Muscle soreness!

scoob49

I went out for a ride on Friday morning and ever since legs have been really sore.cannot face getting on bike.
I stretched,had right food and liquids.do I just bite the bullet & get out and ride through it. I've not been cycling that long properly(this year around 5 weeks). Not done anything out the ordinary.training up to around 20 miles without any trouble.
Can anyone help?

t.m.h.n.e.t

Let yourself recover. Soreness is usually nothing more than microscopic tears of muscle fibre,will heal up within a day or two.

optimisticbiker

maybe you just overdid it... do you alternate hard rides and recovery rides or go at the same pace all the time? Are you sure you hydrated enough on Friday - it was pretty warm even at 10am (well at least here in the South!)

scoob49

OptimisticBiker wrote:

maybe you just overdid it... do you alternate hard rides and recovery rides or go at the same pace all the time? Are you sure you hydrated enough on Friday - it was pretty warm even at 10am (well at least here in the South!)

Yeah I think so.was out @8am.had two pints of squash & 2 bottles while out.toast & banana before and breakfast bar half hour in.

cyberknight

Holy ! that's a lot of liquid for 20 miles , but if it was hot ...you were definitely not de hydrated i did 45 miles on 1 bottle and one of those small juice cartons yesterday , mind you i did hydrate before hand.

As others had said sounds like you just need to have a rest day , stretch and take the next ride easy .

micken

Did you have recovery drink/food within 20 minutes of finishing your ride. This makes a big difference to me. Your body will soon adjust to the exercise.

BBH

I was just going to say (as above).

You need to eat/drink within 20 mins of getting home to facilitate optimal recovery.
Something like bagel with peanut butter (i.e. carbs and protein). I often have a banana and a protein shake or a mackrel sandwich on getting home along with a pint of juice followed by a shower and good leg rub whilst in it and find that it helps.

As said above, you may just need a rest day!

pilot_pete

Yeah I think so.was out @8am.had two pints of squash & 2 bottles while out.toast & banana before and breakfast bar half hour in.

It depends on quite a few things really. How 'fit' are you generally? 20 miles is not far on a road bike, even for someone fairly new to the sport. However, if you pushed hard and are not used to that intensity of exercise it could lead to your lactic acid burn. Was it a hilly 20 miles that you are not used to? That could also cause the problem you describe.

How is your BMI (being polite here!)? If you are 'above optimum' significantly, then your 20 miles could be quite hard work to start with. As mentioned by others, that is an awful lot of fluid (especially sugary squash) in an hour and a half or so of exercise....depends what you are trying to achieve but you shouldn't need anything more than water for 20 miles....and certainly shouldn't need a 'feed' of anything if you plan to stop after 20 miles. I would say that you also don't need a 'post ride' recovery meal/ shake for a 20 mile ride, just eat a normally healthy diet. You can't be burning more than 700-900 calories on a 20 mile ride....

Other than that, getting back to the aches, it's just normal. You can exercise through it if you want to, or rest for a few days....I went to the Algarve on a cycling trip with some mates last year and had the aching you describe for most of the week due to significantly upped distance/intensity and shortened timescale....did me no harm and has certainly given me a good basis for climbing since then...

Enjoy.

PP

HiMoz

Maybe you just pushed it a bit harder than normal?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_onset_muscle_soreness

scoob49

Thanks will try tomorrow and see how it goes.