My legs feel like poo the day after an easy ride. Why?

[Gummee]

So I'm trying to figure out WhyTF my legs are so tired even after an easy hour. It's almost like I've been going rounds with Mike Tyson today.

I'm beginning to think it's medical not physical.

Thoughts?

I haven't gotten to a Dr yet cause till lately I haven't been positive anything's been really wrong

M

[earlfoss]

What had your week been like leading into that easy day? Need more information.

[Gummee]

I sit at a desk and help people with their car/home/etc insurance. Nothing out of the ordinary.

M

[ergott]

I think he means previous rides. What kind of riding did you do a week or two before this ride in question?

[JAGI410]

How are your eating/drinking habits? Do you stretch before/after a ride? Is it muscle soreness or joint soreness?

[Gummee]

How are your eating/drinking habits? Do you stretch before/after a ride? Is it muscle soreness or joint soreness?

No, to the stretching. Never have in the 30 years of riding I've been doing.

I'm not sore, just tired. Like at the end of a set of lifting weights kind of tired. Like the muscles just don't wanna work any more.

AFA the week(s) prior: It's been race on Sun, typically Mon off, Tues easy on the gravel, Wed had been CX workouts till I got too tired, lots of weeks Thurs was off. Another easy ride Fri. About 90min on Sat Race on Sun

This last week was race on Sun, off on Mon, easy hour on Tues, off on Wed and Thurs, 45min run on Fri, then an hour easy on Sat. Took yesterday off from the mud-fest that was Bikenetix cause I knew it'd be no fun. Legs are still tired...

I've been having to take more days off/week as my legs have gotten more 'blah.'

I'm going to try doing other stuff for a bit: underwater hockey and some short runs. ...and find a sports doctor and run this by him/her

M

[KonaSS]

I just had to google underwater hockey. Learn something new every day. :banana:

[ultraman6970]

If you are over 40 probably are the symptoms of getting OLD... soon bikes wont fit right from one day to another... sucks... :(

[redir]

Run?

There's yer problem ;)

[kppolich]

First things first, hows your sleep been? Been sick? Taking any new meds?
Next, take an extra day off and do some extended stretching, foam roll,and pop an anti inflam while you are at it. After that I would focus on food- Get some clean carbs in you and water and pick a ride with a few hard efforts and try to hit them.

[duff_duffy]

Where can I sign up for underwater hockey?? That sounds like fun. Seriously though, listen to your body...i hate going to doctor but sometimes you just know when something ain’t right and sounds like you are there...

[FlashUNC]

When was your last block of just rest?

And do your legs a favor and stretch.

[false_Aest]

1. ibuprofen and other meds take the pain away but they hinder recovery. Inflammation + a bit of pain are a signal to the body to repair itself. Take that away and it's not going to do what it should. There's pretty good research backing this up. A few podcasts break it down better than I can: velonews + trainer road come to mind.

2. its common for my legs to feel "groggy" the day after a day *completely* off. this was true in my 20s and more-so in my mid-30s. After a 5 min warm-up I need to do a few 1-min hard efforts to wake things up.

3. Recovery takes longer when you get older. I'd consider doing 2 days of recovery: 1 active (<50% FTP for < 60min) and 1 day off. I'm guessing your "easy gravel ride" is still above recovery and you're still wearing your legs down.
---

I didn't understand easy until I got a power meter. HR didn't help because it was significantly elevated after a hard training block. The first time I tested my FTP and then had an active recovery day I thought I was going to fall off my bike I was going so slow.

Now I realize that all my "recovery days" in my 20s were just making me slower in races.
---

Gummee, I'd really start to try to quantify what your easy and hard days are. And if your training is more "whim-based" add some structure. It's really hard to sort things out unless you've got that structure.

[ergott]

I have found that some days the legs feel like that and I can still put in a strong effort early on in ride/workout that flushes the legs a bit. Feels better when I do. I've been following my CTL (powermeter talk) much more closely and have a solid idea when I need rest and when I should say shut up legs and push through that blah feel.

[ergott]

I didn't understand easy until I got a power meter. HR didn't help because it was significantly elevated after a hard training block. The first time I tested my FTP and then had an active recovery day I thought I was going to fall off my bike I was going so slow.

Now I realize that all my "recovery days" in my 20s were just making me slower in races.


This is so true. Most people I ride with don't know what "easy recovery ride" is. I end up doing them solo on the road or trainer as a result.

[macaroon]

Iron, Copper, Zinc or maybe B vitamins. You getting enough of those in your diet?

[PaMtbRider]

Another thing to consider is weather change. We just had a cold snap here n the mid-atlantic. I always feel more tired after riding in the cold.

[weisan]

This thread came at an interesting timing.

