Why am I so damn sore?

[Tom]

During the summer I was riding a fair amount, 5-6 times a week, 3 weeks 200-250 miles and then one week 150-175. No plan, it just worked out that way. Every week there'd be at least one hard ride. These days I'm riding 4-5 times a week, 140-170 miles, and going easy every single day, to the extent of hiding from rides I know will get tough.

Then why am I so sore? I'm practically stumbling I have so much lactic acid built up and it's day after day like this. Very weird.

The only thing I can think is that all summer I rode what amounted to tempo all the time without going red line except for a few group rides here and there, now that I am going slow for the bulk of a ride there will be a hill section where I don't hold back. Maybe I just don't have a top gear unless I develop it.

Anybody else have this happen?

[ti_boi]

My own situation is that as it gets colder (and wetter) I start to creak along like an old roto-tiller....early AM is ugly. Thank Vishnu for Yoga :D

[b3bicycles]

Tom,
I'm right there with you, as I've gotten older the fall is the hardest riding time for me. The only thing that has help is to slow down the pace of my rides. I've tried to add some distance to my rides as well. I don't "train" during the fall - just ride. You might try to add a little more protien to you diet as well to help with recovery.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . . . . . . . . . . SATAN?!?!

No, I think it's more likely you're overtrained. That's a heck of a lot of miles, buddy! Also, you do a significant amount of your riding lately very early inthe AM, I would assume right after getting up. How much stretching are you doing beforehand? Or afterward? I have never been really good at early morning rides for just that reason--it takes me a few hours to limber up. That one morning I went out with you on the River Loop I had a good time the last hour, but the first hour was AGONY.

But I'm more thinking overtraining. That period a couple of weeks ago when I was on vacation I did 330 miles in 14 days, and I was trashed for at least a week. My legs worked OK, but if you touched them they hurt. I had no stamina. I was fine for just everyday stuff, but if I exerted myself I could feel it.

When was the last time you just took a week or two off completely? I generally do that during this transition period from road to gym, and literally HAD to last week because my legs were so thrashed.

BBDave

[david]

tom,

you might be surprised by how badly you need rest, even though you think you're riding a more relaxed schedule.

a long time ago, back in my racing days, i rode 400 hard miles a week and thought i was getting the right amount of rest on "off" days.

it wasn't until i quit racing that i realized how overtrained and tired my muscles really were.

after quitting racing, i backed off to about 100 miles a week.

at the time, i was working in a retail store that had two floors. we were constantly up and down those stairs all day long.

about three months after i stopped racing, i went up those stairs one day and my legs felt different. it was the first time my legs hadn't felt sore going up a flight of stairs.

clearly, my legs hadn't had the proper recovery time. and it took three months of mellow riding for them to fully recover.

now, that's probably an extreme case. but it does show you how overtrained we can become without realizing it and how long it can take to fully recover.

if your legs are sore all the time, they're trying to tell you something. consider yourself lucky that you recognize this. it's not uncommon, as was in my case, for an athlete to become accustomed to soreness to the point where you ignore it. a nasty downward spiral ensues.

other sign of overtraining - difficulty sleeping, crankiness, malaise. there are a bunch of others and you can find some interesting articles on line if you do a search for overtraining.

so, listen to your legs and figure out a way to give them the rest they might be pleading for.

[BumbleBeeDave]

TOM?!?! Cranky?!?! . . . . Nawww! Couldn't happen! :rolleyes:

BBDave

[Kevan]

people offer the possibility of some horrible diseases, but have you thought about Lyme disease or something of that ilk?

Actuall I should offer: Give it a rest!

[Fixed]

bro if it's that bad take a week off and if it's still bad go see the doc.i.m.h.o. I hope you feel better. cheers :beer:

[Tom]

I just got back from the doc. It's distemper.

[Too Tall]

That's still no excuse to drain a bottle of scotch MISTER!!!
You are getting good advice...back 'er down to Z1/Z2 rides for a few weeks. It is a REALLY good time to start doing core work (hint hint).

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . I've been telling Tom for years, "Hey, dis temper of yours is really a problem!" :beer:

BBDave

[Tom]

I guess what is making me scratch my head is that I thought I was doing zone 1/2 rides.

[vaxn8r]

. . . . . . . . . . . . SATAN?!?!

No, I think it's more likely you're overtrained. That's a heck of a lot of miles, buddy! .

BBDave
I agree. Take 7-10 days off and get back at it and your legs will thank you.

