mikemcgill

ntitctkt

Glad I found this thread and impressed it has been going on for almost 9 years. My experiences with quad pain are the same as others in this thread. Here are my observations. For context I am a competitive triathlete, biking 100+ miles per week, running 20-40 and swimming.


1. Pain always occurs after two or three days rest, and only when going down stairs or down hills. A few years ago I ran the Boston Marathon, the first 2 miles are mostly downhill and I was "training" through the race, meaning I rode a few days before and then took a few days off for travel. Despite being in excellent shape I walked 25 miles after having both quads fail by mile two.


2. Pain is always in the quads, and almost always effects both. It will "float" and does not cause muscle contractions. Stretching helps a little, walking backwards down stairs helps. It does not feel like a muscle cramp, I have had many exercise induced muscle cramps and DOMS, this is definitely different.


3. It definitely gets worse after long plane flight or sickness. Dehydration seems to play a role.


4. Warming up properly may eliminate the issue. I have never had an issue during a triathlon (run last) despite traveling far for races and not exercising.


Because I bike as much as I run I have never correlated the pain to one activity. As others have said I suspect stretching and cross-training are likely the best remedy. I would be curious to know if there are specific stretches anyone has found particularly effective? Additionally, are there cross-training workouts that work? Has anyone had success in intentionally warming up or increasing bloodflow?

buzzbee

After bike commuting for 25 years, I retired last year and now do fewer miles per week on the bike at a lower intensity. I no longer suffer from these leg pains as I did from 2008 through 2017. So, I still think the cause is when muscles have scar tissue from hard work (biking) and that scar tissue then causes the subsequent pain when using the muscles in a different way like walking downhill, etc..
over and out...

wphamilton

As another data point, not a youngster either, I get the eccentric muscle pain the day after a particularly long run or sprint intervals (running). I don't really see it arising from cycling, unless you're riding fixed? Probably the weekend hiking is the culprit, not the cycling.

For me, it always goes away after another workout.

kathryn777

I frequently hike and bike though not always on a regular schedule and the first time this happened was a huge shock. It was a hike that started downhill and quads in both legs seized as if they received a signal to turn on 100%. I could not shake it out, walk it off (even with poles which I don't normally use) and so just left group and tottered uphill to the car. It took hours for the signal to gradually "turn off". I never cramp, but it seemed a similar pain, not as acute but lasted way longer.

I haven't had the problem since and I think it may be that I added weekly yoga and also regular weekly 8m 1800ft hike (half downhill). When I started the yoga class I realized I couldn't do a normal resting pose due to shortened quads (and whatever else was too short). Instead of being a painless easy resting pose. everything hurt and pulled from the tops of my feet through shins and of course quads: Vajrasana is the classic kneeling pose in Yoga. The knees, lower legs, and ankles are together and you sit back onto the heels. I find this a better stretch than the normal cyclist quad stretch of grabbing ankle behind butt, perhaps as it is easier for me to hold it for many minutes and you can do both legs at once. After a few months nothing hurt during this pose and if I missed a week or 2, I noticed with a more stretch feeling in the quads, but nothing like the first time :-)

[Half pigeon is another pose I think I feel more due to cycling "shortening" muscles. This might be equivalent to figure four crossing one ankle over other knee, but again because yoga does it on the floor, I can happily hold it longer than when standing.]

Of course I can't be sure I have solved it, as there was nothing special about distances cycled or effort in my preceding pattern which contained some hikes, but it did have a long plane flight preceding the hike. I will always be wary of cycle, rest, and a hike that starts downhill.

coldizoard

Hi All
i suffered from this pain for years. Hiking was Not possible at all. I have due to health issues lowered the intensity by 30 % on my bike workouts. I used to do 300W average workout for hours with lots of km. NoW with not more than 220w Workouts, there is no pain anymore in my legs ... It is completely gun ...
regards col ...

bikerchris_3

I had this quad pain problem. As a result of reading this very long standing thread and some other reasons I started stretching focused on both the quads and the hamstrings. After a week's worth of daily stretching, problem was solved. No more pain walking downhill. I found the stretches focused at these muscles using my favorite search engine.