jyl

As commuters, most of us ride the same route at the same time every day. It doesn't feel exactly the same each time. Some days you're fast, other days you're not. Wind makes a difference, as does any variation in your load, but the biggest variable, in my experience, is us. One day our legs are tireless greyhounds, the next day they're, well, sulky greyhounds.

That much is routine and normal. But what about the really off days? When your legs are panting dachshunds? You struggle to catch the lights where you usually sail through green after green, your sprint over the bridge ends with a premature sit-down, some unnoticed geological shift has added 2 percent to the hill, and suddenly you've developed a shamefaced interest in "enjoying the scenery" and "smelling the roses".

I'm having one of those periods, yesterday and today. I've come up with a theory that the sluggish ride is my body's signal that it is, in a creeping sneaky way, feeling under the weather. About a third of the time, a couple days of weak commuting is followed by my getting a cold or similar. The rest of the time, nothing happens, I suppose my immune system fights whatever it is, off.

Do you also notice variations in your daily strength? Have you figured out what causes them?

Cfiber

Yes. I believe those down times can be attributed to the immune system using our energy reserves to fight off various microbes. Also, I've noticed that whenever I feel stressed or worried about something, it often negatively reflects in my cycling performance.

gerv 

Fatigue. If I have a long ride or, more likely these days, a commute home with a 25mph head wind, I'm likely to be a trifle tired.

krobinson103

I find my biggest down day is Monday. Because every Weekend I ride 200km sometimes more for fun as fast as my legs will carry me the next few days the very thought of riding is.... not appealing. By Tuesday though I'm back up to speed.

I also think that since Commuting negates the possibility of rest days the body just doesn't get enough recovery time to really get the legs back to their usual springiness. I find that if for some reason I have a day off the next day feels like I'm flying.

frpax

I too have strong and weak days. I had them back when I raced, and it never seemed to have anything to do with anything. It was like a random thing. In fact, many times when I felt good and got out for a ride, THEN was when I felt all slow and tired. Other times when I felt weak but still would go out for a ride, I'd discover that I was actually much stronger than I anticipated.

So for me, it's always been a random thing. I've never been able to nail this down.

Vlaam4ever

Either your legs or your mind are overly extended. Take a slow cruze to work, leave 10 minutes early to pedal in slowly. Possibly take a drive in to clear your head, yes no bike, just do something clear the commute mindnumb. you'll be back to normal in no time

Mr. Hairy Legs

I usually have a slow start to the week and gain energy as I go. Monday tends to be the worst day for dead legs.

Medic Zero

I don't have the benefit of the same schedule every day or even the opportunity to get enough sleep at least two days a week so I never realized the phenomenon still occurs without the following variables:

1) Amount of sleep
2) Amount and type of food (not eating enough and/or poor nutritional choices)
3) Drinking, smoking, etc

I usually attribute to the above.

Steely Dan

wind has a much more profound effect on my commuting runs than my daily strength levels.

jrickards

Wouldn't the variability in the wind affect your daily strength?

Unlike you'se guys, I'm not a professional cyclist and therefore, there are so many variables each day that affect me that I can't control. I don't worry about day to day variations in strength, that'd be like worrying about day to day variations in body weight for a person losing weight: as long as I am better 2 weeks from now, then I am happy.

RaleighSport

Almost word for word what I was thinking.

pdlamb

Sounds like fatigue from OP's description. Skip the evening news, get an extra hour of sleep for two nights running, and call the doctor if you're still sluggish the next morning.

Darth Lefty 

Diet makes a huge difference for me.

...And hangovers.

10 Wheels

All about a good nights sleep for me.

tarwheel 

For me, the biggest factors determining how fresh my legs feel are:

- Whether I had a long and/or tough ride the day before. Mondays are almost always tough for me because I usually go on long weekend rides with friends at a faster pace.
- Wind. Tailwinds are good, headwinds are bad. We all know that, but sometimes we forget -- like when you have an exceptionally fast commute and are thinking how studly you are until you notice a flag pointing in the same direction you're heading.
- Accumulated miles. Sometimes I rack up a lot of mileage over a 7-10 period when the weather is nice and I do some long weekend rides. Last week, I rode 335 miles over a 9-day period and my legs were really feeling it by day 9.
- Illness. Sometimes I feel really tired and sluggish with my average speeds way off the normal pace, and then come down with a cold or some other sickness the next day. It's happened many times, when my legs start feeling it before I'm aware of any other symptoms.

Bluish Green

+1

After a year doing this bicycle commuting thing, I think I have most other elements in line or accounted for. Wind is the wild card.

Darth Lefty 

Also not to be denied - I take some medications for an inherited heart problem and I feel better on the ride in if they have had more time to kick in before I leave.

jrickards

That's an average of 60km/day, nice! (Means more to me if I convert it, )

Yeah, I'd feel it too and I'm hoping for a 300km weekend (starting tonight, ending Monday, I have the day off), we'll see how that goes and whether or not I can bike in on Tuesday.

spare_wheel

i don't have weak days unless i am quite ill. i do experience temporary bouts of laziness.

enigmaT120

I take rest days if I feel tired. In 3 years I only once commuted by bike all 5 days of a work week. I usually schedule rest days. I got in the habit for marathon/ultra training.

Booger1

I'm old....they're all weak days....The strong days I forgot about.....

I have weak days at times....I think it's more lazy than weak...

I few mind altering drugs or a couple good flashbacks and I'm fine......

CigTech

Sleep and food is the things that make a good ride for me.

bbeasley

For me it's about the lack of a warm up. I run a 5K every other day, on those days I have a good ride in. On the off days and riding home it's tougher. I feel best, on long rides, after the first 15 or so miles. My 5 to 8 mile commute doesn't allow me to get good and warmed up. I'm sure that's why at the races everybody spends so much time warming up.

HardyWeinberg

Never forget randomness. Riding is not a deterministic progression from weak to strong over every single ride.