Recovery from dead legs

flash79

I am new to road cycling and have been in training for a 70 mile ride at the end of August. But I think I have hit a raod block. After any training ride my legs feel as though they are dead, stiff and weak. I train 5-6 days a week usually keeping the majority of the training rides at a good pace of 16-17 mph and a distance of 20 miles. The weekends are the long rides usually 40-50 miles at a 13-15 mph pace. Any ideas of how I can fix this or am I overtraining. I also know that my diet is in horrible shape and it needs some work.

dhk2

Would bet you're doing way too much for your current level of fitness. The schedule of 5 days at 20 miles, plus 50 on the weekend would have you at 150 miles/week. That's a heavy training load for most of us, even those with many seasons of riding.

Suggest you cut back the weekday rides to just two or three days, so your weekly mileage is between 80-100. Only go at your harder 16-17 mile pace on one of the rides, the other times just ride fairly easy at 13-15. You don't need to kill yourself to improve; too much mileage and intensity is a lot worse than too little.

Diet is important too. Get plenty of carbs and maybe some high-quality protein as soon as possible after each ride.

flash79

Thanks for the replies. I have cut down the traininh load in the last week or so and after my last ride I did eat right afterwards and I feel a whole lot better. Also how do you feel about using suppliments such as creatine for recovery.

BullGod

creatine is a waste of time, and not healthy for you either.

A normal protein shake will help replace / build muscle and help recovery.