Cycling Fitness / Training Advice

Its based on heart rate not the scale of the previous effort. Not the average HR you see on Your screen either. But indicators that point to the heart being fatigued.

Mine goes nuts. After a race it'll tell me to have 4 days recovery. Makes me super paranoid.

It does doesn't it. TT forum people seem to think the Dangerfield sessions is a killer so this might be a bit much to start a block of training with.

It's a killer. Definitely get some short, 15 second intervals on the go though.

I should start doing some intervals again soon. Hoping they'll unlock huge gains after 6 months of tempo.

Other than massage / roller / stretching etc, does anyone have any top tips for loosening out the legs? Mine are riddled with aches and stiffness and general misery and i want shot of it asap. No amount of roller and stretching seems to work so far

Ketamine?

If massage is unable to relieve the legs, not sure what else will to be honest. Who's the masseuse?

Have you tried a 30 to 60 minute recovery ride?

I meant to ask, but is all this fatigue from riding or more from the gym work?

And have you seen gains from the gym work?

@andyp not really. i do these occasionally but get bored and should probably give it a go again.

@TTM, the fatigue has only kicked in during the last few days; hasn't been a long term issue.

I feel fine in my head and energy levels, just the legs feel super-tight and stiff. And I imagine it's from a combo of gym and bike.

Obviously i can't isolate the effects of the gym stuff. I only go twice a week, but have been quite focussed with it, and yes, I think the leg stuff has been worthwhile. I certainly feel i have a stronger punch over 1-5 secs for example. I'll definitely step it to three sessions a week in the winter. And I do core work too which i've done for years - so hard to say about this - but i rarely get stiff back / neck on long rides.

And i've just been for a sports massage at Cadence in Crystal Palace, so fingers crossed it helps.... legs feeling slightly jellyish right now!

Did that pyramid turbo session this evening but turned the resistance up for the last minute of each interval. It was tough, which is good.

+1 for recovery rides.

Find a HR/Power limit to stay under and spin for 90 mins. You will stimulate recovery by pumping more blood to the legs, while not loading them very much. Works Wonders sometimes.

Yep, I gave it a go. Did 30 mins nice high cadence in z2 power.
I woke up and the legs felt leaden (which the masseuse warned me about) so just span real gentle.
Going to take it easy for today and get back on it properly tomorrow. Really tempted to try to train today but i don't think it's worth it. If i'm gonna rest i should do it properly for once...

Z2 is not recovery.

Get some proper rest, maybe a little swim to take some weight off the legs? Feels good knowing that for once doing nothing is actually of benefit.

Z2 is not recovery.

This

Probably worth analysing if your legs just ache from intensity or if you have a deep seated fatigue (hard to maintain Z2 power, feeling tired all the time, not keen to get on the bike etc).

If you're properly fatigued 2 days won't allow you to recover to reap the benefits of the training stress you've built up. If you're training in 2-3 blocks then standard practice would be a low load week with no intervals, a couple of recovery spin sessions, some Z2 and maybe an unstructured fun ride.

This is where i find rollers are so useful. Climb on, find an awesome playlist, and slowly tick away.
I'm now in a position where i cannot take a day off without some kind of joint stiffness or heaviness setting in afterwards. If i take 48hrs off, my body just stiffens up and getting back onto the bike requires an extended warm up to get going, but time on the rollers really helps me out.

I do long Z2 rides (probs high Z2 TBH) to build endurance into my leg muscles. They are fun. Feel kinda easy yet fast. But they definitly do not offer recovery for leg muscles. After a well paced 3/4 hr Z2 I'm paralysed from the waist Down.

Recovery is Z1.

I've just looked at the TP file and it was border Z1 / Z2, mostly very low Z2. It didn't feel hard.

I'm like you @pistaboy, i do need to move the legs a bit or they start feeling really fucking odd.

@AdsH I'm pretty confused as to what's goin on tbh. Sometimes in the past I've had days of feeling really overdone, like really tired in head and body, not wanting to get on the bike etc. But this is purely legs!
I'm gagging to be on the bike and I feel pretty lively in my head, but my legs just feel terrible, kind of tingly and achey all the time. I know that the constant ache can be a sign of overtraining, but none of the other symptoms are there.
I've been training hard in the last 6 weeks, and i do have rest days, although not as many as i should - for example i've not had more than one consecutive day off gym or bike in recent memory.
I'm off to the mountains in 10 days time for 10 days of riding and so was going to start a taper pretty soon, but this is kind of forcing it to come early. I was hoping to get some last sessions in this week but really don't want to dig a hole....

Also, i'm hungry a lot. I thought overtraining tended to reduce appetite...?

Do you ever incorporate an easy week into your training? I find doing three weeks, ideally with progressively tougher sessions, followed by an easy week where I still ride but throttle back on the intensity really beneficial.

Any gains you make require rest so you should always be balancing hard sessions with easy/rest days to compensate.

Are you hydrated?

Yep am hydrated.
@andyp no not really coz I'm an idiot.

Pretty confused as to what's going on though, head and legs are saying totally different things. Normally they agree with each other

Just take it easy then. Nothing you do now is going to drastically improve your form for the mountains in ten days time, so best to recover and taper so that you are fresh and ready for your trip.

The only thing that will dramatically improve your form is rest and taper.