muscle groups in legs

bonk_king

On Friday I went to my little lads sports day and of course when the teacher challenged the dad's to have a race I was straight up there. At 50, I was the oldest dad there but I knew I was likely to be just as fit, if not fitter, than the other, let's say, not so athletic looking dad's that I was up against. BOOM, I wasted them, leaving a few of them open mouthed. That was Friday, yesterday I could hardly walk, today's not much better. No chance of a bike ride today.

The other week I was relaying some loose paving stones out the back. I was on my hands and knees for most of the time. I was at it for about 3 hrs. I got up the next day and same as above, could hardly walk. I didn't throw my leg over my bike for 4 days after that one.

Yet I can go out on the bike and occasionally thrash myself and my legs are fine. I realise there's different muscle groups and it seems my cycling muscles are spot on. Do I need to do some gym work to build up the other muscle groups or maybe do a bit of light running....or, just stay away from sports days and get the missus to do the paving!

sungod

intermittent/random bursts of activity rely on your base strength and aerobic fitness, you may do ok at the time but your body isn't trained for the activity and it'll be more likely you'll feel fatigue/aches/whatever afterwards

if you ride regularly, your body will get used to it, same as with other hard physical activities

StillGoing

You're using different muscle groups in different techniques. You can get gym maestros that can bench press the equivalent of half a cow, but ask them to do it in an abattoir with half a cow and they struggle.

sloppyschleckonds

Im amazed its taken the OP 50 years to realise this

cougie

I found this out decades ago. My cardio fitness from cycling let me go for a thirty minute run no bother. It was just the next day when I realised my muscles were not up to it. Coming down stairs was agony.

You'd probably have recovered quicker with a spin on the bike.

Pross

The most I've ached recently was after playing a 5 aside tournament in goal. Stretching to block the ball with my legs and standing in a crouching position for so long stretched muscles that get limited motion when cycling or running.

stueys

Cycling gives you an aerobic engine that your muscle conditioning can’t underwrite when you run. The muscle movements are basically opposites to each other and running is an impact sport, those two things combined mean you’ll know all about it if you run very occasionally. The average punter doesn’t have this problem as they won’t have the fitness to go out and push hard or long.

Run 2 or 3 times a month and you’ll condition for both.

bonk_king

Stueys wrote:

Cycling gives you an aerobic engine that your muscle conditioning can’t underwrite when you run. The muscle movements are basically opposites to each other and running is an impact sport, those two things combined mean you’ll know all about it if you run very occasionally. The average punter doesn’t have this problem as they won’t have the fitness to go out and push hard or long.

Run 2 or 3 times a month and you’ll condition for both.

Thank you, that's what I was asking. Whether other exercise apart from cycling (gym work or running) would help keep ALL the leg muscle groups supple. That way when I do things that strain my non cycling muscles they shouldn't ache like a bitch for days after and keep me off the bike.

Due to the weather being so nice yesterday I was chomping at the bit to get out so last night when it had cooled down a bit off I went. I was expecting it to be uncomfortable but I was fine, the aches I had during the day just walking around and what knot just went. I even pushed hard on a few stretches and I was fine. This was probably due to me using my cycling muscles again which are well conditioned.

Thanks for the replies guys.

haydenm

Stueys wrote:

Cycling gives you an aerobic engine that your muscle conditioning can’t underwrite when you run. The muscle movements are basically opposites to each other and running is an impact sport, those two things combined mean you’ll know all about it if you run very occasionally. The average punter doesn’t have this problem as they won’t have the fitness to go out and push hard or long.

Run 2 or 3 times a month and you’ll condition for both.

+1 on this, I used to ache for days after running but I find since I started running twice a week (my 'training' schedule isn't exactly packed and I am child free) I have seen real improvements. I find my core strength and ability to deal with very high heart rates have seen most of the increase even if the muscle groups don't benefit so much. Interestingly, all my best 5km running times are within a week or two of returning from a cycling holiday (two heavily laden tours, and a week in Tenerife). A lot of out of the saddle max power efforts I would guess

davep1

For me, I would have to run 2-3 times a week to make it bearable. 2-3 times a month isn't often enough, and I would always have that aching leg feeling. I would find if I didn't run for a week, it was always hard but I could maintain my level, but if I left it nearer two weeks I would be almost back to the start.
I live near the South Downs, and one of the reasons I stopped running was because the descents took so much out of my legs, specifically the muscles above my knees. If I had done a run I felt like I couldn't ride for 2-3 days after, which meant I wasn't riding enough and couldn't be choosy about the conditions to go out in.

mrfpb

Parkrun is the answer! Take your lad along and you won't need to push hard. Just do an easy 5km and get an official time and age grade. Or leave the lad at home and go for it. So long as you can deal with being overtaken by primary school kids, you'll be ok.

lakesluddite

DaveP1 wrote:

For me, I would have to run 2-3 times a week to make it bearable. 2-3 times a month isn't often enough, and I would always have that aching leg feeling. I would find if I didn't run for a week, it was always hard but I could maintain my level, but if I left it nearer two weeks I would be almost back to the start.
I live near the South Downs, and one of the reasons I stopped running was because the descents took so much out of my legs, specifically the muscles above my knees. If I had done a run I felt like I couldn't ride for 2-3 days after, which meant I wasn't riding enough and couldn't be choosy about the conditions to go out in.

This^. I dread going out on a run if I've left it for two weeks - I know I'll have to reduce the distance and cope with potentially hobbling around for the next three days, even though I do at least 150 miles on the bike each week. Having said that, even if I have sore calves from running, I'll still get on the bike as it's a different muscle group.

I have just started to do triathlons more regularly, so I can't really leave it too long in between runs or swims or I really feel it.