cycling at all cos it makes my leg feel a bit heavy on the day. My preference would be for maybe a half distance run this weekend at the effort I reckon I can hold for the entire distance, a few similar but even shorter runs through next week. Probably rest entirely Weds-Fri (but I'm an old guy and recover quite slowly) and then a really easy hour on Saturday ready for the off.

Remember, you can't much change your real fitness between here and Sunday week, the objective might now be to get to the day itself feeling as fresh and strong as possible.

ginger J

thanks for the advice guys. Yeah think the best approach is to taper down now. Some good stretching and rest will hopefuly get my legs feeling strong. I upped my weekly mileage quite alot in the last few weeks. Guess it's my body feeling that a bit. You know what its like though, the desire to be as ready as you can can sometimes stop you realising that rest is just as important.

oldwelshman

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by ginger J</i>

Hi there. Seem to be suffering with a lack of power through my legs at the mo. Did a 110 mile ride last saturday and 128 mile this saturday gone + commuting which is about 80 miles a week. Is it just a case of some rest time needed. Getting ready for the British Cyclosportive...
Cheers
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
How do you prepare for the long ride and how do you recover?
night before a long ride I always make sure I drink a litre of fluid and eat pasta for evening meal.
I have a drink one hour before setting out on ride and when I return drink pint of milk with whey protein recovery drink.
The following day I do a recovery ride on low gears for 10 to 30 miles and no intense work for at least 3 days.

Feel free to browse and donate:
http://www.justgiving.com/davidbethanmills
My winter and summer bike pics

http://oldwelshman.myphotoalbum.com