Recovery

Anonymous

Hi.

On saturday I did 97 miles, fairly flat, some bits of hill but nothing to big, then on sunday I did about 37 miles on my own and the wind that day was 20+mph with 40mph gusts and was pushing like 13-17mph into it, now my legs where aching abit after it, today the wind is abit stronger, I want to do around 20-30 miles again as I really dont like sitting in but yes I know recovery is important.

How do I know when my legs are fine and need recovering? At the moment they dont feel too bad but I wanted to ask first as I dont want to overdo it and stop my legs from recovering and then damaging them more in the process.

thanks
will

Bronzie

There's no science to it although you may find as you gain experience, you are more able to take note of what your body is telling you.

If your legs feel really heavy, just have an easy day, spin a gear and don't be tempted to push too hard on the pedals. Doing a hard ride when your legs are sore from the previous day will not "damage" your leg muscles - you might not be able to perform at your best, but unless you are racing I can't see this makes too much difference.

Anonymous

Today I would of taken it easy but the wind is just insane today, broken trees everwhere on the roads and 22-24mph wind with gusts up to 30+ mph getting me down to 13-14mph and I am having to push hard to maintain those speeds, so I decided today I would do a short ride so did 10.6 miles, that took me about 35mins today even though there was some tough wind. Odd really as on college days when I cycle to college with my backpack and normal clothes and no where near as much wind I am slower than I am today, usually average around 15-16mph to college even if the wind is low and I feel like I am pushing, today I averaged 17.8mph and the distance was about the same.

Climber_Andy

It's lovely when you get it right though, eh Will:

Sunday, I went out for 50 miles (well, 49). Dug in for the first 25 odd to Malton, going over Sheriff Hutton and Bulmer Bank way. The tailwind ride back to York was just crazy, sprinting downhills in my biggest gear, cruising at 34mph on what seemed like only a slight descent.... it was easily my fastest '50' ever, in the end.

Anonymous

Climber_Andy wrote:

It's lovely when you get it right though, eh Will:

Sunday, I went out for 50 miles (well, 49). Dug in for the first 25 odd to Malton, going over Sheriff Hutton and Bulmer Bank way. The tailwind ride back to York was just crazy, sprinting downhills in my biggest gear, cruising at 34mph on what seemed like only a slight descent.... it was easily my fastest '50' ever, in the end.

I have never managed to cruise at 34mph, well on saturday when I went on a club run in clifton cc we went though this sort of valley, and on one part what only seemed like a very sligh slope down I was pushing 30-35mph pretty easy I was amazed at how I can get on slight slopes when the weather and wind is right!.

What speeds where you getting into headwinds? I can only manage 13-15mph in the heavy winds we had on sunday, was pushing quite abit too I felt so slow .

Climber_Andy

Was it on the way to Thixendale after the tough climb up Leavening? That road is a beaut, if you're shifting with a tailwind in a group, I can see how 30-35 could be attained.

Into headwind it was 15-16mph but bear in mind 'twas 'only' 15-20mph wind.

Oh right, small world, I've been out with the Clifton a couple of times, did their club TT last Thursday and doing it again this week provided I don't get too drunk the night before

Anonymous

Climber_Andy wrote:

Was it on the way to Thixendale after the tough climb up Leavening? That road is a beaut, if you're shifting with a tailwind in a group, I can see how 30-35 could be attained.

Into headwind it was 15-16mph but bear in mind 'twas 'only' 15-20mph wind.

Oh right, small world, I've been out with the Clifton a couple of times, did their club TT last Thursday and doing it again this week provided I don't get too drunk the night before

I'll be helping at that TT (I think), if I'm not I'll be riding up with another club member to watch anyway.

I dont think it was Thixendale allthough it does look familiar. On that day the wind was about about 15-20mph here, I really dont know how people push those speeds into the headwind. My bike must be holding me back(slightly), weights about 13kg maybe more I think judging by the weight of this 10kg dumbell I have

Climber_Andy

Just look out for the young guy in blue with wounds from crashing stupidly in last week's TT

I should really come out on some long rides, I need the endurance. Is it Saturday or Sunday for the slow long ones?

Anonymous

Climber_Andy wrote:

Just look out for the young guy in blue with wounds from crashing stupidly in last week's TT

I should really come out on some long rides, I need the endurance. Is it Saturday or Sunday for the slow long ones?

Depends what you class as slow and long.

