marc m

I'm having a hard time with leg recovery. I run 4 miles (morning) and ride 30-40 miles (night) every day, and train legs with weights once a week with my weight training schedule. But I notice that I'm always sore... quads, hams, calves.
I wonder if I should run/cycle every other day. Problem is, I've been doing this for a little over a couple of years and I love it (addicted?) and despite the soreness, find it hard to stop. I thought my body would have adapted to this routine by now.

PatW

Gosh, it sounds as if you are not giving yourself time to recover. Many people I know do not fool with weight training in cycling season. If they do, they take the next day off.

I don't know how you weight train. The way I heard it is that you need to lift until your muscles are completely fatigued. Doing that sort of thing beats up the legs and you should give them a rest (how long depends on the person).

You seem to enjoy exercise. If you could switch over to swimming that might help. Swimming is largely upper body and it would give your legs a bit of a lay off.

ericm979

Take a couple days off. Actually if you really have been doing this every single day for years, take a week off.

Doing the same thing every day is a poor way to train. You need both stress and rest in order to improve. You will find that you improve with proper rest.
I take at least one day off each week, and have another day be an easy day. The real training days are usually either long (3-5 hour) endurance rides, 2-3 hour fast group rides, or 2-3 hour rides with interval workouts. That's training for road racing; training for something else would be different.

poxpower

Yes listen to ericm979

You're doing way too much hard stuff on your legs. Why do you think you have to train your legs only once a week with weight exercise? It's so they recover in-between. If you go out biking for 30 miles and do it reasonably hard, your legs will be SAD.

SAD LEGS

marc m

Got it...great advice. I'll start today/tonight through Monday and see how I feel Monday. Thanks

pmt

How often are you seeing your massage therapist? You need to go every few weeks; once a week would be better.

cadamsjr

I fully agree with the over training comments. My son plays football and powerlifting so at times he finds that an ice bath helps his legs recover. Add a bag or two of ice to a bath then hop in.

BloomBikeShop

To keep up with that kind of training I'd recommend ice baths, compression tights when you're not working out, and self-massage with something like The Stick.

Pman

Massaging your legs with a foam roller post ride/run will help too.

spastic31

I recently went to a massage therapist for the first time ever. I had a spot in my calf that was annoying me. I figured that he would get the knot out and then I would get some Swedish work on my legs. Well, I spent the next 50 minutes enduring some deep tissue work on both calves. He said I had the worst calves he had ever seen in regard to being knotted up. The massage was an ordeal and I could barely walk afterwards. I went back about 4 days later for a 1.5 hr session to let him finish my calves (45 more minutes!) and get a some work on my hamstrings and vastus lateralis, upper back and neck.

It was uncomfortable and pretty painful at times, but it has been SO worth it. My pedal stroke is smoother now, and my post-ride soreness is way less. My calves are also supple now. He also increased the range of motion in my neck. He said road cyclists usually have a few knots in the neck from the riding position. He went right to it.

My training volume was nowhere near what you're doing. I started lifting weights this spring (squats) and some jogging/walking sets. That's where I got the knot in my calf.

TLDR;
Go get some massage work.

seedsbelize 

Higher doses of B vitamins.

coachloren

This sounds like a case of over training. In order to get the benefits of all your hard work you need recovery days. Performance improvement happens during recovery the period when the muscles are being repaired. I would suggest that you also supplement with protein drinks at least 3 times per day. ericm979 Has given you some excellent advise.