Leg pain

[FunnyGumby]

Hello everyone. I have near constant pain in my legs. It almost feels as if the lactic acid never flushes out. I do about 200+ miles a week at medium intensity. I drink protein shakes, eat well, get plenty of fluids and rest. I stretch and take 2 off days a week. Nothing really seems to help. I talked to my doctor and he had nothing for me. I was hoping for some insight from you folks.
Thank you, Mark

[mateo44]

See another doctor. Maybe one that specializes in sports medicine...

[Carbonfiberboy]

Probably no one wants to reply because there's not much information here. Age, length of time biking, appox. miles this season, vegetarian?, how much protein/day in shakes, vitamins, other supplements, legs hurt when - on the bike, off the bike, in bed, after the ride, all the time - group rides, solo rides, spinning classes, etc., etc., etc. Oh, bike position - checked by bike fitter or self checked, if so how, da de da de da. Do you race, if so when . . .

[kuan]

How long have you been doing 200 miles/week? Did you just start doing this? If so, count on having constant pain for six weeks. :)

[Zinn-X]

do you drink alcohol at all? i think getting fit shaced once every couple of weeks will make a big difference for you.

[ronjon10]

Have you tried getting a sports massage? You might try The Stick. I like it a lot, an LBS might have one you can try. http://www.thestick.com/

[DannoXYZ]

1. what kind of terrain?
2. what kind of gearing & RPMs used?
3. what kind of rides?
4. what kind of recovery?
5. etc.

[FunnyGumby]

I knew I would need more qualifying information so here goes..
Terrain; Mostly rolling and flat.
Gearing and RPM's; I have a triple and very rarely use the granny gear. I'm not sure of the teeth count, but my last ride was a Fuji Cross and my new ride is a Roubaix Elite Triple. I don't know my precise RPM's but I feel I'm doing a moderate to heavy output.
Kind of rides; Anywhere from 12 to 30 miles. I go fast when I can and go slow when I have to.
Recovery; 2 rest days a week. Plenty of sleep. Protein. Massage. Hot showers. Stretching.
As for sports massage; My wife is a massage therapist.
Do I drink?; I have 1 or 2 glasses of red wine a night. I get a buzz maybe once a week.
I have been doing long distances for at least 5 years.
Age; 39. 40 in June.
Carnivore.
Legs hurt most all of the time.
Daily multi-vitamin, 25 grams protein in my shakes, solo rides only, and bike fitted at LBS.
I hope this gives you some more info. Thanks for any information.
Mark

[aikigreg]

You're either grossly overtrained and need to take a week off, a blocked blood vessel in the area above the legs, or some blood chemical imbalance, or something really weird. See a sports med doctor and get a full blood panel done. I'm not a doc - just a coach - so get a real diagnosis.

In the meantime, get some creatine and glutamine powder, and take 5g of each 4 times per day with plenty of liquid water is fine. See what happens.

If there's any other pain anywhere else, or your thighs feel cold during a ride - stop riding. Might not be a bad idea to stop anyway.

[slowandsteady]

Something doesn't add up. You say you ride over 200 miles a week, but you ride 5 days a week for 12-30 miles. At most that would be 150 miles.

[FunnyGumby]

Untill recently I didn't have a computer, so a lot of the numbers are averages. I probably do less than 200, but not much.
mark

[cyclezen]

Hello everyone. I have near constant pain in my legs. It almost feels as if the lactic acid never flushes out. I do about 200+ miles a week at medium intensity. I drink protein shakes, eat well, get plenty of fluids and rest. I stretch and take 2 off days a week. Nothing really seems to help. I talked to my doctor and he had nothing for me. I was hoping for some insight from you folks.
Thank you, Mark

if its constant, and in the legs, I'd say 'chemistry', diet
if I relate it to a similar condition I had this December thur Mid-Feb, it was my 'diet'...
not that I was eating poorly or out of proportion. I tend to eat 'balanced' with a leaning to protein and higher fiber carbs.
But, as it turns out, I wasn;t keeping my electrolytes well balanced or high enough.
I added daily supplements of Potassium and Magnesium in addition to B-complex and a B12 additionally every 3 days.
I cut back a little on my daily dose of Red wine - from 1 1/2 glass to 1 glass (about 5-6 oz)

worked wonders, in 2 weeks I noticed huge improvments, in 4 weeks the pain was mostly gone except for expected pain after a really nasty workout.

[Carbonfiberboy]

I added daily supplements of Potassium and Magnesium in addition to B-complex and a B12 additionally every 3 days.
I cut back a little on my daily dose of Red wine - from 1 1/2 glass to 1 glass (about 5-6 oz)

worked wonders, in 2 weeks I noticed huge improvments, in 4 weeks the pain was mostly gone except for expected pain after a really nasty workout.+1
A couple 500 calcium/250 magnesium tabs/day can work wonders. Wine is poison for me. I enjoy it, but it kills my workouts the next day. I'd say no wine or beer except for after your hard weekend ride. There's not enough resveratrol in a glass of red wine to do anything.

[aikigreg]

You know, I hadn't thought about it, but did you fly recently? There's a chance it could be deep vein thrombosis or something, which is quite deadly if untreated. Get thee to a physician.

[slowandsteady]

Do you ever take a week off?

[DScott]

It was recommended in the racing forum to be sure and "spin out" your legs after your ride- that would be taking the last 5 or 10 minutes of each ride and going very easy at a moderate cadence. I think the idea is to help your system clear out the lactic acid built up promote comfortable recovery.

I do know if I go hard and don't taper the effort at the end of the ride, I'm just not as comfortable later.

Anyone else think this might help?


Thread here: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=296668

[babydee]

You know, I hadn't thought about it, but did you fly recently? There's a chance it could be deep vein thrombosis or something, which is quite deadly if untreated. Get thee to a physician.

Very unlikely to be in both legs, and existing over a long period of time - by now it would have either resolved itself or the fella would have thrown a pulmonary embolism. If it's more localized pain, accompanied by redness, warmth, swelling, than it's worth checking out, but I seriously doubt it.

Sounds like overtraining to me, IMHO.

[FunnyGumby]

Well whatever it was , I took the advice of aikigreg and have been using glutimine powder for the last 3 days. I don't know if it is a placebo effect or not, but my legs feel 100% better than they have in months or even years. Thank you all for the suggestions and your time.
Mark

[ericgu]

Funny,

What is your nutrition like during and after your riding? I've found that using Endurox after my rides had a big effect on how much leg pain I have after rides.