Commuting - 4th day of commuting and walking

So I've been walking 2 miles each lunch break for the last month or so. 4 days ago I started my commute which is 6 miles round trip.

This being day 4 I am completely smoked. My legs are cramped and my morning commute average speed has dropped due to this.

My two guesses to avoid this are probably some stretching, some protein and proper hydration. But is this going to be an ongoing ordeal? Does this fatigue reduce with a higher endurance?


I dunno it changes anything but i'm a pretty big guy 6'1" 250ish right now.

Your body will get conditioned to the routine you're introducing now - it's a matter of time - feed/rest/stretch and you'll get into shape in no time. If you then push more beyond the new boundaries (ie, ride more/harder) then you'll get that same "I've been working hard" kinda burn out feeling you have now. Just take it easy, treat yourself well and you'll be well on your way.

Good job.

Given that you are walking 2 miles daily I can only imagine that you have the basic fitness level that should make a 6 mile round trip by bike an easy task. 3 miles one way on a bike is short distance so I am wondering about the set up of your bike. How high is your seat? Can you extend your legs out while maintaining a slight bend when you pedal? If your seat is low you may be in a position that makes it easy to cramp. Do you have knobby or smooth tires and are your tires well inflated to recommended pressure (found on tire)? Knobby tires and under inflated tires are harder to roll on pavement. Are you riding in an easy gear and spinning fast or are you riding in a high gear and mashing? Mashing can be tough on the knees and wear one out.

Taking care of yourself is good. Give yourself a rest day. Sometimes a shortage in the body of potassium can cause muscle cramping. A banana fixes this. Dehydration can cause fatigue and you are walking a good while in the heat of the day. Be sure to drink plenty of water.

Endurance increases alot with regular riding. No worries. I am a heavy guy who struggled at first but I can ride many times further than I could when I started. Give yourself time.

Stretch, definitely. Even a little bit helps. And yeah, it goes away. I'm on my third or 4th week of commuting and I think after two weeks, the soreness stopped coming, although my commute isn't very long.

You went from not riding to work, to riding 6 miles per day every day? Sure, you're going to feel tired. Get plenty of rest, and don't be ashamed to skip a day or skip that lunchtime walk if you're feeling beat. Rest and recouperation is a big part of getting stronger.

Your body will get used to it, don't worry.

Awesome advice guys.

I like the burned out feeling in a way because it reminds me that I'm actually making some progress, I just don't want to get burned out. So I guess tomorrow will be the day of rest for me then haha

DC,

Yeah I'm not completely sucking wind or anything, it's a pretty hilly ride especially on the way home, but it's not a killer really. My bike as much as I loved building it up I think is one of the main problems. The frame it's self is probably a big small for me. Seat is up pretty far, if I adjust it up much more I would start to worry about it's structural integrity. My tires probably do need to be topped off, I'll hit this on the way home. It's a 6 speed right now due to an inoperable front DER and lack of shifter and cables. My legs bend a little more than feel comfortable on a complete down stroke and I think this probably has to do with the overall setup of the bike.

I don't want to do any damage to my joints or anything but I don't want to stop ridding to work and I don't have enough money to pickup anything else at the moment. I want to first prove to my self and my wife that a 500 dollar investment is worth it and that I'm not going to buy a great bike and have it sitting in the garage or in my office at home.

Thanks for your input,
Eric

Your seatpost *should* have a mark on it called "Point of minimum insertion" If you stay above that, structural integrity isn't a huge concern, although you might find your saddle to be substantially higher than your handlebar, which isn't dangerous, just uncomfortable for som eof us.

Definiely stretch, particularly AFTER your ride.

98 degree weather almost put me over the edge on the way home, I'm going to have to take a break and build up to riding in this heat.

If you are cramping, you are for sure dehydrated; end of story. It probably accounts for a lot of your fatigue as well. Take a bottle of water with you on your bike and walks, and drink water at your place of work. It's been hot here, and it is easy to get dehydrated when you exercise.

And, yea, it'll get better with repetition.

So I've been walking 2 miles each lunch break for the last month or so. 4 days ago I started my commute which is 6 miles round trip.

This being day 4 I am completely smoked. My legs are cramped and my morning commute average speed has dropped due to this.

My two guesses to avoid this are probably some stretching, some protein and proper hydration. But is this going to be an ongoing ordeal? Does this fatigue reduce with a higher endurance?


I dunno it changes anything but i'm a pretty big guy 6'1" 250ish right now.

Did you ride much before starting your commute? If not, walking 2 miles absolutely won't prepare you for riding 3 hard miles. I started riding to stay in shape when an injury kept me from running for a few months. I had been running 25 miles per week, up to 12 miles per run, so I was in pretty good shape. I started riding a few miles at a time, and after getting off the bike my legs felt like they were going to fall off.

