should your legs get tired the next day after riding?

I ride between 15 and 20 miles a day. Sometimes I go 30 and my parents are telling to tone it down. I just tell them I never get tired and can ride everyday. I just never have tired legs ever. I was wondering if that means im not doing enough? Or if my legs are built up from the riding? Anyboy know?

Well sounds to me your eating right and getting enough rest
so GO GO GO

__________________
79 Schwinn Continental II
Ride cause you enjoy it!

Muscle pain is simply your muscles being broken down and rebuilt. If youve ever lifted weights you notice the first week or two you will be sore then it goes away. Your muscles kinda get used to it. Cycling isnt supposed to be hard on you like weight lifting is. It doesnt really cause your muscles to break down like weight lifting. Therefore, cycling shouldnt cause much soreness in your muscles. You may notice a little fatigue and possibly some soreness after a long hard ride, that can be expected because your doing more than your muscles are used to. Trust me, if you were overdoing it your body would let you know.

Every so often I like to have a rest day but, of course, I just turned 40 and have to bear in mind I'm no spring chicken anymore.
Are you varying the intensity of your cycling? Maybe you should try throwing in some serious intensity work every so often and then take a rest day.
You could try stuff like finding a medium steep hill and sprinting up and down against the clock. This kind of work is basically more intense than going on training run but it can lead to overtraining so it's a good idea not to overdo it.
Your body may be telling you it's ready to step things up a bit every so often.

you are very lucky.

my legs are sore even after the the easiest of rides. (later in the day)
if i do a hard workout, stairs become a problem.
if i do a killer day like 6 hours with lots of intensity, i am sore for the next 4 days.
if i do a week long stage race(tour l'abitibi), i am toast for the next 3 weeks.
it's not like i push a big gear the whole time either.

how can cycling not cause muscle soreness?

My legs don't really get sore; I just get a general feeling of fatigue the day after a hard ride that tells me recovery time is needed. On the other hand,
I've never done a week-long stage race...that's got to be tough.

Suggestions: Right after a killer ride, you might try elevating your legs above your heart for 5-10 minutes, and doing some self-massage to move the lactic acid out of the muscles. A real sports massage would be great too, if that's available after your events.

When I get home after a hard ride, if the legs feel stiff at all I'll spend 30 minutes in a warm jacuzzi bath with the jets hitting my calfs and quads.

Also, be sure to consume adequate carbs and some protein during your glycogen-replacement window to speed recovery.

Please ignore the above if you already know this stuff; nothing really new.

Just out of interest, do you guys stretch? I'm quite new to cycling but rowed pretty seriously before; I always stretch after training - it certainly makes things hurt less the next day and prevents muscle stiffness. That said, flexibility is very important for rowers.

Jas

[QUOTE=dhk]

When I get home after a hard ride, if the legs feel stiff at all I'll spend 30 minutes in a warm jacuzzi bath with the jets hitting my calfs and quads.

QUOTE]
There is a school of thought that ice cold baths are more beneficial as they stimulate circulation thus helping to remove accumulated lactic acid

You're right, ice baths stimulate circulation which promotes faster healing and recovery, but As far as I know all lactic acid will have left your muscles within 10 minutes or so of the end of your warm-down, if not during the warm-down itself. Lactic acid has nothing to do with muscle soreness after exercise, that's DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness).

I guess a jacuzzi will have much the same type of effect as the ice bath.

[QUOTE=dazzle96]I know ice is used to reduce swelling after an injury, but didn't know an ice cold bath would promote circulation better. I'll go for slightly cool water in summer after a hot ride, but will pass on getting into an ice bath.

LOL yeah me too!

::: I know ice is used to reduce swelling after an injury, but
::: didn't know an ice cold bath would promote circulation better.
::: I'll go for slightly cool water in summer after a hot ride, but
::: will pass on getting into an ice bath.

Ice baths promote circulation (best) when used in conjunction with hot baths. Together they're called contrast baths. Why does it work? When your body gets cold, your blood rushes to your internal organs. When your body gets hot, your blood rushes to the surface of your skin - the "flushed" look. Do this in quick succession, and you're causing your blood to rush in, rush out, rush in, rush out... kind of like turbocharging your bloodflow.

Most well-equipped modern training facilities will have a cold plunge, and after a workout athletes will take alternating dips in the cold plunge and the hot tub, to increase overall circulation as described above and thus help their bodies dispose of the waste produced by the healing process which builds and repairs muscle. It doesn't have to be an ice bath, per se, just cold enough to cause a sharp intake of breath. That's how you'll know your body's been stimulated into the appropriate response.

Caveat emptor - I've recently heard that new research exists which *may* indicate that there are drawbacks to contrast baths. Haven't seen it myself, but by all means do some reading on the subject before you add it to your training program.

//-- LB

Once you are a fit rider, soreness in your legs will be directly proportional to the amount of time you spend closer to and above your lactate threshold. Recovery time will also be proportional to this time. Sounds like your not pushing it near to or above your lactate threshold. As a base guideline your Max Heart Rate (MHR) will be around 220 - age. Lactate threshold will be around 85% of MHR. A recovery ride should be limited to around 60-65% MHR. The MHR and Lactate Threshold can vary from the 220-age and 85% by quite a bit so be warned.

Just want to be clear here...

A 5-10 minute ice bath tightens your blood vessels which evacuates the blood. When you get out, a rush of "fresh" blood flows through your legs and helps carry away lactic acid. During the ice bath circulation is reduced.

This is a theory only and evidence is anecdotal at best.

The reason I use cold water (in the shower) is to REDUCE swelling and flush my legs. The increased swelling from long workouts(>1 hour) causes swelling in my legs that leads to compartmental syndrome.

As for training, check out this simple article.
http://www.drmirkin.com/fitness/8700.html

If you want to become stronger, take one hard workout a week. As a runner I run up and down steep hills and run short sprints at higher speeds for my hard workout.

If I am not a little sore the next day then I know I didn't work hard enough. It's really hard to keep pushing myself at times, but this is a tried and true system.

The same principles apply to cycling, or any other aerobic sport.
Stress and recover.

I have read medical studies that show distance has diminishing returns at higher levels and the stress/recover approach is much more effective. ie cutting one long ride a week and substituting for hill/sprint work.

Eitherway, its a personal preference (both the ice bacth and the training) and please do what suits, but it's really worth spending some time researching and contemplating and deciding for yourself.

I doubt the ice bath is for the removal of lactic acid. Your body will be very efficient at removing and processing that already, and it will probably have dropped to normal levels during your warm-down if not soon afterwards. The ice bath is used to boost circulation and reduce healing times for the training damage to your muscles, and thus you can train hard again slightly sooner.