Dead legs

castlesew

I have been road cycling since July this year not ridden for 4 years previous and then was twice a week mountain biking, i did a couple of months riding 4 times a week building upto a 40 mile longest ride by myself, i then whent to my local club wakefield to ride with them doing 40 on a Sat morning and a 65 on a Tuesday, found it ok on the 40 and hard on the 65, but after 4 weeks riding with them , i found myself getting stronger each week and could hold my own and even push the pace a bit, i would do 25 on a Sunday and thursday steady. The last 4 weeeks i have started struggling and find it hard to keep up, not doing anything different from what i have done previous, my legs and whole body is suffering, can any body offer any advice

bobtbuilder

I'm no expert but I would suggest looking at:

1) Nutrition - Are you putting in enough decent grub to sustain the increase in workload. Enough protein afterwards for recovery?

2) Rest - Are you getting enough? Stretching? It's easier to "forget" to stretch afterwards at this time of year when you're cold / wet at the end of a ride.

3) Illness - maybe you have a low level bug that your body is fighting off? Maybe get a check up?

My money would be on nutrition though.

DubaiNeil

I'm with Bob, for me nutrition is the absolute key to feeling "fresh" following a ride.

The "rule" of snack within 30 minutes, followed by a meal within two hours makes a world of difference to how I feel the following day (and subsequently) after a proper session.

A couple of biscuits with a cup of tea and then out of the lash, followed by a curry doesn't work for me anymore!

Neil

giantsasquatch

It sounds to me like your enthusiasm is ahead of your physical ability. Regular trained club riders will be better and been riding for years. You having to push yourself harder to keep up which your body isn't used to, week in week out.

Your not giving your body enough time to recover properly in between rides. You then get a accumulated build up of body stress over the weeks leading to detoriation. The body is always playing catch up. There is a word for it - overtraining. In serious cases it better to stop cycling and return when you feel restored and refreshed.

You just maybe doing too much too soon, body is not been given enough recovery time for the extra workload.

OR you not simply feeding your body enough to repair it from the extra new mileage.

Train smart. Instead try shorter very intense rides with 2 days recovery for the same benefit. This give you more recovery. Then you can see if it that.

castlesew

Hi guys, thanks for the replies, probably giantsasquatch has hit the nail right on the head, seems like a lot of what you have said applies to me, i dont think its my nutrition as that is pretty ok, i have set of very exuberantly, and now paying for it, i will now ease back and take it a bit easier and see how things go, much appreciated, Steve.

Anonymous

Are you using a compact ? That could be the problem.

Chip \'oyler

dmclite wrote:

Are you using a compact ? That could be the problem.

And a shimano compact would cause even more problems

Anonymous

Chip \'oyler wrote:

dmclite wrote:

Are you using a compact ? That could be the problem.

And a shimano compact would cause even more problems

Fitted with Rotor Q rings.

dennisn

bobtbuilder wrote:

I'm no expert but I would suggest looking at:

1) Nutrition - Are you putting in enough decent grub to sustain the increase in workload. Enough protein afterwards for recovery?

2) Rest - Are you getting enough? Stretching? It's easier to "forget" to stretch afterwards at this time of year when you're cold / wet at the end of a ride.

3) Illness - maybe you have a low level bug that your body is fighting off? Maybe get a check up?

My money would be on nutrition though.

+1 Although, for myself, I would put rest first.
Or, it could be plain old burnout. Which is basically lack of rest. Everyone has done it to
themselves in one way or another. You're riding well, training hard, doing your fair share of hammering, feeling good, and then things start to catch up with you. You don't feel like
riding much, you're legs feel dead, you're tired all the time, yet you try to continue pounding away until you're, quite simply, forced to take some time off. Learning how to train PROPERLY is perhaps the hardest of things to learn. Learning when to push and when to take it easy. Getting control of yourself so you're not out there everyday pounding yourself into the ground trying to keep up or lead out your buddies at every turn,
can and will be your biggest challenge.

slowlanejane

I'm with Dennisn & bobtbuilder.

Although I'm a new roadie, I am a long qualified Sports Therapist. Here's my tuppence worth:

You gave yourself a good period building up your strength, you've had a month of intense increase in activity before suffering this tiredness for a month.

You could have a low level virus - a trip to the Drs for a blood test will tell you that pretty instantly and you can act accordingly. However, It sounds like you're overtraining to me. Continuing to overtrain is the route to getting a virus or getting injured.

I suggest you rest for 5 - 7 full days - dont worry you wont lose any condition in that time. Then see how you feel on next ride - dont push it too hard. You should be feeling fresh and perform well. If that's the ase, learn the overtraining lesson, scale down your activity and build up more slowly.

If you dont feel sigificantly better on that ride, get that blood test at the GP.

If you cant go 5 days without climbing the walls then IMO you are def overtraining.

Nutrition is really important too: to adequately fuel the training and the for the recovery. All the rocket science in the mags is just filling column inches - nutrition is basic and easy - you know what to do there.

Anonymous

Or just change your cadence.

castlesew

dmclite wrote:

Are you using a compact ? That could be the problem.

Hi yes i am using a shimano 10 speed compact on my Trek Madone 5.2

giantsasquatch

castlesew, how many miles have you done since July?

Need to get some base miles in before you start getting adventorous. 500 is a good start. Those early miles taken there toll. 3 longer rides approxiamtely 4 hours apiece a week is a good way to progress. You push yourself so hard each time and maximize getting stronger during the recovery days in between. Due to pushing yourself really hard you can still eat really well on the off days and still lose weight effectively. Eating well gives you backbone stamina to do it hard each time. You aiming to build strength and muscle endurance. You can't do that effectively on little calories.

And 10-15 hours a week is enough if you train hard.

PS. dmclite is just joking with you.

Anonymous

giantsasquatch wrote:

castlesew, how many miles have you done since July?

Need to get some base miles in before you start getting adventorous. 500 is a good start. Those early miles taken there toll. 3 longer rides approxiamtely 4 hours apiece a week is a good way to progress. You push yourself so hard each time and maximize getting stronger during the recovery days in between. Due to pushing yourself really hard you can still eat really well on the off days and still lose weight effectively. Eating well gives you backbone stamina to do it hard each time. You aiming to build strength and muscle endurance. You can't do that effectively on little calories.

And 10-15 hours a week is enough if you train hard.

PS. dmclite is just joking with you.

Rumbled

castlesew

giantsasquatch wrote:

castlesew, how many miles have you done since July?

Need to get some base miles in before you start getting adventorous. 500 is a good start. Those early miles taken there toll. 3 longer rides approxiamtely 4 hours apiece a week is a good way to progress. You push yourself so hard each time and maximize getting stronger during the recovery days in between. Due to pushing yourself really hard you can still eat really well on the off days and still lose weight effectively. Eating well gives you backbone stamina to do it hard each time. You aiming to build strength and muscle endurance. You can't do that effectively on little calories.

And 10-15 hours a week is enough if you train hard.

PS. dmclite is just joking with you.

Hi i have done at least 1600 miles since July.