Cumulative Effect

bikerboy said:

My legs seem to burn a little walking up steps but I've completely lost track of whats feels normal and not normal.

To be honest, my legs almost always have a "burn" in them when I'm deep in the training hole. It takes a couple days out of the hole to lose the burn, but even with the burn I can have very strong days.

Nomad, I have been told that doing a really lite recovery ride can actually help dissipate lactic acid ie "burn"

I got up early this AM anmd went to the gym and rode an aero bike for an hour and set it to a watt output just under 75 (not sure how accurate) and maintained an rpm upder 92rpm and my heart rate did not cross over 100bpm.

I then went for a 300mile motorcycle ride today and I can honestly say my legs do feel better.

I am going to log in so more miles tomorrow and I am just going to try and do 21 miles in an hour which I do not see being a problem.

What do you all do to aid in recovering quicker?

~Andy

Punisher92009 said:

Nomad, I have been told that doing a really lite recovery ride can actually help dissipate lactic acid ie "burn"

it's lactate, not lactic acid, and it removes itself by you doing nothing within about 90-mins post exercise. (lactate never goes to zero as we always have lactate circulating even when we're resting).

Quoted post said:

What do you all do to aid in recovering quicker?

~Andy

eat some carbohydrates. and drink some fluids. Consuming ~1.5 g of carbohydrates per kg body mass, within ~ 60-mins of finishing exercise helps to restore muscle and liver glycogen at a more rapid rate. Consuming ~1.5 times the total weight loss of your ride in fluids that are high in electrolytes helps restore fluid lost through sweating etc.

ric

Thanks Ric. Once again I have so much to learn. Thanks for the clarification and correction.

~Andy

bikerboy said:

Last year I had trouble starting up my training after several a several month layoff. I had ridden my first full season as a road racer. Now I'm having the same problem. Last year I started out with a high amount of training and it dropped off throughout the summer. I had some decent results and finished with a good 3rd in a local MN race (Sep 23) My hr sustainablilty had dropped by around 5-10 bpm since the beginning of the year. I couldnt go, and I noticed fatique intendified doing rides that I had once easily completed. I felt crappy and took the whole winter off, just like last year. 5 months off.

Now, I'm getting going again but I'm really unsure of how I should approach things, because I dont want to screw everything up again. The whole reason I wrote this is I'm wondering if I'm over-trained or not. My legs seem to burn a little walking up steps but I've completely lost track of whats feels normal and not normal. I've been riding and I noticed my hr is running mabe 5-10% below what it was last year with the same perceived effort. 😕

It sounds like your routine is to take the whole winter off, hit it hard in the Spring, and let things slowly fall off during the summer. Is that right?

If so, you might benefit more from a gradual buildup rather than hitting it the hardest when your fitness is the lowest (ie, right after the winter layoff). As your fitness builds, so does your ability to recover from a greater training load, or as they say "the more you train, the more you can train." Like NomadVW, I usually carry a small amount of tired feeling in my legs during buildup periods, but it's a lot more tolerable once I get several weeks into the routine.

I've had the pleasure of a MN winter before, so I know it's tough to train outdoors and then there's the rush and excitement when the weather finally starts to get decent. You might consider an indoor trainer to maintain some fitness during the winter and start your buildup in the spring so that you're not jumping off the deep end as soon as the sun comes out. If I've misread your training routine/philosophy, then post some more details and we'll see what we come up with.

frenchyge said:

It sounds like your routine is to take the whole winter off, hit it hard in the Spring, and let things slowly fall off during the summer. Is that right?

If so, you might benefit more from a gradual buildup rather than hitting it the hardest when your fitness is the lowest (ie, right after the winter layoff). As your fitness builds, so does your ability to recover from a greater training load, or as they say "the more you train, the more you can train." Like NomadVW, I usually carry a small amount of tired feeling in my legs during buildup periods, but it's a lot more tolerable once I get several weeks into the routine.

I've had the pleasure of a MN winter before, so I know it's tough to train outdoors and then there's the rush and excitement when the weather finally starts to get decent. You might consider an indoor trainer to maintain some fitness during the winter and start your buildup in the spring so that you're not jumping off the deep end as soon as the sun comes out. If I've misread your training routine/philosophy, then post some more details and we'll see what we come up with.

Yeah, I know what your saying is true. In the last 2 weeks I've started up riding again, 1hr-1.75hrs. It has gone well so far, today and yesterday I've taken off. However I just dont feel quite right, it seems like I have to go slowly, any intensity causes a lot of fatique. Only training 5 days per week to start with. I felt like I crashed yesterday, I was so tired; but by the end of the day I was feeling better. It seems like the more food I eat the better I feel, even though I am adequately or more than adaquetely fueled. I'm 5ft. 7.5 and 145 pounds. I'm trying to reduce extra calories to eventually get down to 140 lb or so. I can feel I'm carrying some bagage. My goal is also to upgrade to cat. 2 and cat. 1 by the end of next season.
Last Year I did a 6.5 hr ride with a local club my first week back, it was brutal.