On saturday you should go to exibition square for 10AM and go on Kevins ride, I might be doing this one of howards, howards ride is the slightly faster one, when I went on that I found we where going around 20mph untill the group broke up, kevins ride on saturday for me was about 97 miles, good pace really, 16-20mph but found it pretty easy to keep up.

Pictured from one of the TT's:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34875067@N ... 204091237/

That the one you went to?

Also, sometimes there is sunday rides on, they seem to be pacy and longer, I clocked 114miles from home that day and we went to dolby, some 17% gradient climbs and all that, was quite hard really.

Anonymous

I went out today, just a short ride to my friends house, about 4-5miles there and same back, was in normal clothes, my legs felt really weak, I felt I could not push, I just ended up spinning fast really and maintaining about 17mph, any ideas why my legs felt like this? Tommorow I am going to be doing 40-50miles and need to feel better for it. Could it be that I only had a bowl of porridge before?

I've ate a bowl of porridge now, had a salad with some quiche, eggs, tomato etc.., now having a fishermans pie, surely all this will help and boost my energy for tomorrow?

Bronzie

willhub wrote:

I just ended up spinning fast really and maintaining about 17mph

That doesn't sound much like a recovery ride - typically I'll average 13-14mph pedalling really easy gears

Anonymous

Bronzie wrote:

willhub wrote:

I just ended up spinning fast really and maintaining about 17mph

That doesn't sound much like a recovery ride - typically I'll average 13-14mph pedalling really easy gears

It wasent a recovery ride really, I just wanted to get home, minimum wind aswell.

But any ideas why my legs felt like crap? I'm just trying to eat as much decentish stuff as I can get today to build my energy levels up.

Also is there any sort of drinks I can make that are just as good as recovery drinks?

Bronzie

willhub wrote:

Also is there any sort of drinks I can make that are just as good as recovery drinks?

This has come up before in Training section - search using "recovery" and you should find the threads - you can buy some whey powder from Boots or health food shop and make your own recovery drinks.

As to why your legs "feel crap" - any number of reasons, but it sounds like you ride everywhere flat out to me - maybe through a few more easy days in there as well.

What about stretching - do you do any? No guarantee it'll help but I find it eases sore legs. If I've had a really heavy ride, I'll do an easy spin next day (on road or maybe the rollers) for 45-90 mins and then so some leg stretches.

Anonymous

Bronzie wrote:

willhub wrote:

Also is there any sort of drinks I can make that are just as good as recovery drinks?

This has come up before in Training section - search using "recovery" and you should find the threads - you can buy some whey powder from Boots or health food shop and make your own recovery drinks.

As to why your legs "feel crap" - any number of reasons, but it sounds like you ride everywhere flat out to me - maybe through a few more easy days in there as well.

What about stretching - do you do any? No guarantee it'll help but I find it eases sore legs. If I've had a really heavy ride, I'll do an easy spin next day (on road or maybe the rollers) for 45-90 mins and then so some leg stretches.

I'll try doing a spin on fridy, problem is bit busy, tomorrow going up to watch a TT, infact I think I might even be taking part in the TT now, then on saturday its 70-100mile club social ride.

I dont know what sort of stretches to do, I try just stretching my legs up to my back after and before a ride though, find it warms my legs up abit for cold days.

Climber_Andy

I think you underrate yourself - by the way, you beat me by 45 seconds in this evening's TT.

Great course eh, my computer went on the fritz at the 8-mile point but max speed was 48mph down one of those descents. Bulmer Bank was ok, at least it was over briefly... Shame the heavens opened for the whole ride home...

Bronzie

willhub wrote:

I dont know what sort of stretches to do, I try just stretching my legs up to my back after and before a ride though, find it warms my legs up abit for cold days.

General advice is to not stretch when cold - you can do more harm than good - ideally stretch after a short ride, but not necessarily when your muscles are very sore from a long ride:
- quads
- hamstrings
- calves
- glutes/lower back

Anonymous

Usually after long rides I come home and my legs start to ache after a couple of hours, today I did 62 miles on my own so should be harder than club rides due to the fact I am not in a group, I averaged 18.7mph and did a hilly 10mile TT route for abit of it with some 17% gradient hills, not the thing is, today my legs are not aching at all nearly, and I find this odd, is that a good sign or a bad sign? I pushed the hardest I have on a long ride today and yet no aching in the legs?