Aches and more aches

[Benthedoon]

I've been back on a bike for a couple of months now but my legs hurt!
I commute, it's not far enough to do much good so I tend to go flat out in both directions, then Sunday morning is the big ride, a few 20s and a 35 with a few 15s thrown in for good measure, with all this riding I was hoping my legs would be getting used to it but they just ache most of the time.
I do the cold bath after my Sunday outings which helps in the short term.
Could it be that I don't do enough 'long' rides or that I don't rest enough (or at all)

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fossyant]

Don't worry - I get it most of the time - sign of a good work out, and I've been riding 25 years properly....

 

[RedBike]

This time last month I was really clocking the miles up. I could do a 100/150mile ride at the weekend then commute to work on Monday without any trouble. Yet if I did a time trial at the weekend even though it was only ~10 miles I would have sore sore legs for several days. My point is it always takes a while to recover from a hard workout.

I would take a day or two off to let your legs recover; and when you do ride flat-out back from work try adding in a bit of a diversion so that you can spend 5-10minutes riding easily and cooling down.

 

[Peter10]

Like other have said, maybe your legs aren't getting enough time to recover, muscles grow during recovery, if you continue to work hard they just won't have time to repair. I used to have the same issue when I did competitive sports 6 days a week, after a while you feel absolutely awful from constant aches and pains and just needed 3 days off.

 

[PK99]

Like other have said, maybe your legs aren't getting enough time to recover, muscles grow during recovery, if you continue to work hard they just won't have time to repair. I used to have the same issue when I did competitive sports 6 days a week, after a while you feel absolutely awful from constant aches and pains and just needed 3 days off.

+1

Stress & Recvovery

One of the basic principles of training is the concept of stress and recovery. What this means is that we start off by riding faster / further than we are used to. This stretches the muscles beyond their previous capacity. This makes the muscles (of both the heart and legs) grow and become stronger. However, in the process of stretching the muscles we also damage them. This is why it is necessary to allow a period of recovery for the muscles to rehabilitate.

Read more: http://cyclinginfo.c.../#ixzz0vrLxYAil

 

[Benthedoon]

Rest then, it's going to be hard to stay off my bike but if I have to. I'll take it real easy on my little commute for a few days too.
Just one more good ride on Sunday then rest and no leg work at the gym for a week.

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

 

[fossyant]

rest doesn't mean not riding.......take it easy for a day or two

 

[Benthedoon]

Take it easy, hmmm, I do find that difficult I'm one of those 'ride 'til you blow up' people I think that may be the problem.
I struggle to pace myself, but thats a whole other problem I need to work on.

 

[Peter10]

Take it easy, hmmm, I do find that difficult I'm one of those 'ride 'til you blow up' people I think that may be the problem.
I struggle to pace myself, but thats a whole other problem I need to work on.

I was exactly the same when I did sport until I tore my Achilles tendon and was out for almost a year. I kept on pushing myself, playing rugby, lifting heavy weights and regularly running a few miles a day. My body gave up on me in the end and I was only 17-18. It's so hard to hold back when you are that sort of person (I know) but you need to to prevent injuries that will follow you for a long time. I am an extremely competitive person and it was that which actually caused so many stress injuries.

If you take a few days rest (i.e slower riding), you will get stronger from that. I don't know how much you may know about sports training so I won't go into it, but when you rest, your muscles repair stronger than before (which is how you gain muscle mass). If you don't rest, you will continue to tear muscle and it will take even longer to repair, or you will sustain an injury. You may be surprised how good you feel after resting up.

 

[Globalti]

Absolutely. I keep writing it on this forum, but when I go away on 2 week business trips, during which I take absolutely zero exercise and eat and drink too much, I'm always amazed at how good I feel when I get home. The only part that suffers is that I lose the edge on cardio-vascular fitness but that soon comes back after a couple of rides. The legs always feel super-strong.

I recommend that you stop cycling for five days.

 

[ManiaMuse]

Perhaps instead of going flat out on your commutes you could take a detour on the way back say one day a week so then you get 2 longer rides a week? And then take it slightly easier the morning that you intend to take the long way back and the following day so you have a bit of a rest?

That way you get 2 longer rides per week which might help to build your base stamina up a bit and make your body get used to recovering after longer rides.

 

[Benthedoon]

FIVE DAYS!!!! my bike would hate me if I left her alone for 5 days, Im going for very gentle rides to work and no weekend distance, no ride tomorrow or next weekend so sort of a week off.
I definitely need it, been to legoland today with the kids so been on my feet all day pushing a double buggy up and down hills and the aches are in full flow.