I love fall. I feel like I'm in my best shape in September and October.

[Cadence230]

Have you changed anything with your bike set-up? Saddle fore-aft? Raise or lower saddle? Different saddle? The reason I ask is because I feel if you change something such as the afore mentioned things you work your body in different ways. For instance...two weeks ago I put a shim under my cleat on the shoe of my right shoe to correct a leg length discrepency. Surprisingly my lower quads on both legs for about a week and a half where wierd sore. My *** was also sore and I started getting some tendon inflamation in my left calf. The other day I went out and did some stomps and strangley the soreness stopped. Hmmm. It could be Satan I suppose.

[dirtdigger88]

S&M?

Jason

[Tailwinds]

I've had the same issue... where on paper, in my training diary that I used to keep, it looked like I was taking it easy enough, and in my head I thought I was going easy enough -- but I had the typical (for me) overtraining symptoms of soreness and difficulty sleeping. On those occasions, time off the bike was the only thing that worked... as much as I hated taking time off the bike.

[Ray]

I don't think I ride enough to be overtrained. I do about 5-6 thousand miles a year, but rarely ride more than two days in a row or more than four days a week (except for token distances doing errands around town). My legs are always a bit sore a day or two after tough rides, but I've never had trouble sleeping and have felt reasonably good when I'm on the bike.

BUT...

Between lousy weather and being sick, I was off the bike almost completely for about two weeks (again, except for some very short errand running rides) until this past Monday. I did a short mountain bike ride Monday afternoon and felt scarey good. Went out and did 35 on the road on Tuesday and felt scarey good again. Seemed like I could ride in whatever gear I wanted at whatever cadence I wanted. The hills were barely obstacles. Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone and did almost 70 relatively hard on Wednesday and now my legs are trashed. But, D@MN did that time off the bike do me some good.

-Ray

[vaxn8r]

I don't think I ride enough to be overtrained. I do about 5-6 thousand miles a year, but rarely ride more than two days in a row or more than four days a week (except for token distances doing errands around town). My legs are always a bit sore a day or two after tough rides, but I've never had trouble sleeping and have felt reasonably good when I'm on the bike.

BUT...

Between lousy weather and being sick, I was off the bike almost completely for about two weeks (again, except for some very short errand running rides) until this past Monday. I did a short mountain bike ride Monday afternoon and felt scarey good. Went out and did 35 on the road on Tuesday and felt scarey good again. Seemed like I could ride in whatever gear I wanted at whatever cadence I wanted. The hills were barely obstacles. Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone and did almost 70 relatively hard on Wednesday and now my legs are trashed. But, D@MN did that time off the bike do me some good.

-Ray
That's what I'm talking about!

[loctite]

my old traing motto.....
REST AS HARD AS YOU TRAIN!

Good luck :beer:

[Ray]

my old traing motto.....
REST AS HARD AS YOU TRAIN!

Good luck :beer:
OK, but if the "rest" that did me so much good lasted nearly two weeks, how to balance working enough and hard enough with enought rest? I think the irony of autumn riding is a lot of us feel so good because, with shorter days, we can only ride a couple of times a week, so we feel fresh and good almost every ride. The downside is that you can't maintain the excellent condition you spent the summer getting into with that limited amount of riding. So you feel great and have some great rides, but your condition is slowly fading away to zilch. This has happened to me nearly every year. I ride tons through September, but then ease up quite a bit. I have great rides in October and into November, but by about Thanksgiving, my conditioning is just about gone.

I'll be interested to see how it goes this year where I should be able to continue to ride more often through the winter.

-Ray

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . where I live all of about five blocks from Tom, there is just no way for me to keep riding at a high level once the days start getting shorter. I just cannot get out of work and on the bike before 6pm, and sunset is now before 6. So I’m lucky if I can get out with the headlight on the MTB and do 20. Of course the conditioning starts to fade, but I just try to take it in stride and get some rest after spending the whole summer riding like a maniac, then start up with spinning and upper body weight work in November.

I find I generally keep my fairly strong form into December, but then the spin classes for an hour two or three times a week will only keep so much. But that’s still better than doing nothing, cardio-wise.

But there’s nothing wrong with taking a few weeks off. You may not realize it, but your body accumulates little injuries all the time you’re working out hard. The body deals with them and learns to tolerate them, but you really need a few weeks off now and then to let things heal up and get back to normal--even the “things” you didn’t even realize were injured.

BBDave