Keir

Well this may be a dumb question but I figure I'll give it a shot.

My legs were WORN OUT during today's ride. Didn't have much juice at all. There's a new group of serious riders I'm going to jump in with tomorrow morning and really don't feel like getting dropped. I know I can hang with them on a normal today but maybe not with these legs. So other than rest, what are some ways to give yourself a boost for a ride when taking it easy isn't much of an option? I need to feel stronger and more energetic tomorrow than I did today. Would it help to eat like a million carbs tonight?

I'm all out of Clenbuterol.

Ghostcode

Caffeine, most pre-workout protein shake powders body builders use have caffeine in them to help give the extra boost to get a bigger pump.

echappist

If i were you, i'd start resting. 48 hours of no exercise, then do a easy ride and see how you feel. If you are still tired, take another 24-48 hours off. Eat your carbs & proteins and sleep a lot. You won't lose much fitness. I took off about 96 hours after my legs were feeling dead last week.

It's either resting a bit now and get the overreaching symptoms out, or severely overreach and feel like s!ht for a few weeks.


I don't do this often, but your post deserves this

Keir

@mcjimbosandwich

figured that might be the only option. you are probably right. im just starting to get into group riding with faster rides and i don't often get a chance to ride when they do, so i want to take advantage of the opportunity tomorrow. i should probably be smart and walk away from the bike though.

umd

You said your legs felt tired today? What kind of ride was it? I mean, were you pushing hard despite your legs feeling tired or were you just spinning around easy. I suspect you just made things worse; as soon as you knew your legs were blown you should have either quit and headed home or just spun super easy for recovery. You won't really be able to rest enough to between now and tomorrow's ride. You can either HTFU tomorrow and try to push through any discomfort, or try to hook up with the group some other time. And unless you weren't feeling good because you were bonking, stuffing your face with carbs won't help you either.

Ghostcode

The OP asked for more energy, and wanted to feel stronger in the morning. I told him exactly one way to help accomplish that. The obvious advice is to rest, but he doesn't want to. I gave him what I thought to be the next best option because it's true.

Grumpy McTrumpy

I'd say rest as well, especially since you are not forced to ride tomorrow.

I had a bad day one at Killington this year and ended up doing a 40 mile time trial chasing the time cut, which put me behind the 8-ball for the next two days.

Day two was a shorter race, but I was feeling truly horrible so I dealt with it by ...

1. taking an ice bath (this sucks a lot)
2. spending most of the day in bed (this does not suck)
3. eating more than usual
4. foam roller work (this is like getting a severely painful but therapeutic massage)

day three, believe it or not, was the queen stage (70mi with some big climbs) and I actually felt pretty good for the first half and spent it in the front answering attacks and protecting my teammate. I didn't last for the final climb, but at least I got half a race out of my tired legs.

caloso

If I have the time (and I rarely do anymore since the kids were born) I like to take a cool bath (55-60F ?). I tried ice baths but couldn't stand them. I think I get most of the benefit with less shrinkage if it's merely cool.

echappist

please don't ever coach anyone.

The Weak Link

Eating a million calories of carbs tonight will give you really bad gas tomorrow. That might work to your advantage.

Trucker Dan

Amphetamines.

achoo

The OP's riding TOMORROW MORNING, and you're busting on a guy for basically saying, "You're screwed. Take some caffeine and cross your fingers." after giving the OP advice to:

The OP wants to ride TOMORROW MORNING, you give THAT advice, and then you facepalmed somebody??!?!

Huh?

531phile 

Keir

Ok, so, uh, rest. got it.

And I usually take the time to recover and all that but I just really wanna freaking ride tomorrow

Shimagnolo

Agreed.
I ride every second day, mainly because my legs feel dead if I ride two days in a row.
If I put *two* rest days between rides, I can ride a hell of a lot harder,
and run my pulse 10-15 points higher than usual, but going w/o riding two days in a row drives me nuts.

echappist

never had an over-reach, have you?

here, let's do a quick calculation: you stop riding when your legs feel dead, you lose 2-3 days of training and little fitness

you over-reach, you will eventually be very tired or get sick. either way, it'll take you more than a week (if not more than a week) to get back. by which time, you will have lost quite a bit of fitness.



do us a favor and save your inanity for another place

echappist

look, you are a grown adult. we provide you our opinions based on our experiences and advice we have received and read. do whatever you wish with it, but unless if you have access to iodine, phosphorus, and pseudefed, there's nothing you do that's gonna boost your performance. Not caffeine, not carb load, not protein, zilch. Your body is in repair mode, and you ain't gonna squeeze another ounce of performance out of it.

chances are, one more day of riding ain't gonna put you in a worse place than you already are in, but it'd be unrealistic to expect your performance to improve. Much better to wait when you have better form & impress the guys then.

ls0725

have a buddy stay at your back with a stun baton or tazer, tell him to zap you if you start to lag from the group or slow down. that will be the best incentive.

Shimagnolo

This will eliminate the need for him to ride so close.

https://www.k9electronics.com/categor...ngCollars.aspx

1200cycles

I'm a novice when it comes to this, your effort is probably a lot more than what I have been doing to get back into physical activity so it might not work for you but protein shakes have helped me continue doing rides daily. With the shakes I used one recover ride instead of riding every other day or resting for two days in between hard efforts w/o shakes.

If you drink a protein shake now, another one tonight and another one in the morning with a good warm up you might be good.

This could be a bad idea though, I don't have enough experience with protein shakes and nutrition to give professional advice so I don't know but maybe that would help.

ls0725

tried and failed. buddy had the remote and energy bars in the same jersey pocket. he was reaching for the bars but.....

socalrider

7-11 riders used to use this back in the 80's.. Before a long ride or a race, one way to help your legs feel fresh and light is to take two Anacin and sublingual B-12 about one hour prior. Dosage for B-12 can vary from 500 to 2000 mcg. The Anacin contains caffeine and aspirin. These products will "lighten your legs" by the caffeine and aspirin's effect, combined with the nervine tonic of the B-12.

datlas 

Interesting idea but I wonder if there is a controlled trial to see if this really makes a difference.

socalrider

The soigneurs used to give it to there riders all the time.. Pro riders are only going to use something they know will help..

Another great product is Berocca Performance, by Bayer. These are effervescent tablets containing B vitamins with added vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, and zinc. On the Pro-Tour in Europe, the riders took Berocca Performance two times a day; once in the morning, and once after the race. This product is phenomenal but very hard to find in the US..

MegaTom

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