Insane burning thighs on long hilly rides



PistachioAddict

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May 6, 2006
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I suppose the title says it all, did 60 miles today faster than normal as I was keeping up with a stronger training partner so I was already in some discomfort before tackling the hills.

I am used to being dropped and catching up on the flat/descent as I am quite heavy, but after 3 tough hills in quick succession my thighs were screaming at me. So I got out of the saddle and they screamed even worse (I swear my entire quad muscle cramped at the bottom of my stroke).

I got over that totally wrecked and caught up but that was me finished after than any sort of incline and my thighs would burn ans I could barely push the pedals.

Even over an hour later my legs were burning on inclines but I was holding 22 mph on flat sections for long periods. I felt like such a chump struggling up roads that weren't even steep at ridiculous slow speeds :eek:

I normally climb slower than fast guys but never that slow it's like I did something to my legs and that was it they were gone and I could not get them back.

What do I do?
 
PistachioAddict said:
I suppose the title says it all, did 60 miles today faster than normal as I was keeping up with a stronger training partner so I was already in some discomfort before tackling the hills.

I am used to being dropped and catching up on the flat/descent as I am quite heavy, but after 3 tough hills in quick succession my thighs were screaming at me. So I got out of the saddle and they screamed even worse (I swear my entire quad muscle cramped at the bottom of my stroke).

I got over that totally wrecked and caught up but that was me finished after than any sort of incline and my thighs would burn ans I could barely push the pedals.

Even over an hour later my legs were burning on inclines but I was holding 22 mph on flat sections for long periods. I felt like such a chump struggling up roads that weren't even steep at ridiculous slow speeds :eek:

I normally climb slower than fast guys but never that slow it's like I did something to my legs and that was it they were gone and I could not get them back.

What do I do?
You don't say how tall and what weight you are. But I can tell you for nothing that the 2 Hs don't go together very well, that is, hills and being heavier than you should. A few short weeks ago, I had reasonable power on the flat but my climbing was pathetic. Since then I've shed some weight and increased my power through doing 20 minute intervals and the climbing has improved dramatically.
Climbing is basically all about weight and power. If you don't want to decrease your weight then you have to considerably increase your power to carry that hulk up the climbs, fighting gravity all the way.:)

On Friday I did a torturous ride in the Japanese mountains, with climbs at 15 and 17% and one climb goes on for 6km, however, at no time did I experience burning thighs - very warm but not burning.

One more thing - I'm no spring chicken.;)
 
Pain. Get used to it.

You won't get any faster without spending time in the pain tunnel.
 
Spunout said:
Pain. Get used to it.

You won't get any faster without spending time in the pain tunnel.
Not all pain is associated with improvement. Some pain could be quite counter-productive.
 
PistachioAddict said:
I normally climb slower than fast guys but never that slow it's like I did something to my legs and that was it they were gone and I could not get them back.
Were you propperly hydrated?
 
artmichalek said:
Were you propperly hydrated?
aye I stopped to releive myself at about the halfway point so I'd say I was ok maybe slightly dehydrated.

We've all been trashed on the roads, and we've all been trashed on hills then recovered on the flat.

What made this experience strange was that I could ride fine on the flat at a good speed so I felt recovered - but even a slight incline and I was done in. Heart and lungs fine but unable to generate force. Like I had lost the "anaerobic" high muscle tension-generating element of muscle function.

I've read that in bodybuilding they do more sets than powerlifters because your brain recruits the strongest fibres first then when they fatigue the next strongest and so on, powerlifters don't care about the weaker fibres but bodybuilders want all fibres to grow so they do more sets so they all get a workout.

Makes me think I trashed my "strong" fibres and the weaker ones were fine for the flat but no good for lugging my heavy weight uphill.

I might be talking bollo**s of course but I'm just thinking aloud as they say.
 
I'm a cross trainer, which includes, amongst others, cycle training and weight lifting. There seems to be hot debate as to whether weight training is benificial to cycling or not. It seems to me that, when compared with cyclists of similar ability, my legs are a lot stronger, but less enduring. So on a short steep hill, I just fly past the other riders, but on longer shallow hills my advantage is not there.

Some of the others will probably flame me for saying this. When you do those rides where the muscles have burned, they will need more repairing than on other rides, so you should have some protein immeaditly after the ride, as the body needs this repair the muscles and the body will repair them a little stronger than before.