Legs rarely loose... I GIVE UP!

curby

I never have a ride where my legs feel loose, anyone else encountered this? Not from overtraining, definately not my problem since I can only ride every other day due to knee pain (tendonitis in the knees?)

My legs turn to masses of clay when I turn up the power on my rides... no definition to the muscle, verrry tight to the point where I sometimes stop to stretch... this effect lasts most of the rest of the day unless I have a massage, self massage lessens it to some degree but its a problem.

I get the feeling that my physiology is not suited cycling...

i have been training for 2 years working up from 1hr rides with 15mins warmup and warm down... really just 30min effort

i ride long steady climbs 1hr+ at 70 percent of max, 4 x 10min 80 percent intervals; regularly, and an occasional sprint workout but many days go like: warm up 30min, increase speed to 60 percent over some moderate rises 30min, legs get heavy and feel like I cant get any power out of them for 30 min then I jam 20min ignoring it heading back in which feels like near all out effort from legs and lungs then 20 min warm down limping home...

advice welcome!

thanks

serpico7

What's your normal cadence?

root

Just because you cycle every other day does not mean you can't overtrain (if you regularly go anaerobic on your rides each time).

I would rather go a little slower and easier, and watch the nutrition. Make sure there is enough good quality complex carbs in your diet. I sometimes have stiff muscles but that is almost always when I go too hard too soon without proper warmup (I can sustain 20% higher power output with proper warmup, which for me is 30 min). I have heard people say they jump right into their 2x20min L4 intervals after only 4-6 min warmup, which is for me always leads to stiff, hard like a rock legs muscles until they "open up" and warm up.

curby

My cadence tends to be around 90 during intervals and slows to around 70 when climbing or sitting & suffering... like when legs are bloated, but generally i keep it above 80 even during recovery and when i am bonking with very low power

alas, such is the life of the un-coached athlete... hehe

Simone@Italy

If you suffer from knee pain, you should strive for 90-100. I do suffer from knee pain too, and switching towards faster frequencies, I improved very much. Especially when doing recovery, you should use faster cadences.

just my 0,02 €

serpico7

A higher cadence *may* help relieve the tightness you're experiencing.

topdogcycling

Have you had a solid mileage base built up before you started your interval work? What you describe sounds what I call a "raw material", you may not have enough base to work with. Personally, I wouldn't be doing any serious work (never mind intervals) before I get about 3,000km into my legs. Even after that, I would only start doing some really smooth stuff, do some easy going climbing and then only slowly start increasing pace in the intervals.

I would suggest forget about intervals for a while, just gain some good mileage, climb some hills (easy though) and then come back to your intervals work.

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Piotr

"Sorry! The administrator has specified that users can only post one message every 30 seconds."

Yeah, that obviously helps!

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Curb

Maybe poor circulation?

swampy1970

When you say "70 percent of max" - what "max" are you refering too? Max HR, Max power?

I'd hazzard a guess at any of the following - not enough base fitness, possible lower back problems, bad position on the bike.

If it's not a position or something that a physio can take care of then I'd give the 20 minute "jam" session a miss and just ride at a pace that you can complete without undue discomfort.

I must be getting soft whilst not feeling too well. 4 weeks ago I would have just told you to "sack up and deal with it."

curby

sorry to have missed your helpful reply, thanks


i have been training stead for 2 years, lots of long rides in those summer months, no off season really, just a few weeks around christmas/new years.

but i am conservative and i really doubt it is burnout or something like that.

i have added running on the treadmill a couple times a week which seems to loosen things up on my non-riding days... not too heavy tho, like 10 mins at 10kph plus warm up and warm down 5mins each...

i did circuit training 3 days a week with weights to keep all around tone, (again not heavy stuff) leg extensions and leg curls, shoulders, triceps, chest and a bit of back and stomach. i just wanted to be certain I wasnt developing some huge discrepancy in my body strength...

now that the summer is coming I plan only 2 days of circuit training and 1 day on the treadmill, maybe another day of half court pickup basketball.

the real complaint is the quads and calves are never loose on the bike... perhaps thats just body type and it doesnt effect my performance but it sure feels like it slows me down... hehe

thanks again...

curby

Felt_Rider

I had been watching this thread, but now that I have some recent experience to share. Because of my training load my legs normally stay tight as well and when I do not respond to what my body is requesting for a remedy (in this case, stretching) I typically end up with failure or injury.

The following are personal thoughts on a blog entry and count them for what they are worth as I am not a sports scientist, but I do link to one at the end of the entry.

Link related to stretching and muscle fatigue

There have been ongoing discussion about the importance and validity of stretching and I am not trying to raise that debate, but just wanted to share some recent experience that is somewhat related to your concern.

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jhuskey

I don't wish to post something you probably have checked years ago, but what is your set up as far as seat height, crank length, seat angle?

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Felt_Rider

Is your question to the OP?
It is a very valid question.

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