I rode five days straight about a week ago and at greater intensity each day working towards the final day ride where I totally destroyed my legs. I did that on purpose knowing that the next day we are gonna have incremental weather with a strong cold front moving into our area so that would probably mean I will be forced off the bike for a couple of days of recovery. A quick caveat before I go on with my story, I have never raced or been coached by anyone so I really don't know anything about training and recovery. The rain didn't come until later that evening so I went out and did a easy spin on my brompton for about an hour. Then it was wet and cold for like two days where I didn't ride at all and all I did was some yoga and stretching and using the roller to roll out the calves and the thighs, I can feel the tightness and the soreness but that's to be expected consider the fact that I was deadset on "destroying" those legs. The first time I got back on the bike, I was just doing a 10-mile commute home on my brompton at a leisurely pace, the legs felt fine for the most part until towards the last two mile or so, suddenly the thighs started to cramp. I was like, "whoa, what's going on here?!" I wasn't even going hard. I managed to limp home. The next day, I did a ride on my gravel bike, same thing, not really going hard or anything, the thighs cramped again. I just took it easy, pulled back a bit and managed to get home. The next day, went on a group ride, the legs felt dead, couldn't really summon up the strength, tried a couple of accelerations on the hills but had to pull back throttle before I hit the top because the legs were giving up on me. I suffered quite a bit during the first part of the ride but then felt better towards the end after our store stop. I got the numbers from my power meter, but not sure what I am looking at. Told you I don't know anything about training or recovery.

Just saw pamtbrider pal post. It could be the weather. It was colder this week than last. 40s vs 60s.

[Gummee]

Where can I sign up for underwater hockey?? That sounds like fun. Seriously though, listen to your body...i hate going to doctor but sometimes you just know when something ain’t right and sounds like you are there...

Google underwater hockey and your town/city. There's clubs all over. I started in Sandy Eggo when a cycling teammate that was on the UK National Team finally twisted my arm into going out and playing.

I suck at it. ...and... I'm getting back after a few years off so I'm likely to suck that much more. I like it because you're swimming, twisting and turning under water and generally using all the muscles you don't when riding.

The local club should have extras of all you need to try it out. Most of the players wear speedos, but I have a tan line from hades, so I wear jammers.

Coed. Non contact. Fun times

M

Diet isn't stellar, but I don't eat tons of crap either. I can try some vitamins... Who knows? Maybe I AM short of something?!

[false_Aest]

Diet isn't stellar, but I don't eat tons of crap either. I can try some vitamins... Who knows? Maybe I AM short of something?!

I'll bet you an Ultegra cassette that your diet isn't having that big of an effect on you. And, with all the "enriched" food we all end up consuming, you're probably not deficient on anything.

That said, I bet everyone on this forum could benefit from an improvement in diet -- this is coming from a guy that had 4.5oz of bourbon with dinner because
"I had a hard day and I deserve it."

[Gummee]

1. ibuprofen and other meds take the pain away but they hinder recovery. Inflammation + a bit of pain are a signal to the body to repair itself. Take that away and it's not going to do what it should. There's pretty good research backing this up. A few podcasts break it down better than I can: velonews + trainer road come to mind.

2. its common for my legs to feel "groggy" the day after a day *completely* off. this was true in my 20s and more-so in my mid-30s. After a 5 min warm-up I need to do a few 1-min hard efforts to wake things up.

3. Recovery takes longer when you get older. I'd consider doing 2 days of recovery: 1 active (<50% FTP for < 60min) and 1 day off. I'm guessing your "easy gravel ride" is still above recovery and you're still wearing your legs down.
---

I didn't understand easy until I got a power meter. HR didn't help because it was significantly elevated after a hard training block. The first time I tested my FTP and then had an active recovery day I thought I was going to fall off my bike I was going so slow.

Now I realize that all my "recovery days" in my 20s were just making me slower in races.
---

Gummee, I'd really start to try to quantify what your easy and hard days are. And if your training is more "whim-based" add some structure. It's really hard to sort things out unless you've got that structure.

I try really hard to keep the HR down below 100BPM or 120w on easy days. If I'm hitting 20kph, I'm going quickly. Easy-moderate days are 100-110 or so 150-ish watts with spikes to 200ish getting up hills.

AFA training: I'd been doing Friel's 'plan' as adapted to my riding hours thru late June (Hilly Billy) then less structured, but shorter and harder thru CX season's start. Then Race, off, easy gravel or road depending on the weather, CX workout, easy or off, easy, kind of an openers ride, then race. IOW not too many hard days/week. AFA I could tell anyways.

M

[OtayBW]

For me, matter follows mind. If I'm having a slow or sluggish day, that often shows up in my enthusiasm and performance on the bike. And yes - the weather has a lot to do with it - e.g., breathing/respiration, mood, etc.

[Mikej]

I’ve found easier rides tiring as well - turns out I was out of shape at lower outputs vs higher race output. Weird.

[nobuseri]

Interesting topic. I fall in the same bucket. I just figured I was out of shape. I prob am, but I think I could use a tightening up of my diet as well.

Any dieting tips that have helped with this issue, I am all ears....

Thanks in advance

[false_Aest]

Race, off, easy gravel or road depending on the weather, CX workout, easy or off, easy, kind of an openers ride, then race. IOW not too many hard days/week. AFA I could tell anyways.

M

I'm no coach and have no sense of your intensity or time commitment or underlying fitness.

If I were in your shoes, knowing how much CX took out of me I'd do the following

Sun: Race
Mon: Off
Tues: Active Recovery (10% less HR than what you're doing no surges 45-60min)
Wed: CX Workout
Thurs: Medium Intensity
Fri: Active Recovery (10% less HR than what you're doing no surges 45-60min)
Sat: Leg Openers

[Gummee]

I've decided that that Sun was the last race of the year, so I'm switching gears for a bit...

Run, easy ride, gravel, UW Hockey, run, ??, UW Hockey I've got a bit of time to recover and see if it's rest I need or what. Also need to find a sports Dr. in the meantime 'just in case.'

M