Why do I feel so knackered on a Sunday club ride?

MyNameIsEarl

Hi, I'm 47 and weigh 73kgs, and didn't do much exercise before I started cycling this year (I'm loving it!), and have slowly built up to 60 miles during the week, averaging 16mph on a varied route + a 35-40 Sunday club ride (not every week), averaging 12-14mph.

I only joined a local club in April and thought I'd quickly improve and be able to move up into an intermediate group, who average 14-16mph, but don't feel I'm improving or building strength and fitness. At the moment I tend to feel knackered 3/4 of the way in the Sunday ride and don't know why

Could I be overdoing it? - I don't really know where I should be after 6 months with my local club.

grenw

How long is the ride? Are you eating anything before/during?

sheffsimon

MyNameIsEarl wrote:

Hi, I'm 47 and weigh 73kgs, and didn't do much exercise before I started cycling this year (I'm loving it!), and have slowly built up to 60 miles during the week, averaging 16mph on a varied route + a 35-40 Sunday club ride (not every week), averaging 12-14mph.

I only joined a local club in April and thought I'd quickly improve and be able to move up into an intermediate group, who average 14-16mph, but don't feel I'm improving or building strength and fitness. At the moment I tend to feel knackered 3/4 of the way in the Sunday ride and don't know why

Could I be overdoing it? - I don't really know where I should be after 6 months with my local club.

Is your 60 mile ride in the week just one ride at 16mph average, or a few rides which add up to 60 miles?

fat daddy

could be so many reasons .. mainly though

Not enough recovery time (overdoing it)
Not enough nutrition - are you loosing weight, are you fueling enough during your rides
Bad nutrition the night before - do you eat well all week but Saturday night the night before your club ride do you pig out on 4 bottles of wine

If It was me I would guess stamina and fueling, ..... try giving yourself more carbs as you ride and throught the ride, it could be that you are just crashing out

MyNameIsEarl

@Grenw - the Sunday ride is about 3 hours with a banana break halfway

@SheffSimon - I'm riding 3 times during the week (Tues/Thurs/Sat)

@fat daddy - thanks for the feedback - I wonder if I should drop the Saturday ride for a while and see if it gives me more energy for the Sunday one? I don't drink much - maybe a beer with dinner now and then.

With fueling - what about things like energy gels? they feel a bit OTT for me to be honest, but if they help...

fenix

You don't need energy gels - just get some energy drink in your bottle and make sure to sip at that to keep energy levels up.

I suspect its the Saturday ride that's doing the damage though. You're probably just not up to consecutive rides.

Drop that next week and see how you get on.

guy.spartacus

Where you see 'energy drink' - read 'squash'

drlodge

I'd say you're doing too much, the Saturday ride is taking it out of you and/or the Sunday ride pace is too quick.

MyNameIsEarl

guy.spartacus wrote:

Where you see 'energy drink' - read 'squash'

Hehe - yep, I don't think I want to drink anything bright blue (unless I'm on holiday in the Maldeves drinking a weird cocktail)

MyNameIsEarl

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll drop the Saturday ride for a bit and see how it goes.

imposter2.0

MyNameIsEarl wrote:

At the moment I tend to feel knackered 3/4 of the way in the Sunday ride and don't know why

Most likely because your are riding harder and/or further with the group than you are used to. In other words, you are riding above yourself. Improvement does not happen overnight.

myideal

I think it all depends what terrain you ride as well. I notice that if I ride hard on some of my flatter routes I can get an 18/19mph average, however then on the other scale throw in hills and I'm down to 12/14mph ...because I know my weakest part of cycling is the climbing , but with my new bike and better gearing I'm actually starting to make in roads with this.

If your club route goes on different routes to what your used to then maybe it just doesn't suit your style at the moment, however I guess the only way to get better is to do more of it and get through these patches .

MyNameIsEarl

myideal wrote:

I think it all depends what terrain you ride as well. I notice that if I ride hard on some of my flatter routes I can get an 18/19mph average, however then on the other scale throw in hills and I'm down to 12/14mph ...because I know my weakest part of cycling is the climbing , but with my new bike and better gearing I'm actually starting to make in roads with this.

If your club route goes on different routes to what your used to then maybe it just doesn't suit your style at the moment, however I guess the only way to get better is to do more of it and get through these patches .

I think this is very true, I find climbing the hardest - my legs just aren't up to it yet. I guess I just need to build up the miles slowly and not expect too much in my first year.

I'll also take on board the advice about fuelling.

Thanks again!

robbo2011

If you are riding often, it does not make sense on every ride to blast around at max sustainable effort in order to get the best average speed for each ride. You'll just wear yourself out.

You need to mix up your riding to include slow endurance rides and short high intensity interval type rides. research papers indicate that a successful training mix for top endurance athletes is around 80:20 low intensity to high intensity. So for most people, that would mean one high intensity session per week. You are probably just tiring yourself out.

