dhk said:Believe your body is telling you that you're just doing too much too soon. 130 miles a week commuting, plus weekend riding, is a lot of mileage to jump into. I've read that for most of us, 125-150 miles per week on a regular basis is approaching the limit of what we can handle without injury, fatigue and overtraining. My own experience tends to bear this out.
Suggest you cut your weekly mileage back to 100 miles for a few weeks and see how you feel. You can slowly add miles back in as you feel ready.
Intensity is important too of course. If you're climbing hills, fighting headwinds, or doing anything on your daily commute that has you breathing hard, that makes for a lot of added training stress which requires additional recovery time.
You know, there are naysayers that espouse the "too many miles" line over and over... but I don't believe them! And neither should you! It takes time to build up endurance and strength: I went through what you're talking about a couple years ago: dead feeling in legs, tiredness, all the rest. It goes away, though, if you know what to do. You should take a week off to recuperate, giving yourself a chance to heal, and then hit it again next week. If the tired feeling comes back, take a rest day. Then go back at it. Learn to listen to your body in this way, and use it to your advantage: take a normal riding day and ride farther than you're used to. Get used to the distance. Nobody starts out riding 250 miles per week. It takes time. If I could tell you how tired I used to get riding 50 miles a year ago, you wouldn't believe me. I just rode two hilly, windy 65 mile days back to back without getting winded. In fact, it's easier than you think. Try taking more of the recovery aspect of riding into consideration: added sleep, increased calorie needs, proper vitamins and minerals, more liquids, and on the bike calories too like gatorade. Look into some GU's, too (gel bags of carbs, aminos, and vitamins). PLay some rocky music if you have to.
