Mountain Biking - Recovery time after pushing yourself entirely too hard?

Monday, this week I had the day off and made some minor tweaks to the fit on my bike. Gary Fisher marlin/discs and took it out for a quick ride.

I liked the fit so much that it somehow turned into a 40 mile road ride in 95 degree heat.... the most ive ever done on the road in 1 shot was like 15 and just cruising around taking my time.

I hit dehydration at the end.. stopped sweating, and then got chills. at that point i pulled the plug and sat in the shade of a tree for a good 15 min and just cooled the F down. was out of water so babied it to a convinent mart thing and got some water, refueled and finished the trip.. exhausted and tired and beaten.

The next day i was sore all over hard to lift anything Ie my arm lol >< well its day 2 now and im still feeling completely drained, no power what so ever.


is there a way to counter this i feel like death effect after a super hard ride?

Don't get dehydrated. That's where the "feel like death" effect comes from, not the actual ride.

Drink lots and lots and lots and lots of water for a few days, then never get dehydrated again. It sucks.

You definately still can feel like death even though you are properly hydrated. It sounds like you really pushed yourself due to your limited riding distances before hand

It might take 3 days to recover from that ride. to aid recovery in the future, do an easy ride (AKA recovery ride) the day after your hard ride and keep up on not only hydration but electrolyte consumption.

It was weird, i was planning maybe a 30 min ride just to test the new fit. and got going and really really felt good with the changes i made.. And figured why not go for more.. well 20 miles later i was like oh **** i have to turn around and do that again.

I plan on doing a Century come the colder weather when i buy my road bike. So while the ride killed me, im pretty pumped that a rider of only a few months, was able to do 40 miles in 95 degree heat with no knowledge of what my body would do on that distance.


throw in 65 degree weather, proper water/nutrition and a road bike... I think ill make it to my goal of a Century =)

Three to four days should take care of it, better hydration and nutrition habits will be learned in this trial and error period.

a few days. The more you do, the better you become at knowing your body. A distance runner or a high mileage cyclist will know when their body has had too much. They are always a bit dinged up, but really being overtrained is different. Those who rarely do much will feel shut down for days after a hard go of it. They are not overtrained, they are just sore.

The best way to ever know is to monitor your HR. When you train and your resting HR. Serious endurance athletes check their HR first thing in the am. If it is 5% higher than normal, they do a recovery day workout. If it is 10% high, they take the day off. If they are in the normal range, they do the planned workout.

I recommend a thick rare steak, a nice baked potato and a gin/tonic/lime. Recovery will be hastened, or you won't care - depends on the amount of gin involved.

I agree with the people saying it will take two or three days to recover. In addition to simply paying attention to how you feel, heart rate can be useful for finding how hard to push during recovery.

I use a heart rate monitor while running or road biking, and I've noticed that my heart rate will increase faster and average higher bpm when I'm tired from a previous workout. Sometimes I can even feel a "surge" or fast increase in heart rate early in a working if I haven't fully recovered. Even if you're not using a heart rate monitor, you could try to watch for this during recovery.

Try a water to gatoraid ratio of 2-1.
Keep up the proteins as well. Beef Jerkey or something like slimjims and that are good easy to eat while riding foods.

I like sunflower seeds, Keeps your protein, carbs, and salt up.
also makes you drink more =)

Get out today and ride. Or do something active...if you can't face the bike, then run, swim, or do something else like that. Go for a walk if that's all you can manage. Keep it super light, super easy, and super short, but do something. This will stimulate your muscles to recover.

I would recommend carbs and easily broken down sugars over proteins. It takes hours for your body to break down protein into usable energy, and when working out, your body would much rather break down easily accessible carbs and fats (the ratio of carb:fat depends on your effort level...the harder the effort, the more carbs you'll use).

Right after a ride, drink Whey protein + oats, and before bed take Casein protein with milk. I'm relatively new to riding bikes, but this works great for weight lifting.

Try a water to gatoraid ratio of 2-1.
Keep up the proteins as well. Beef Jerkey or something like slimjims and that are good easy to eat while riding foods.

I like sunflower seeds, Keeps your protein, carbs, and salt up.
also makes you drink more =)

:eek:

yeah, tasting slim jims in your mouth 10 miles later would be great!!

how about just mixing some protein in your sports drink? or buy some pre made

mx

I went riding this morning, even tho i was in the same death effect.. the first few min were excruciating to say the least. but once i got going just at a gentle cycle speed i started loosening up and feeling better.

last night i got some Gatorade premix and will start bringing some with me on my adventures.


Time to go shower and get ready for work, but at least im up and moving and not stiff and laying in bed feeling like Ughhhh. its kinda weird "Ride" when you feel like death.. and it makes you feel better.. who would have thought doing the thing you did to make you hurt... eases your pain lol

Next time, be careful, regulate water and food intake and don't push yourself past your max. Make sure to train properly for the century. It is still another 60 miles on top of what already beat you down. Not saying you can't do it, just don't underestimate it.

:eek:

yeah, tasting slim jims in your mouth 10 miles later would be great!!

how about just mixing some protein in your sports drink? or buy some pre made

mx

cause I have 1 bladder in my pack, and its filled with water,
last time I put that protein, energy crap in my pack it made a mess of it.


lol, thats were the seeds come in LOL, gets rid of the taste.


I went for a 28 mile ride the other day, didnt feel to bad, I just keep hydrated and the next day I did a good bit of manual labor, so I was active. I jumped on my bike tonight, and rode 20 miles.