Race coming up... but my legs need a tune up



jonathandanger

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Jun 23, 2007
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I am competing in my first ever bike race in less than 2 weeks. This will be the first time competing in an athletic even since youth soccer as a child. Needless to say, I don't want to mess this up, so I have been preparing myself all summer to hold my own. However, in the past few days, I have felt weak and even a little painful in the legs. My last three rides have been slow and short. Normally I would take 2 or 3 days off to heal up, but I don't want to risk messing up my peak performance (I was riding faster than I ever have before, holding my own in club rides for a change.) Would it be wise to substitute days off with low intensity junk miles, given the circumstances?
 
jonathandanger said:
I am competing in my first ever bike race in less than 2 weeks. This will be the first time competing in an athletic even since youth soccer as a child. Needless to say, I don't want to mess this up, so I have been preparing myself all summer to hold my own. However, in the past few days, I have felt weak and even a little painful in the legs. My last three rides have been slow and short. Normally I would take 2 or 3 days off to heal up, but I don't want to risk messing up my peak performance (I was riding faster than I ever have before, holding my own in club rides for a change.) Would it be wise to substitute days off with low intensity junk miles, given the circumstances?
take some rest now until your legs stop hurting. Then do some tapering - gradually reduce the volume but add some intensity. Then 3/4 days before the race take 2 days rest at least. The day before do a 1hr easy ride with a few short harder efforts to warm up.

be aware that your first ever race is likely to be a steep learning curve.

Good luck.
 

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