KevinB.

Right now I am riding at least 4 days , sometimes 5 days in a row.I usually ride between 15 and 20 miles each ride.I ride a 2 mile lap around my neighborhood which is half uphill and half downhill , so the uphill is quite a workout for me.By the end of the week my legs are extremely tired and remain tired throughout the weekend.I am 44 years old ...are my legs tired because of my age or should I not ride 5 days in a row or should I just keep at it and they will adjust ???

10 Wheels

Try two days off when you need to rest your legs.
You will be stronger when you get back on your bike.

PatW

If you are not recovering by the next day, you can do one of several things.

First off, ride a bit slower on days you are starting to get beaten up. You should vary the intensity of your work outs anyway.

Secondly, I have found that going for a walk after a hard ride really promotes recovery. I think it must be that getting the blood flowing through the muscles accelerates healing of the stresses put on by a hard ride.

Third, you could just ride no more than 3 days in a row. Perhaps, you could do an alternate form of exercise on the "rest" days.

ericm979

Hills? In Florida? I don't think so.

You're not tired because of your age. 44 is not old. There are plenty of 45+ racers who ride 200 or 300 miles a week, on real hills, not overpasses. You're tired because you are out of shape. That's good because unlike age, it can be fixed by training.

But you need to add training gradually. If you're getting really tired, then you need to take a day off. When I was really unfit at age 41 I rode three or four times a week, with a couple days doing weight training in the gym. Weight work can help an unfit cyclist by strenghtening the muscles around the knee. That helps stabilize the knee which reduces the chance of injury.


For training, don't do the same loop over and over. That's hardly better than being indoors on a trainer. Ride somewhere different each day. Don't "go hard" all ride every ride. Do long easy rides and short hard rides. Go explore. Have fun.

Doohickie

All of them.

KevinB.

I appreciate all the input and will put it to good use.Eric there are hills in Florida, they're just not very big !!! LOL.

Doohickie

Oh... I forgot to add: ...except the days you need a break.

chasm54

It appears that you're riding about 100 miles a week, or slightly more. That would be a light week for me, 200 is more usual, and I'm 13 years older than you. And there are real hills round here.

So, this has nothing to do with age, it is merely a question of training. I'd suggest sticking with the same weekly mileage but doing it in fewer, longer rides, thus both building your stamina and increasing your time for recovery between rides. This will allow you to adapt faster. And I'd certainly suggest that you stop riding round in two mile circles, it must be boring as hell.

cruiserhead

are you spinning in the correct gear? It sounds like maybe you are grinding your way up?

Try to build legspeed and spin up the hills. This keeps your muscles more supple and you develop good form.
If you spin more, (put it in an easier gear) even steep hills can be done with minimal strain.

If your legs are extremely tired, you are not giving your muscles time for recovery and building.
Most of your riding should be within a comfortable range (you can carry a conversation) and you should feel good afterwards. You should want to ride everyday and not feel too tired or the need to recover.

This is called a "base mileage". Think of it as building a pyramid. With a large base, you can get much stronger and faster as you add intensity.

Good luck!

KevinB.

Yes , the same 2 mile loop sucks ...but I have to stay close to my house/car incase I have to pick up my son from school.I do get a chance to ride at Ft.DeSoto on some weekends and that is a great change of scenery.For me 80-100 miles a week is good , when I started I was happy to do 50 a week.Ive only been riding for a few months so hopefully I can continue to progress.I am riding a hybrid bike ,Trek 7100 w/ 700 x 35 tires .Eventually I would like a road bike.Ive only lost 10 pounds so far but I do feel and look better than I did before i started riding.

Machka 

Your legs are not tired because of your age! I'm also 44, and ride more than that most weeks of the year.

Your legs are tired because you're still out of shape (although probably in better shape than when you started). When did you start cycling/exercising? Just a few months ago? You're still building up.

Meanwhile, mix things up a bit. One day, ride the route as fast as you can, the next day ride it slowly and casually, another day, start building up your distance. On the distance day, at least, do something completely different from your 2 mile loop. Just don't ride the same intensity all the time.

KevinB.

When I first started I was definitely pushing instead of spinning when I was going " uphill " , I did realize it was much more efficient to use an easier gear.I am wondering if changing tire size might help or not.I have 700x35 now , would switching to 32 make much of a difference or even 28 if my wheel would allow.My wheels are Bontrager AT 550.

Machka 

No, changing the tire size wouldn't make that much difference.

KevinB.

Ok , thanks Machka.

coachloren

Here's my suggestion. Riding 5 days in a row is fine. At your age you should be riding one hard day followed by an easy day so that your legs have a chance to recover from the previous days hard work. On your easy day adjust your route by taking out the hill and keeping your heart rate low (heart zones 1 and 2). Every third week all days should be easy days so that your body gets a nice recovery period. Increased performance and strength happens during the recovery period not during the hard work when your tearing the muscles down.

KevinB.

I appreciate the advice coach , im gonna give that a try.

MattHB

Defo 2 days rest, but DO stretch out before and afterwards, I wasn't doing this and the difference is enormous.

You might also try doing 2 days on, one day off instead, it'll give you some recovery time

utlucky

You can also try a foam roller or a massage stick on the legs I do this when I ride multiple days in row it helps a ton. I use this one https://tptherapy.com/shop/smrt-core-.../the-grid.html and this one https://www.thestick.com/cgi-bin/comm...on&key=HD-2400
at first sign of stiffness, also use it for preride to get muscles warmed up a bit

jimxyz

I'm 47, generally don't have issues after rides (generally do 20 to 25 miles per day M-F with approx 1000 ft gain, about 75 to 90 mins, and a 3 hr rids Sat), except extra long or extra hilly rides - but I find that trying to stay in Zone 1 or 2 is almost impossible - unless I creep along at 12 mph or so, which seems like a waste of time. Maybe I am still way out of shape - ?

coachloren

jimxyz,
I'm going to guess that maybe your zones aren't correct. Have you done an actual field test lately to make sure that they are correct?

jimxyz

I haven't and, to be honest, I'm not even sure what that means... I just calculated my zones from stuff on the net. Not to hijack the post, but what is the correct method? thanks!

coachloren

Here's how you do the test for setting up your heart rate training zones. Find a flat course where you can ride without interruption for 20 minutes. We use a flat 1 mile oval in an industrial park. Warm up for 30 minutes. Then ride a 20 minute time trial (that's ride as hard as you can for 20 minutes just like you see them do at tdf). When your done get your average heart rate for the the 20 minutes. That is your lactate threshold Heart Rate. From that you can compute your specific HR training zones. If you do the test and need some help setting up the zones let me know. No charge. My contact info is on my website.

mpgolfpro

Could you please elaborate on this a little. For the 20 min time trial do you try to maintain a pace which you believe you can sustain the entire 20 min? Same pace in min 1 as in min 19? Or do you push as hard as you can, which you may only be able to maintain for a couple min, then back off cause you have to, then push hard again, repeat for 20 min?

Also if you could elaborate about how to set up the zones I would be very interested in this also. I started another thread regarding zones and which ones to train in as I am confused about how hard to train for maximum success and fat/weight loss. I don't want to thread jack either so Ill link my other thread and you can reply to either one. Or could you possibly PM me? Thanks so much for the help.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...raining-Levels

jimxyz

Thanks for the info - and great question from mpgolfpro. Assuming I can get on the SART this week, I'll get those numbers. Thanks again