Newbie having issues recovering

willbevan

how long does it take people to recover from a 10mi TT or soemthing like 2 x 20s..

Im finding two nights sleep on and my legs arnt still recovered... is that normal?. I've looked at my diet to ensure im getting the right amount of calories, ensuring not to much fat, good amount of quality carbs and atleast a gram of protein per kg of body weight... yet still I struggle to recover. (i'm not loosing weight, if anything im eating a bit to much )

currently doing the following.

Sunday - 3-3.5 hours long day pace (steady but not tempo, 60-70% FTP)
Monday - sometimes 6 miles (3 miles to work and back, very gentle)
Tuesday - 2 x 20s (just coming off these, im behind most people beacuse of broken wrist, aprox 91-105% FTP depending on how Im feeling) - probably going to go onto shorter 5 min intervals with greater number
Wednesday - 8 miles (3 miles to work, 5 miles to sams after work, all gentle)
Thursday - 8 miles(reverse of the 8 above) + TT
Friday - sometimes6 miles (3 miles to work and back, very gentle)
Saturday - 2 hours at 80% FTP, with a 95% interval of 10 mins in the middle.

I usually have the monday or friday off the bike but included both above, they are very very gentle below my recovery pace, avging around 120 watts, junk miles really as only 15 mins each way

Main difference lately is the TTs being thrown in, rather than the thursday night club ride and strugglign since then :S

any input appriciated from the more experienced bikers

oh just to add, its my legs that dont recover. Energy levles were a problme previously on subsequent days but are now fine since I've checked my died (was not always eating enough). I sleep well, 7hrs minimum, usually 8.

My legs just feel used and abused 48 hours after same feeling as I used to get from weight lifting after lifting heavy weights... See more, okay im still new to cycling but the recovery time seems long

I make sure I have a recovery shake straight after and then eat a solid meal within an hour... even trying recovery tights (which have helped a bit).

cheers

Will

Pokerface

When you finish your TT - do you climb off the bike right away? Or do you warm down afterwards?

If you warm down - for how long?

If you don't do a good warm down after a hard ride, the lactic acid won't clear from your legs - and that MAY be one reason why you're still sore a few days later.

Also - you do a good 5 hours on the weekends - which will take a bit out of you.

General rule of thumb - use the last 15 minutes of any longer or hard ride to cool down and clear the lactic acid.

And even if you do all that - you will probably have some stiffness in your legs. Cycling is hard work after all!

willbevan

a warm down is soemthing I've started putting in in the last few weeks... as well as a warmup to see if that helps...

For example for the saturday 2 hour ride, its 2 hours at pace, but do a 10 minute warmup then atleast a 15 minute cooldown at the end of easy spinning.

Same for the 2x20s..

TTs suually 5 mins before going to see the scores, but this week I didn't hang around so couple of minute spiining, stoped to drop my number off and check my results (2 mins) then a 15 minute spin home

I don't do a cool down from my long rides though.... I presume that they arnt I high enough intensity to cool down so usually just jump off the bike. Am I presuming wrong here? (I will try adding that in tomorrow)

Cheers for the input btw, need the input from you more experienced cyclists

Pokerface

If you are new to cycling, it takes the body a long time to get used to the stresses.

You could always take a few days off completely and give your legs some rest. It does some good sometimes.



I'm sure some more 'experienced' folk will be along shortly to offer some better advice!

SteveR_100Milers

blimey there is an echo in here...!

LJAR

Make sure you use Monday Wednesday and Friday as really light active recovery days and have a good cool down stretch after every workout.

But if you have been training like that for the last few weeks it is probably worth having a light week. I would drop the TT and the Intervals and the tempo work on Saturday. Then cut the long ride to 2 hours. That should allow your body time to recover from the mighty stresses you are putting on it.

You will probably finish that sort of week itching to get back into some hard training (which is the point) and you should come back in better condition than before.