Beginer Training question

Hey

Am no expert, but seems to me that you're trying to do too much, too soon.

For a 400lb person who's only recently started cycling and is trying to get into shape, 40 mins over ten miles sounds a pretty damn good time for the distance! However, that speed and the frequency of these rides in themselves would appear to be the problem.

Are you stretching and warming up properly before you get on the bike? It is absolutely vital - even if you are in shape - to do so in order to help avoid injuries (I typically spend at least 15 minutes stretching before going out).

Are you going flat out, mashing some overly-high gear whilst out on your ride that causes discomfort? Where specifically are you experiencing this burning pain - muscles or joints?

The body needs time to repair itself after having expended considerable effort, and if you've only just recently started cycling and are pushing yourself to the max on each ride that you do, then you aren't giving it the chance to do so! Listen to your body - if it hurts after an intense ride, then rest. Still hurts (you'll be the best judge as to what you consider to be "hurting"😉 the next day? Rest! Failure to do so adequately will most likely result in more serious joint/muscular/tendon etc problems further down the road.

There is no need to go flat out in a high gear that's uncomfortable / downright painful to pedal. Choose yourself a gear that you can spin easily enough and adjust accordingly for the terrain you are riding; there is no need to be mashing those gears! Initially, for the first couple of months or so, why not think about going out for an hour at a speed you know you can maintain, that will leave you feeling well - exercised but certainly not breathless, gasping or in severe pain? The bottom line is that you'll still be burning off the calories, without the risk of injury. This'll get easier with time passing, thus allowing you to spin higher and higher gears (emphasis on "spin"!). Plus the more weight you begin to lose, the more your performance will improve and the more intensity you'll be able to handle. However, don't try and do too much, too soon - that approach is unsustainable.

In terms of getting decent training advice for the longer term, have a look thru the threads on this website, or on bikemagic.com. Should give u some ideas, plus I'm sure others will be able to point you in the direction of some good articles, mags, books for training purposes (like I said, I'm certainly no expert!).

All the best with the get fit routine and enjoy the experience of cycling; see it as something enjoyable in its own right as opposed to just a means to an end and I'm sure that'll help those miles / kilometres to pass by and calories to burn off quicker!

Gilders

lostinthenet said:

Hi I'm new to cycling For the past 9 days I have been riding a bike to try and get in shape. I have been riding 10 miles a day in 40 mins. My legs however have gotten worse with each workout. After only 3 miles now my legs start burning. I was expecting that this would go away with time but is acually getting worse. When I frist started I was getting the pain at the 8 mile mark now after just 3. Will this get better. I am riding the bike in an effort to lose some weight. I am a very overweight person. I weigh 400 pounds.with a height of 6'1". My question is what am I doing wrong? My cardio is getting better with each workout but my leggs seem to be getting weaker. What can I do to fix this?

lostinthenet said:

Hi I'm new to cycling For the past 9 days I have been riding a bike to try and get in shape. I have been riding 10 miles a day in 40 mins. My legs however have gotten worse with each workout. After only 3 miles now my legs start burning. I was expecting that this would go away with time but is acually getting worse. When I frist started I was getting the pain at the 8 mile mark now after just 3. Will this get better. I am riding the bike in an effort to lose some weight. I am a very overweight person. I weigh 400 pounds.with a height of 6'1". My question is what am I doing wrong? My cardio is getting better with each workout but my leggs seem to be getting weaker. What can I do to fix this?

Incorporate time off the bike (1.5-3 days in between rides initially then taper down to 1 day off a week); Going from 0mi a week to 90mi a week is a hit to your body (especially @ 400lbs). Find out what your aerobic HR is and then spend 45-90min there every ride. It will probably take you 1-2 months before you can sustain 90mi a week without discomfort.

BTW: I ride with a guy that used to weigh 450lbs @ 6'0, he now weighs 205 and can ride a 150+mile ride no sweat, in fact we did the Mt St.Helens ride (70+miles, 3,500+ft)

Keep up the good work; Besure to keep the diet in check (carbs are good!!!)

Just an afterthought;

If you don't want to spend "ages" stretching before you go out on your rides, make sure you certainly spend some time doing so AFTER you've finished.

