Traveling & dead legs - what works for you?



alexinATL

New Member
Dec 12, 2016
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I have been riding / training pretty seriously for about 15 years now and am now age 48. I travel for work about 1 or 2x per month. Normally short trips of 2-4 days. 2x a year I got to China for a week. I normally ride about 9.5 hours per week and my CTL is usually 60-7x. I am good about planning my traveling week as a rest week, but I am wondering if anyone else has any experience with how to make a smooth transition back to riding. Normally I won't take more than 2 days off without at least sitting on a crappy hotel bike and getting some kind of spin in to help keep my legs used to moving. Regardless when I get back home and get on the bike my legs don't feel very good for the first day, but it seems to take 3-4 days sometimes to get back to where they feel decent. ( this usually coincides with my TSB being even to slightly negative).

Does anyone have any strategies for dealing with this type of issue? I was thinking my next China trip for 7 days of just getting on the crappy bike every 3rd day and riding about half an hour ( always short on time) with maybe 3-4 minutes around threshold and 4 30 second max efforts on some pretty short rest just to try to keep things moving. Any input is appreciated! ;)
 
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Reactions: jsmartin
Might want to try compression tights during/after the flight.
If you're attentive enough - and anstomically predisposed - there might be some swelling from the flight messing with you.
 
If your TSB is even to slightly negative, you should not be feeling fatigue after being off the bike a few days. You should be in great form and able to kill it. I have hit some of my personal bests in such situations. So maybe the flying is doing something to your legs. But if you can take a long work around the hotel each morning, should help keep rust off the legs when traveling. Also, first day back, maybe do a longer, easier warm up than usual.
 
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Reactions: jsmartin
It's common for the legs to feel a bit dead after several days off, a week for sure it might need a day or three of riding to feel OK. Best thing is to keep the legs rolling over while you're away, so some regular short spins on an exercise bike are a good idea.
 
I recommend wearing compression stockings on a regular basis, especially if you're on your feet a lot.
 
agree on compression stockings, and a baby aspirin (81mg) daily.
I think we need to be very careful about suggesting drugs to anyone. That's a matter for discussion in person with a medical professional. We have no idea of the specific issues for an individual we don't know.
 
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Reactions: steve
Hey, totally agree with you on that! It's crucial to prioritize safety and ensure that we don't make assumptions about someone's specific circumstances. Recommending drugs without proper knowledge can be dangerous. It's always best to consult a medical professional who can provide personalized advice. Safety first, right?