I am the same age as you and it does take longer to recover as the years go by..

MyNameIsEarl

robbo2011 wrote:

I am the same age as you and it does take longer to recover as the years go by..

Absolutely. Unfortunately, I've still got a mental age of 21 :P

supermurph09

Personally I wouldn't drop the saturday ride, but perhaps reduce the intensity. You may find dropping that makes you feel even more sluggish.

60 miles despite what anyone says is still a long way to ride your bike. What I would suggest is to consider how you are riding those miles. If you are on a group ride you should be able to take shelter behind other riders, do more of this until your fitness builds. On a flat ride, if you can do 50 miles at 16mph, you could probably quite easily do 18mph in a group.

HIlly rides will be a different matter all together, you have to work on your climbing and also your ability to recover after hauling yourself up the climbs. This is something you can experiment with on your own. Using Strava is good way to see your progress on climbs.

Nutrition. Gels are your friend, easy to carry, easy to eat on the go. Most of my rides are quite short but usually very intense, even if I'm out for 90 minutes the chances are I may have used a gel earlier on to keep things stocked up.

ugo.santalucia

MyNameIsEarl wrote:

@Grenw - the Sunday ride is about 3 hours with a banana break halfway

@SheffSimon - I'm riding 3 times during the week (Tues/Thurs/Sat)

@fat daddy - thanks for the feedback - I wonder if I should drop the Saturday ride for a while and see if it gives me more energy for the Sunday one? I don't drink much - maybe a beer with dinner now and then.

With fueling - what about things like energy gels? they feel a bit OTT for me to be honest, but if they help...

3 hours on breakfast and banana is not enough, simples

Alex99

guy.spartacus wrote:

Where you see 'energy drink' - read 'squash'

Depends what the aim is. Some fruit squash drinks are very low calorie. If the OP thinks the issue might be energy, then an energy drink would seem like a reasonable thing to try to see if it helps, no?

Alex99

ugo.santalucia wrote:

MyNameIsEarl wrote:

@Grenw - the Sunday ride is about 3 hours with a banana break halfway

@SheffSimon - I'm riding 3 times during the week (Tues/Thurs/Sat)

@fat daddy - thanks for the feedback - I wonder if I should drop the Saturday ride for a while and see if it gives me more energy for the Sunday one? I don't drink much - maybe a beer with dinner now and then.

With fueling - what about things like energy gels? they feel a bit OTT for me to be honest, but if they help...

3 hours on breakfast and banana is not enough, simples

You cannee change the laws of physics

fat daddy

Alex99 wrote:

Depends what the aim is. Some fruit squash drinks are very low calorie. If the OP thinks the issue might be energy, then an energy drink would seem like a reasonable thing to try to see if it helps, no?

likewise a lot of energy drinks work quicker or slower than others .. ie squash is sugar, body needs to convert it to glucose to burn it, but if you buy ione that is made of glucose or dextrose, the body can use that fule a whole couple of minutes or whatever quicker ..... you get the same energy, you just get it quicker ... but you pay for that priviledge

Alex99

fat daddy wrote:

Alex99 wrote:

Depends what the aim is. Some fruit squash drinks are very low calorie. If the OP thinks the issue might be energy, then an energy drink would seem like a reasonable thing to try to see if it helps, no?

likewise a lot of energy drinks work quicker or slower than others .. ie squash is sugar, body needs to convert it to glucose to burn it, but if you buy ione that is made of glucose or dextrose, the body can use that fule a whole couple of minutes or whatever quicker ..... you get the same energy, you just get it quicker ... but you pay for that priviledge

Sure, there might be some difference depending on precisely which sugars are ingested. I was just making the point that squash might not have a high energy content as a few comments had suggested that squash was interchangable with 'energy drink'.

niblue

If you can do 16mph solo then 12-14mph club rides should be something you should handle easily. Is it possible that you're tiring yourself by not riding to your own strengths - for example pushing harder than you'd normally do on the climbs?

I'm a similar age but about 10kg heavier so would expect to struggle to keep up with some folks on any steep or long climbs, however I'm fairly quick on the flat, downhills and gentle climbs. So if folks were getting away from me a bit on the climbs I'd let them, then catch up afterwards.

LanterneRouge010

You are likely tired on the Sunday for two reasons:

1. Inadequate carbohydrate intake after your saturday ride to restore your glycogen stores. Think like a Pro, the second you clip out of your Saturday ride, you should be planning for Sunday. Within 30 minutes of that ride you need to be consuming a significant amount of carbohydrates to commence the recovery process for tomorrow.

2. Inadequate carbohydrate intake during the Sunday ride. One banana is not enough. Take two 750ml bottles. One with water, one with fruit juice/energy drink/sugar water doesn't matter all the same. Sip on both throughout the ride as well as consuming 2-3 bananas at the rest stop. Your body will thank you for it. Repeat step 1 post Sunday ride.

AllezAllezAllez

A few things I've noticed as a developing cyclist who has been riding with a Club for a year or so....