And as allanw states, think sensibly about any dieting and don't get easily drawn into the "no carbs needed" line of thinking if you're regularly cycling / exercising full stop; they are a good source of energy!

All the best

Gilders

lostinthenet said:

Hi I'm new to cycling For the past 9 days I have been riding a bike to try and get in shape. I have been riding 10 miles a day in 40 mins. My legs however have gotten worse with each workout. After only 3 miles now my legs start burning. I was expecting that this would go away with time but is acually getting worse. When I frist started I was getting the pain at the 8 mile mark now after just 3. Will this get better. I am riding the bike in an effort to lose some weight. I am a very overweight person. I weigh 400 pounds.with a height of 6'1". My question is what am I doing wrong? My cardio is getting better with each workout but my leggs seem to be getting weaker. What can I do to fix this?

Thank you for the input. I have not been streaching before or after the rides an have not been doing a warm up. This my be part of my problem. As for gearing I have been staring out in 3rd and never get higher than 8th the course that i have been riding starts out flat and then goes up a hill levels off then goes down hill is flat then goues up hill and then stays flat for about a mile. I have been tracking my heart rate with a polar heart rate monitor that I bought and am trying to stay in the 65% of my target heart range. I have noticed that the higer gear actully make my heart rate go down not up as i would have expected. You both have echoed the same thing that my wife has been telling me so maybe I am trying to hard. From zero to 70 miles a week is probly not a good idea. Will take a couple of days off. What type of streches do you recomend and are their any good books on traing that you would recommend?

lostinthenet said:

Thank you for the input. I have not been streaching before or after the rides an have not been doing a warm up. This my be part of my problem. As for gearing I have been staring out in 3rd and never get higher than 8th the course that i have been riding starts out flat and then goes up a hill levels off then goes down hill is flat then goues up hill and then stays flat for about a mile. I have been tracking my heart rate with a polar heart rate monitor that I bought and am trying to stay in the 65% of my target heart range. I have noticed that the higer gear actully make my heart rate go down not up as i would have expected. You both have echoed the same thing that my wife has been telling me so maybe I am trying to hard. From zero to 70 miles a week is probly not a good idea. Will take a couple of days off. What type of streches do you recomend and are their any good books on traing that you would recommend?

From 0 to 70 miles per week all at once would hurt anybody. I'd suggest you cut your mileage in half for the next 4-6 weeks, then build up gradually at no more than a 10% increase/week. Getting in shape doesn't mean subjecting yourself to pain and injury....it should be fun, not torture.

On the ride, use plenty of cadence rather than just mashing the big gears. Shoot for 80-90 rpm all the time. The higher gears are tempting; and may seem to drop your HR in the short term. But after a number of miles pushing a heavy gear, you start to fry your legs and HR will creep up and up.

It's often said that training itself doesn't make you stronger; that happens during your recovery between training. Too much training time or intensity, with too little time to recover will tend to tear you down rather than make you stronger.

After a ride, it may help to get your legs elevated right away, and do some self-massage if you feel any tightness or pain in your calfs, quads or hamstrings. Stretching is good, but probably better after you cooldown, or later in the day. The important thing with your stretching is to have a consistent daily routine.

lostinthenet said:

I have noticed that the higer gear actully make my heart rate go down not up as i would have expected.

The higher gear makes your legs work harder, probably pushing them towards anaerobic respiration(This would make your legs feel bad). Lower gear and higher cadance throws more of the work to your cardio system, thus heart rate goes up.

I spent the last month getting from zero to 50 miles! It helps me, to keep thinking of longer term(eg 6 months) goals, than what I want in the short term. We all want to lose the extra weight as soon as possible, like yesterday, but unfortunately, it took months (years in my case) to put it on, so it will take more than a few days to get it off!

Keep up the riding though and you'll get there. Well done so far!

jon, i'm curious as to how you progressed. I went for my first real ride last night. It was only about 8 miles (12km) but i could only average 11mph (18kph) and i was dead tired at the end. I had to walk my bike up the last big hill. Basically, how many rides did it take you before you were able to improve your speed and distance? I know it won't be overnight, but if you were only a month from not biking to half-century rides, I just am curious what type of improvement you saw and what type of training regimen you followed. Thanks!

