What tires you out more?
08-19-18, 04:38 PM
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What tires you out more?
Hi all,
I am currently riding 100-125 miles a week and lately find myself feeling more worn out. My rides are mostly 20-30 mile work commutes, depending on the route I take.
What wears you out more? 5-6 20 mile rides/week or 3 40 mile rides/week. Assume all other factors are equal. Hills, wind, etc.
Maybe Ijust have to give in to the fact that I am getting older. NOOOOOOOO!
I am currently riding 100-125 miles a week and lately find myself feeling more worn out. My rides are mostly 20-30 mile work commutes, depending on the route I take.
What wears you out more? 5-6 20 mile rides/week or 3 40 mile rides/week. Assume all other factors are equal. Hills, wind, etc.
Maybe Ijust have to give in to the fact that I am getting older. NOOOOOOOO!
08-19-18, 04:59 PM
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The older I get, the more I've been riding.
I can't imagine age should be much of an excuse unless you are over 80
I get tired in the evenings at times, but I can't say that 5 or 6 days a week at 20 miles a day would have much of an impact.
40 miles no stop, or 2x20 mile commutes? Still, doing that every other day or so isn't bad.
what really knocks me out is when I do that 150 miles a week.... in one day... TOWING. 
I can't imagine age should be much of an excuse unless you are over 80
I get tired in the evenings at times, but I can't say that 5 or 6 days a week at 20 miles a day would have much of an impact.
40 miles no stop, or 2x20 mile commutes? Still, doing that every other day or so isn't bad.
what really knocks me out is when I do that 150 miles a week.... in one day... TOWING.
08-19-18, 05:13 PM
#3
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Are you taking a recovery week every 4 to 5 weeks?
Exercise tears down muscles. The body needs time to recover and build back strength.
Reduce intensity, duration and volume every few weeks and you will find that you come back fresher and stronger.
-Tim-
Exercise tears down muscles. The body needs time to recover and build back strength.
Reduce intensity, duration and volume every few weeks and you will find that you come back fresher and stronger.
-Tim-
08-19-18, 05:30 PM
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What tires me out is not the distance I often set out for traveling, it's the surroundings that impact each ride. The impacts & challenges of folks not having courtesy & expecting others to be sharing the same grounds will mentally drain the overall experience. It boggles my mind how those very same people have made it this far in life sometimes...
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08-19-18, 05:42 PM
#5
In the wind
When I was in my forties and early fifties, my daily commute was about the same as yours. What I found was that my body would get conditioned to those 20 mile rides. I did go pretty hard, but they were basically sub- hour efforts. I would get quite fatigued at the end of a week - actually Thursday was usually the worst day.
What worked for me was to take one day off during the week (either work from home or ride the train) and start riding a long ride on the weekends. Once I was comfortable doing 60-80 miles in a day, the commute days became much less wearing and my energy levels went up. Rest is important, but so is variety.
What worked for me was to take one day off during the week (either work from home or ride the train) and start riding a long ride on the weekends. Once I was comfortable doing 60-80 miles in a day, the commute days became much less wearing and my energy levels went up. Rest is important, but so is variety.
08-19-18, 05:48 PM
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This is a clear indication that you need a new bike. Oh, and you also need to take vitamins, eat more nutritious foods, quit your job (retire) so you can go on longer rides. Let the guilt of buying a new bike drive you to commit to a 45 to 55 mile loop. Ride every other day, taking naps when you get home. After a week, ride 10 to 20 miles on the days between. And so on. Then go for the big loop on back to back days and follow with a day off, rinse and repeat.
I followed this training regimen at age 62 when I bought my Renegade. A month building conditioning and then a month riding 55 miles, two days on, one day off, yielding 5x longish loops a week for the month of August in Carolina humidity. Then I got distracted dating a lady, but it was a great month of riding. You should try it.
I followed this training regimen at age 62 when I bought my Renegade. A month building conditioning and then a month riding 55 miles, two days on, one day off, yielding 5x longish loops a week for the month of August in Carolina humidity. Then I got distracted dating a lady, but it was a great month of riding. You should try it.
Last edited by DeadGrandpa; 08-19-18 at 05:59 PM.
08-19-18, 06:01 PM
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08-19-18, 06:06 PM
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What tires me out is not the distance I often set out for traveling, it's the surroundings that impact each ride. The impacts & challenges of folks not having courtesy & expecting others to be sharing the same grounds will mentally drain the overall experience. It boggles my mind how those very same people have made it this far in life sometimes...
