Originally Posted by KittyBikes

Hello All,
When I was younger (teens) I was a slender woman and a good runner. Slow-ish but could go forever. In my adult life, lazy and overeating; gained weight and now I am diabetic. Tried to run again, but that was killing my body, so my Dad bought me a bike for my birthday. It's a hybrid bike. I'm 33 in case that matters.

My goal is to ride fairly long distances, doing around 20 miles 3X a week with a long ride on Sunday, the purpose being to burn off blood sugar. Of course I want to lose weight. Now don't laugh, but right now I can do about 6-8 miles and I do this 2-3 times a week, 8.8 miles/hour. I live in an area that is not flat, some rolling hills but no mountains.

I started this adventure in early June and I am still struggling. My muscles seem to die on hills; they give out and I can't push them anymore. I slow way down and lower my gears and go slow, and usually, I don't have to get off my bike but by the time I am done with 6-8 miles, I feel I have nothing more to give.

I limit my carbs as a condition of my diabetes, so most days I have eaten about 20 carbs before my bike ride. Is this too little? I am not making gains in speed or distance despite continuing to ride. I'm not being strategic about training because I don't know much, just trying to increase my rides in terms of duration and how often I ride. My other thought is that for a while I was only riding maybe 2 times a week because my muscles were so sore and tired!

I could really use any suggestions you have and thank you so much.