So what I'm trying to say is, what you're experiencing is totally normal and it's not because anything's wrong with you. That said, blood sugar, protein, and water won't be a bad idea, either! And stick with it, after a couple of weeks, tops, the 'rubberlegs' should fade. It might be a good idea to alternate days if it's really dragging you down, or ride a little easier until you get to where you can really crank (I know how it feels, you want to hit it hard but your legs won't let you yet).

One other thing that could help - drop your gear ratio and spin more. I think a lot of beginning riders use way too high a gear. I know I sure did. And I think that contributed to the sore legs I had at first. And I agree with the others who suggest getting a well fitting bike eventually. I highly recommend Craigslist for getting your first 'real' bike - you can convince the wife you can sell it for what you paid if you don't stick with it (but you will). Also, you don't need to spend $500 to get a good used bike. Got mine for $400 and I love it, and you could get a good one for $300 or maybe less.

Just stick with it. I bet you, in another month you'll be looking for longer routes so you can lengthen your commute. Good luck!

What brand and model bike are you riding?

Also, you can get some advice on the front dérailleur in the mechanics forum.

Good luck and keep the rubber side down.

If you are cramping, you are for sure dehydrated;

+1

Haul a bottle.
Drink more than you think that you need and see what happens.

You don't need to do it everyday (at least not the whole routine) especially starting out. It's great you're enthusiastic, but I'd hate to see you get in a spot where you're so sore you give up for a week...which could lead to two and so on.

It's worth repeating - hydrate before, during and after.

Well my bike doesn't really fit me very well the frame is to small. I did though adjust the seat up to the max of the post length and that made a good difference, I wasn't getting a full stroke on my pedals, my legs weren't able to extend enough ( and still can't really ).

I do have a big problem with always wanting to haul ass no matter what too. It's a problem with riding quads and motorcycles too. For some reason I always associate riding with going full out always. This also sucks with walking too because about 15 years ago I shattered my left ankle and it never recovered. I develop a club foot when I run/job/walk to much. But it is getting better actually.

Hydration I think though is a major problem. I drink about a half liter of water before I leave in the morning or at night and it seems to help but by the end of the trip I'm seriously dry mouth and sucking hard.

I do want to ride every day so I think I'll alternate my walking or just reduce it down to a mile for a few weeks and see what happens. My go-fast syndrome I think is making me mash (new term to me) a lot and build up a lot of soreness, right now spinning is pretty difficult though because my lack of gearing. I'll have to wait until next weekend though to buy the parts for my front dérailleur, that will cut time on the way to work since it's 50% light down hill.

I've been having leg cramping problems this summer. One treatment that was recommended by a physician friend was to take Magnesium. I'm currently taking 250 mg three times per day. Magnesium is apparently a natural muscle relaxer.

It has seemed to help. Although I did have a relapse due to stupidly running a 5K during my recovery period. I'm back on the mend and slowly trying to increase my running miles along with my biking miles.

Good luck with your commuting. Keep it up.

As others have said, it will get better.

I used to get cramps a lot. I thought I wasn't drinking enough, so started drinking a lot more and added Gatorade. Still was getting cramps. It seems it was a two part problem.
1. I wasn't getting enough potassium (fresh fruit, dried figs or dates, and tomato juice are excellent sources).
2. I was washing the potassium out of my system by drinking way too much water AFTER eating the fruit or drinking the tomato juice.

Now I stay hydrated and eat the fruit AFTER my rides.

I ride about 500-600+ miles per month year round, but found that my legs were getting tired after I started bike commuting in April. My bike commute is about 22 miles round trip, which is comparable to the distance I was riding on weekdays already. Part of the issue with bike commuting is that you are actually taking two rides per day, not one. For me, the first 5 miles of any ride is warm up time and if I start riding too fast, too soon it wears out my legs. What I realized is that I was riding too hard on my commute -- that is, not allowing enough warm-up time and trying to ride at the speeds I typically go on group rides. There is also a lot more stop-and-go in bike commuting due to traffic lights, stop signs, etc. So a 15 mph average speed while bike commuting is actually much harder than riding 15 mph on a group ride, not even considering the effects of drafting in a paceline. Also, I have been riding more miles since I started bike commuting. So, I made a conscious effort to ride easier on most of my bike commutes, not worrying about my average speed. My legs feel much better now, and I still can ride just as fast (if not faster) on group rides.

Yeah two days off over the weekend was a nice recovery period, but I still can't help riding fast at least through the mile of flats.

Our food supply at home is shrinking and when we go grocery shopping I'll remember to pickup some bananas. Now I just need to figure out a way to transport bananas in my bag with out turning them into paste.

Yeah two days off over the weekend was a nice recovery period, but I still can't help riding fast at least through the mile of flats.

Our food supply at home is shrinking and when we go grocery shopping I'll remember to pickup some bananas. Now I just need to figure out a way to transport bananas in my bag with out turning them into paste.

If they're not quite ripe, it helps - but try putting them right at the top, away from any weight or hard objects that'll dent/squish them. I also wrap my bananas up in an extra bag, as the smell can taint into whatever other food I have (bread in particular I've noticed).