overtrained, DOMS or still something else?

ggoysens

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and in first instance I joined because i'm worried about my form at the moment.

I'm cycling for a little more than a year now, and since january I am preparing for a 3day event with days of around 160km and lots of climbing in the Belgian Ardennes and Luxemburg starting the 10th of May.

I gradually increased my training, taking a relative rest week every fourth week. Everything was going fine, I felt I was getting stronger and during the first weeks of april I noticed for the first time I could keep riding in the big chainring on a flat road in heart rate zone 2 for quite a while.

In the weekend of 21 april I joined Liege-Bastogne-Liege (150km), which went very well, and the day after I did another 150k , with a little less climbing, but still some short climbs. That second day was very hard, both mentally and physically, but it went OK. I also probably didn't eat and drink enough that second day, the tiredness of the first day made me a little unfocused.

After that (so last week) I had my relative rest week with only 3 hours of easy cycling during the week, and 4 hours of relatively easy cycling during the weekend. It went horrible ... And still today (1/05) I"m not able to ride at a decent pace in heart rate zone 2, and if I go into higher heart rate zones, my legs hurt immediately. I never had this before, at least not so many days later. So I'm getting kind of worried because the big event is coming up soon.

I wonder what you guys think, am I overtrained, is it severe DOMS (with severe I mean long lasting), or could it be still something else?
And if you have an idea what it could be, do you have an idea of how to proceed?

Thanks as lot!

milemuncher1

It sounds like fatigue to me, get yourself checked out by a medical professional ( not an ‘internet expert’) if you’re concerned, but I’ve had times in the past when I’ve put in several endurance rides, without resting properly in between, and at zone 2, my pace has dropped drastically.

ggoysens

Thanks Milemuncher1, sounds like the best thing to do indeed.

Is overtraining visible in the blood or something? Or how do they check this?

milemuncher1

ggoysens wrote:

Thanks Milemuncher1, sounds like the best thing to do indeed.

Is overtraining visible in the blood or something? Or how do they check this?

Some metabolites can appear at unusually high concentrations, in the blood, if you’ve overdone it to a risky extent.

webboo

If you had DOMS your legs would be hurting when you were not riding and it most it only lasts 2 or 3 days.

kajjal

Best to see a medical professional to be sure, it could be consistent over training , stresses in your life also impact on performance.

milemuncher1

Kajjal wrote:

Best to see a medical professional to be sure, it could be consistent over training , stresses in your life also impact on performance.

Very true.

ggoysens

Alright, thanks guys. Found a specialist in these kind of things near where I live. I will make an appointment the first thing in the morning. Will report back with the results