Perhaps there is some difference between country, mid city, and large city riding. Nonetheless, I was up in Portland which was the bigger city the other day, and there were several aspects that were comfortable about riding around the city.
08-19-18, 06:23 PM
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It depends on the intensity of your rides...If your intensity is low-medium then riding 6 days per week shouldn't be a problem...If you are hammering hard on every ride then you will burn yourself out and will need to ride less frequently.
08-19-18, 07:27 PM
#11
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Hills ... Hills and/or a strong headwind are what tire me out.
08-19-18, 10:51 PM
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I do 27-28 commuting miles per day. Five days one week, four days the next. It’s only possible because I don’t ride each time like it’s a time trial. I joyride on the weekends and try to fit in a short tour a couple times a year. Overall I’m doing lots of miles but by carefully monitoring my intensity level I can keep going almost indefinitely.
The advice to do longer rides in an effort to make the shorter rides less challenging is useful. There’s no shame in enjoying a leisurely cruise sometimes too. Chill.
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08-20-18, 08:06 AM
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Sounds like he's got recovery days built into his week. If so, a week recovery time is almost certainly unnecessary. We can trade sources on this if you like, but it doesn't sound like he's remotely in danger of over-training or tearing down muscle.
08-20-18, 11:24 PM
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Thanks for the responses. I am going to try more variety in my rides and see if that feels better. I could also probably take a day and cruise more. I’m no crit racer but I do roll at a pretty good pace.
08-20-18, 11:46 PM
#15
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The older I get, the more I've been riding.
I can't imagine age should be much of an excuse unless you are over 80
I get tired in the evenings at times, but I can't say that 5 or 6 days a week at 20 miles a day would have much of an impact.
40 miles no stop, or 2x20 mile commutes? Still, doing that every other day or so isn't bad.
what really knocks me out is when I do that 150 miles a week.... in one day... TOWING.
I can't imagine age should be much of an excuse unless you are over 80
I get tired in the evenings at times, but I can't say that 5 or 6 days a week at 20 miles a day would have much of an impact.
40 miles no stop, or 2x20 mile commutes? Still, doing that every other day or so isn't bad.
what really knocks me out is when I do that 150 miles a week.... in one day... TOWING. A couple years ago I was really putting on the miles and around Aug/Sept I was just dead. I mean one day I suddenly couldn't get out of bed I was so tired. And I was worried it was something serious like West Nile Virus (big around here some summers) or something worse even, so I went to the doc. He told be to stop riding so much. And he was right, to a point. I had ridden something like 30+ days straight, around 20+ miles each day in the heat of the day and it was just too much.
I've since learned to slow down some and not worry so much about how many miles or how fast the average is. It's worked out much better and I find I enjoy my riding more now that I'm now worried so much about distance/speed.
08-21-18, 12:23 AM
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I've found that the older I get, the more I've been riding also. But I ride less per ride (according to my stats) but more rides per month/year.
I went to the doc. He told be to stop riding so much. And he was right, to a point. I had ridden something like 30+ days straight, around 20+ miles each day in the heat of the day and it was just too much.
I've since learned to slow down some and not worry so much about how many miles or how fast the average is. It's worked out much better and I find I enjoy my riding more now that I'm now worried so much about distance/speed.
I went to the doc. He told be to stop riding so much. And he was right, to a point. I had ridden something like 30+ days straight, around 20+ miles each day in the heat of the day and it was just too much.
I've since learned to slow down some and not worry so much about how many miles or how fast the average is. It's worked out much better and I find I enjoy my riding more now that I'm now worried so much about distance/speed.
So far I'm averaging 21.9 miles a day for this year (without riding every day).
A little faster would be nice, but I also take speed with a grain of salt. Usually. Distance, of course, is always just getting to my destination.
08-21-18, 08:54 AM
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With a user name of "raceboy" I suspect the unrelenting intensity is the problem. It's probably possible to maintain the mileage every day without fatigue if you remember to treat a couple days' commute as recovery day rides. Take 5-7 minutes longer to get to and from work. You'll be surprised how much lower the intensity is on those days (and it's honestly hard to keep yourself from pushing sometimes), but the next day you'll be flying again.
