Leg tiredness??

[jjiam]

Has anyone experienced what I call leg tiredness, which is this. I rode decent ride up and down hills 20 miles at 17.4 MPH now it's the second day after and I have absolutely NO energy to do anything, my legs hurt. They just ache, they feel good if they have pressure applied to the muscle. EX: if I reach down and squeeze my calf and put pressure on the muscle and roll my hands around, it makes my calf feel good. Is it that I am getting sick? or is this something that others have experienced? It may because I don't get any good sleep or what? any opinions are appreciated. I used to ride every day 30 miles a day, but took off cause of an injury, now I want to get back to every day, but why do my legs hurt? Thanks to all who reply, it's appreciated.

 

[testerdahl]

Has anyone experienced what I call leg tiredness, which is this. I rode decent ride up and down hills 20 miles at 17.4 MPH now it's the second day after and I have absolutely NO energy to do anything, my legs hurt. They just ache, they feel good if they have pressure applied to the muscle. EX: if I reach down and squeeze my calf and put pressure on the muscle and roll my hands around, it makes my calf feel good. Is it that I am getting sick? or is this something that others have experienced? It may because I don't get any good sleep or what? any opinions are appreciated. I used to ride every day 30 miles a day, but took off cause of an injury, now I want to get back to every day, but why do my legs hurt? Thanks to all who reply, it's appreciated.

I used to get this when I first started riding. I found that the 'secret' was in my nutrition and forcing myself to do a recovery ride.
I added Protein shakes after my ride and feed my body with lots of carbs (big bowl of pasta) along with fruit right after a ride. I would then periodically over the next hour stretch. This would help with 2 things in my opinion, 1. would be that I am feeding my body and replenshing those nutrients I just burned and 2. that by stretching I got rid of the buildup of acids that cause pain.
Lastly, I do a recovery ride the next day consistening of a third of the previous days total. Keep in mind this is a minium distance and that I really shot for just an easy spin to stretch my legs. I really try to not even break a sweat.
By doing these things, I have found that when I go for a long ride or a high intensity ride on the third day that I am fresh and can tame the climbs in my ride fairly easily.