Front of thighs hurt

squirejim

Looking for some advice...

ive been cycling regularly for a while and have started doing more hills and finding (after a while) im reasonably ok at them (well, if starva is to be believed!)

Today though, i went out for a 65 mile route around surrey hills and took in barhatch lane, leith hill, white downs and box hill. All hills i did last week (albeit a shorter distance) but felt no pain. However today, after about 45 miles, the front of my thighs on both legs just hurt a lot, and i lots all momentum and the last 20 miles were hard work due to pain in legs and lack of any energy. I didnt have the best preparation this week, was out on the smash friday night until 6am and dont think i ate enough this morning before the ride. However, i didnt go at optimum pace (rested at tops of hills) so was surprised this pain recurred (when i first started cycling, i did a 72 mile sportive on IOW with 1600m of climbing, totally unprepared, thighs were agony i put it down to lack of training and lack of muscles). Now that ive had almost a year of extra training, i was annoyed this has returned. Is there any nutrition advice or training advice you can give me which will target improving the condition of my thighs to make them not hurt as much. I have a 100 mile sportive next weekend, and will really struggle if this occurs again @50 or 60 miles into the ride. Climb total today was about 1300m, i think next week there is 1400m....

any advice gratefully received. Cheers

charlie_potatoes

SquireJim wrote:

Looking for some advice...

I didnt have the best preparation this week, was out on the smash friday night until 6am and dont think i ate enough this morning before the ride.

any advice gratefully received. Cheers

I'm not an expert by any means but I reckon that if you address these two issues for next weekend you should feel better

apreading

When I had something similar, I found my technique needed to be changed - I was cycling up hills pushing too hard in too high a gear - change down and spin the pedals faster with less force and it helped ALOT.

Also stretching every 20 miles or so - by bending one knee so that the foot is behind me, holding it in one hand and pushing the knee backwards to stretch out the muscle for 15 secs - repeated 2 or 3 times. And after the ride.

And it could be that your saddle is too low - that will make this muscle work harder.

Even with training, it can still happen if you arent doing something quite right.

superfourben

apreading wrote:

When I had something similar, I found my technique needed to be changed - I was cycling up hills pushing too hard in too high a gear - change down and spin the pedals faster with less force and it helped ALOT.

Also stretching every 20 miles or so - by bending one knee so that the foot is behind me, holding it in one hand and pushing the knee backwards to stretch out the muscle for 15 secs - repeated 2 or 3 times. And after the ride.

And it could be that your saddle is too low - that will make this muscle work harder.

Even with training, it can still happen if you arent doing something quite right.

Try to stretch at the end of the ride rather than during. Stretching during exercise can damage the muscles, do you do any for of warm up before a ride as this may also help avoid injury.
Also the late night and not eating enough will have a large effect on your energy levels during your ride.

mustol

I reckon you're just pushing too hard on the hills - change down a couple of gears and cycle at a higher cadence. Remember that on long rides you do need to pace yourself. You might be able to push hard on a couple of climbs, but if you keep doing it, you'll suffer later on.

Pross

So you did a hilly route over a longer than previous distance after a heavy night and you don't know why your legs are aching? Muscles ache when they do things they aren't used to, add to this that you may well have been dehydrated from the heavy night.

Trev The Rev

What sort of pain? It could be you are very fit cardiovascular wise so you are able to push your legs harder than they can cope with. Is it lactic acid type pain or another type of pain?

keef66

Check that your saddle is high enough. Leg nearly straight at the bottom of the stroke when you rest your heel on the pedal? Helps engage your glutes more / quads less.

As above, spin a lower gear on the hills rather than grinding up them.