Originally Posted by
caloso
To your original question: I don't think muscle soreness is a good indicator of whether or not you had a good workout. It is a good indicator that you haven't used those particular muscles strenuously very recently.
Also, if you're truly going "full gas," then 80 minutes all out is a brutal workout whether you're a noob or a UCI pro. If you do it every ride, that's a recipe for plateauing and then burning out.
I am not sure if I used "full gas" in the right context but it was almost 10 pm at a relative's place. I wanted to get home quickly and it was getting cold when I just had a jersey on so I opted to pedal harder and keep warm than to shiver all the way through which is not fun at all. I was just going as hard as I can without burning myself out but my legs really started crying at mile 10, all I could think of was getting home, my legs were becoming almost numb yet burned like hell. Wasn't a pleasant ride but it felt great coming home to earning a few PRs that I had not touched since 2016.