KMKS said:

jon, i'm curious as to how you progressed. I went for my first real ride last night. It was only about 8 miles (12km) but i could only average 11mph (18kph) and i was dead tired at the end. I had to walk my bike up the last big hill. Basically, how many rides did it take you before you were able to improve your speed and distance? I know it won't be overnight, but if you were only a month from not biking to half-century rides, I just am curious what type of improvement you saw and what type of training regimen you followed. Thanks!

3 endurance runs per week(Tue/Thu/Sat), all on flat, at about 65% heart rate reserve (140bpm for me). Started at (don't laugh) 10K but added 4K per run. Managed to maintain 80 rpm throughout, and used gears as required.

From 2 weeks in I started doing 22K runs at slightly higher intensity (Mon/Wed/Fri) (Sundays always off...family day)

As regards making progress... I found the original 20k rides tough (Others will laugh!😄 ) I also found the rides in the 40k's tough. Many times I felt like getting off the bike.

AS soon as I got into the 60K's I noticed my cadence was improving over the duration (at 95 for most of the time, less toward the end) Speed was not changed much, but I felt more comfortable for the duration.

I think the key thing is cadence of no less than 80 rpm. As newbies the legs are the first to suffer, so throw the onus back on the cardio system, rather than knackering the legs.

My purpose in riding is to lose weight and get fit. Speed is not critical at the moment, so I could do half century, but only in twice the time other people might take!

Summary; work on cadance, forget about speed...that'll come later.

To actually answer your question, I think others have suggested 4-6 weeks, and I wouldn't disagree. Keep on riding, you'll get there

Hope this helps

jon_stewart said:

3 endurance runs per week(Tue/Thu/Sat), all on flat, at about 65% heart rate reserve (140bpm for me). Started at (don't laugh) 10K but added 4K per run. Managed to maintain 80 rpm throughout, and used gears as required.

From 2 weeks in I started doing 22K runs at slightly higher intensity (Mon/Wed/Fri) (Sundays always off...family day)

As regards making progress... I found the original 20k rides tough (Others will laugh!😄 ) I also found the rides in the 40k's tough. Many times I felt like getting off the bike.

AS soon as I got into the 60K's I noticed my cadence was improving over the duration (at 95 for most of the time, less toward the end) Speed was not changed much, but I felt more comfortable for the duration.

I think the key thing is cadence of no less than 80 rpm. As newbies the legs are the first to suffer, so throw the onus back on the cardio system, rather than knackering the legs.

My purpose in riding is to lose weight and get fit. Speed is not critical at the moment, so I could do half century, but only in twice the time other people might take!

Summary; work on cadance, forget about speed...that'll come later.

To actually answer your question, I think others have suggested 4-6 weeks, and I wouldn't disagree. Keep on riding, you'll get there

Hope this helps

The legs are not always the first to suffer for newbies. I'm just starting out, doing very short rides, and at 80+ cadence I was completely blown, but 2 hours later I felt as if I hadn't ridden at all. I dropped the cadence by 10 and upped the gears to put more on my legs, and added a full MPH to my average speed with less effort. Now I'm going to try the lower cadence at the lower gears and try to go a lot farther.

Anyway, my point is that the higher cadence at the start is only good if your cardio is better than your leg strength. I think the best advice, which I didn't follow at first, is what I read on one of the training web sites (sorry, I don't remember which): If your legs hurt, spin faster, if your lungs hurt, push bigger gears. Find the balance or you'll suffer mightily.

Thanks for the reply jon, and the advice everyone. My remaining question is for jpwkeeper: What do you do if everything hurts? :eek:

KMKS said:

Thanks for the reply jon, and the advice everyone. My remaining question is for jpwkeeper: What do you do if everything hurts? :eek:

I guess if everything hurts your doing it right.

You know, that really doesn't sound too good, does it? If you can't breathe and you can't walk afterwords than everything was perfect?

jpwkeeper said:

I think the best advice, which I didn't follow at first, is what I read on one of the training web sites (sorry, I don't remember which): If your legs hurt, spin faster, if your lungs hurt, push bigger gears. Find the balance or you'll suffer mightily.

I like this advice, and I think my cardio may be better than I first thought. I'll tell you something though, my legs may be quite strong, but the knees ain't...one reason I put so much importance into the cadance.

Base miles on the bike, thats the ticket