1, I found it very hard to ride on a Saturday and then do a Club Ride the following day.
2, For a 3 hour ride I would have something to eat every hour....banana, chunk of malt loaf and a jam sandwich.
3, Unless you are super strong take a turn on the front of the group, but also have a break at the back.
4, It's easy to be drawn into going faster than you want on a Club Run.....drop to the back if you need to.
,

cycleclinic

You need sugar to fats. You bananna break may not provide you enough sugar quickly enough to burn fats hense you run out of steam. Sugary drink (a mix of sugars) helps alot as your body can only absorb so much sugar each hour. By injesting different forms of sugar you increase the ammount of sugar absorbed. You can also train your body to burn fats, it will do this but the ammount of energy liberated can be increased by riding without food. You have to pace your self though and it needs to be a long ride. A four or five hour rude without food can get uncomfortable but once you get used to it you can ride for hours with little food intake if you pace yourself. If you ride before breakfast then fat will be your main fuel source. If you ride after breakfast fully fueled then fat burnjng will happen after 2 hrs or so once gylcogel reserves are depleted.

Riding sat wont help but it may not be harming as much as other poster say. The only way to improve recovery times is ride more.

MyNameIsEarl

Thanks for all the excellent advice everyone. I just thought I’d provide some feedback on yesterday’s ride.

On Saturday, I couldn’t resist going out, so did a shorter 15 mile ride which was less hilly. Then on Sunday, I made sure I had a good breakfast an hour or so before the club ride. I took an energy bar (which I’d got free with a mag a while back) and a banana with me. I also took a full bottle of squash (strong and sugary), and had a drink every time we came to a stop/break. The ride was about 37 miles with a fair few hills, averaging 14.4mph.

I didn’t realise just how much of a difference it would make. On the second half of the ride, I thought I’d better take it easy, but each time we hit a hill, I was just powering up them no problem, plus the legs didn’t burn so much near the top. I think the combination of hydrating properly (I normally just have water half way), and the extra sugar really helped, along with eating more.

It made the ride so much more enjoyable as I didn't have to worry about getting dropped or bonking.

supermurph09

MyNameIsEarl wrote:

Thanks for all the excellent advice everyone. I just thought I’d provide some feedback on yesterday’s ride.

On Saturday, I couldn’t resist going out, so did a shorter 15 mile ride which was less hilly. Then on Sunday, I made sure I had a good breakfast an hour or so before the club ride. I took an energy bar (which I’d got free with a mag a while back) and a banana with me. I also took a full bottle of squash (strong and sugary), and had a drink every time we came to a stop/break. The ride was about 37 miles with a fair few hills, averaging 14.4mph.

I didn’t realise just how much of a difference it would make. On the second half of the ride, I thought I’d better take it easy, but each time we hit a hill, I was just powering up them no problem, plus the legs didn’t burn so much near the top. I think the combination of hydrating properly (I normally just have water half way), and the extra sugar really helped, along with eating more.

It made the ride so much more enjoyable as I didn't have to worry about getting dropped or bonking.

Well done. I'd add that it might not be just the food/drink intake that helped. You probably had more confidence thinking you were doing things better (placebo effect), but add to that you've probably improved on last week as well.

LanterneRouge010

MyNameIsEarl wrote:

Thanks for all the excellent advice everyone. I just thought I’d provide some feedback on yesterday’s ride.

On Saturday, I couldn’t resist going out, so did a shorter 15 mile ride which was less hilly. Then on Sunday, I made sure I had a good breakfast an hour or so before the club ride. I took an energy bar (which I’d got free with a mag a while back) and a banana with me. I also took a full bottle of squash (strong and sugary), and had a drink every time we came to a stop/break. The ride was about 37 miles with a fair few hills, averaging 14.4mph.

I didn’t realise just how much of a difference it would make. On the second half of the ride, I thought I’d better take it easy, but each time we hit a hill, I was just powering up them no problem, plus the legs didn’t burn so much near the top. I think the combination of hydrating properly (I normally just have water half way), and the extra sugar really helped, along with eating more.

It made the ride so much more enjoyable as I didn't have to worry about getting dropped or bonking.

But sugar is bad they say...

Well done mate. Smashed in the carbs and you smashed your ride

myideal

Well done!

There is definitely the effect of getting better and feeling better in yourself. I had a similar experience on Saturday as I took on a route that I know is a real killer for me normally with some big climbs throughout the route. The first time I did this weeks ago, it was a killer, however I sort of knew what to expect this time and I think the practice before on the hills really helped me this time. I just felt like I climbed the hills better because I was attacking them, took 2 mins off one climb which I know isnt topping the Garmin connect leader board, however for me its progress.

I think it just shows that you do have to do the hard work and get the pain in the legs as well feeling good and sort of knowing what to expect on the route. I can see why many pros cycle routes in advance now, deffo easier when you know what is round the corner as such.