aching muscles

[CatGirl]

i dont understand this!!! i am fit and cycle/train regularly on road and been doing offroads for 3 years. how come with every race( i usually do the intermediate distances), towards the end my muscles are in such pain??? i am not tired,out of breath or exhausted or anything. state of mind is also good and the willpower is there...

like saturday's swartland mtb, 3 km from the finish my leg muscles were absolutely killing me. i was in agony/severe pain!! i was ok the rest of the day and the following days.

 

why the extreme muscle aches??

thank you

[MaxUmis]

Perhaps it's because you ride harder during races than when you train.

Thus exceeding your lactate threshold, resulting in excess lactic acid in your leg muscles, resulting in PAIN.

 

You can train close to or at your Lactate Threshold to increase/lift your HR where you start to produce excess amounts of lactic acid...

 

2cents.

[Maryks]

Your muscles are probably aching due to lactic acid build up. Most people race at higher intensities than they train. As a result the muscles are not used to that much lactic acid building up and it cannot buffer it as it has not been trained to do so. That is why it is important to train at higher intensities (according to the types of intervals you are doing) when you train in order for your muscles to get used to being so overloaded with lactic acid that they can handle it and perform optimally through it.

 

If you need any advice on training and programs, please contact me at maryke.verster87@gmail.com or 079 730 3831. I am a sport scientist, so I can help you any time!

[b-unit]

Experiment with other "during race" nutrition options...

[CatGirl]

thank you very much all, yes i do put in extra effort when i race and not when i train

so i must train harder then and train offroad, only problem is dont want to go at it alone...dont think it will be safe...and i also dont know where i can go train offraod for free? lourensford? helderberg college? i live in somerset west

thanks all

[MaxUmis]

Indoor trainers are the most boring things ever to have been seen by the face of the earth, BUT they make doing "interval training" very accessible.

[swoosh1973]

Helliose, the advice above makes sense. You need to build lactate threshold. However this is not as simple as it sounds because you build lactate threshold with very high intensity.

 

What nobody tells us is that we cant do this every day and fewer people emphasises how crucial it is to recover correctly after such sesions. Correct recovery makes the difference. This is what makes us stronger not the actual training itself.

So understanding what nutrition to take during and after high intensity sesions and when is in essence the secret.

My riding improved substantialy when I began to understand that recovering correctly is worth more than the actual training sesion itself!

The learning curve is for you now to explore the details of what foods/drinks and intervals, rests and programmes are appropriate for you. Yes there are generalisations but we are all unique. One mans rule is another mans curse.

Correct recovery applies to everyone.

[vanniri]

Agree with S2S above regarding the importance of recovery.

 

I have found active recovery (just turning the cranks for 1/2 hour on the trainer) on rest days even more beneficial than just laying-about on the coach. It can get boring so ensure there is some entertainment on the telly.

[Sean Sakinofsky]

Why don't you just ask the best sports physician and excercise physiologist in the business - Dr Jeroen Swart.

 

go to:

 

www.sciencetosport.com

[STINGER]

i dont understand this!!! i am fit and cycle/train regularly on road and been doing offroads for 3 years. how come with every race( i usually do the intermediate distances), towards the end my muscles are in such pain??? i am not tired,out of breath or exhausted or anything. state of mind is also good and the willpower is there...

like saturday's swartland mtb, 3 km from the finish my leg muscles were absolutely killing me. i was in agony/severe pain!! i was ok the rest of the day and the following days.

 

why the extreme muscle aches??

thank you

Try Hornet Juice www.hornetjuice.co.za

Brilliant feedback from users

[manbearpig]

I think you should rather ask yourself why you are only putting in effort with 3km to go. From my experience my legs are in pain from the time the race starts.

[ianhoy]

http://www.bicycling.co.za/articles/5-stupid-training-mistakes

[CatGirl]

thank you all very much...i will have a look at the sites mentioned. so...saturday was a killer,when again should i go for a ride?? i went for a 50 min ride yesterday but realise now i still have a problem with my left leg hamtring..must have pulled it a bit on the race...so what to do now?

[The Saint]

Ok if you are injured you need to rest - training on injuries is a big no no and will only come back to bite you in the ass at a later stage or cause you to be out of commission for a longer period of time.

 

Stiff or tight muscles should not be confused with an injury, sometimes a good stretch can sort this out and other times over stretching can be the cause of your problem.

 

Pushing yourself in a race and having sore muscles is a good thing - that is why it is called a race, if you are not going to push yourself to the max you may as well go for a training session.

 

Try to train for a longer distance than what you are going to race eg Race distance is 100km's train for a distance of 120km's - simply this allows your body to adapt and leaves you some gas in reserve.

 

Also consider that your body is a actually very clever and it learns to do more with less. So doing the same training regime over and over will make your body more efficient which in essence means you will become less fit. You need to confuse the issue, you can do the same amount of training in time and distance but vary your routes - even do them the other way around just to get your body out of the routine.

 

Hope this helps - oh and rest, don't run when you can walk, don't walk when you can sit and don't sit when you can lie down!!

[Topwine]

Helloise

 

I found the following site very informative and learned a lot about endurance training. It gives a LOT of information and doesn't try to sell you some product first before you get to read the info.

 

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/methods-of-endurance-training-part-1.html

 

also read the follow up articles here,

 

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/methods-of-endurance-training-putting-it-together.html

 

and here,

 

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/methods-of-endurance-training-results-part-1.html

 

 

Best regards

 

From your fellow "sore and cramping legs near the end" MTB cyclist

[The Saint]

Me again - also consider the route you are racing on - if you are only climbing 1000 Mtr's in your training and climbing 2000 in the race then you certainly are going to *** off.

 

Maybe do a profile check of your previous races and compare them to your training profiles.