[jacksonpt]

I noticed this towards the end of last season and I chalked it up to improved leg strength. After a winter of TV, Ben and Jerry's, and naps, I had my first real ride of the season yesterday - same deal.

I remember when I was in college... I used to play in pickup basketball games some times, and after a particularly long night on the court, the next morning my legs would be sore. I would never get winded or cramp up, but my legs would hurt the next day. Towards the end of last season, I started to notice that my legs were no longer sore after a good ride. I could ride until I was exhausted cardiovascularly, or until I had such cramps in my thighs that I couldn't walk, but my legs were never sore the next day.

Does that mean that my legs are getting stronger, or at least that I'm in better shape muscularly than I am cardiovascularly? Is this making any sense? I always used to use that day-after-sorness as a way to gauge my workout, but without the sorness, I feel like I'm not working as hard.

I'm guessing that my legs are getting stronger faster than my heart is (i.e. my leg strength is increasing faster than my cardio endurance). Would you agree?

 

[Serial Midget]

Hmmm... My legs are always a bit sore after a hard ride or run... if they aren't then I know I haven't worked hard enough.

I prescibe hair of the dog. Go out and ride and easy 10 miles at 75% and work some of that lactic acid out of your thighs.

Yesterday I rode 20 miles at 18 MPH, ran 7 miles at an 8 min pace and then rode another 20 miles at 22 MPH - I feel it today so I will just ride 10 miles at 16 MPH just to loosen things up.

You can guage your cadio by the length of your recovery time, if you are good to go within 48 hours of a hard ride you should be happy.

I don't race bikes so I can't give a good analogy bike wise but I do run foot races:

If I do a 10K in 46/47 minutes I will be sore and tired the next day but good to go on the second day.

If if I do a 10K under 44 minutes it will be days before I can even think about running.

I did a 10K last year in 42 minutes and could barely walk the next day - it took me at least a week to recover and I really felt like crap for 2 days. In the end I decided it was not worth it - I won't push that hard again anytime soon.

 

[Topaz]

You're probably in the kind of shape now that you've either got to go balls to the wall for 60-90min, do intervals, do really looong rides, or back to back long rides to feel soreness.

If I do a 4hr and 3hr ride I'll be fine. But if I do back to back 4hr rides it makes a big difference in my fatigue.

So if you want soreness you have to go over your redline or beyond your endurance level. It's time to take the pain

 

[jacksonpt]

So in a way this is a good thing... it shows that I'm getting into better shape, right? It also shows that I need to ride harder, longer - which I can certainly do, muhahahhaaha