Aches and Pains. Over use?
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I am not a racer and really don't have a training regimine nor any specific goals. I just get out of bed every morning and ride for usually 1.5 to 2 hours. I have done this for two and a half years now. I sometimes take one day off per week, but that is the most.
My main goal is to just have a good paced ride and get some exercise. Now starting to approach 17,000 miles and a lot of hours, it seems like my body is starting to rebel a bit. Some times i just don't feel like i have a lot of gas in the tank so to speak. Also i have been getting more knee pain than normal.
It may just be coincidental but it does raise a question? Does a body ever give you clues that it is tired of riding so much? I hate missing days of riding but have started to take an extra day here and there just to see if it revives be and/or helps with the mild knee pain.
I am in good cycling shape. I am 6' 2" and 150 lbs. I was a little over 200 when i started riding. It is hard to determine how much of this is mental and how much is physical. I always start to struggle a little more mentally in late January thru February. Winter cycling is a chore. Not so much on the bike, but it takes a lot of prep and it is easy to dread the daily ride, although i always enjoy it after a couple miles under the tires.
Also, most of my miles are on mountain bikes on unpaved rough gravel and dirt roads. 15,000 miles on a brooks saddle on a hardtail riding over roads full of holes and rocks tends to beat on a man. I know i am certainly looking forward to the warmer weather when i can mix in some miles on the road bike.
My main goal is to just have a good paced ride and get some exercise. Now starting to approach 17,000 miles and a lot of hours, it seems like my body is starting to rebel a bit. Some times i just don't feel like i have a lot of gas in the tank so to speak. Also i have been getting more knee pain than normal.
It may just be coincidental but it does raise a question? Does a body ever give you clues that it is tired of riding so much? I hate missing days of riding but have started to take an extra day here and there just to see if it revives be and/or helps with the mild knee pain.
I am in good cycling shape. I am 6' 2" and 150 lbs. I was a little over 200 when i started riding. It is hard to determine how much of this is mental and how much is physical. I always start to struggle a little more mentally in late January thru February. Winter cycling is a chore. Not so much on the bike, but it takes a lot of prep and it is easy to dread the daily ride, although i always enjoy it after a couple miles under the tires.
Also, most of my miles are on mountain bikes on unpaved rough gravel and dirt roads. 15,000 miles on a brooks saddle on a hardtail riding over roads full of holes and rocks tends to beat on a man. I know i am certainly looking forward to the warmer weather when i can mix in some miles on the road bike.
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Everyone needs an off season, cross train lightly (no biking) for a week or 2 and you will come back fresh.
At 6'2" and 150lb you could be in a long term caloric deficit situation. As bad as it might sound you should consider attempting to gain just 4-5 pounds to give your body a taste of caloric excess. That amount of weight gain would be easy to remove by someone like yourself when you return to riding.
Listening to your body is something everyone needs to learn/do.
At 6'2" and 150lb you could be in a long term caloric deficit situation. As bad as it might sound you should consider attempting to gain just 4-5 pounds to give your body a taste of caloric excess. That amount of weight gain would be easy to remove by someone like yourself when you return to riding.
Listening to your body is something everyone needs to learn/do.
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I've had this experience with both running and swimming. I used to run marathons. There is definitely a mental as well as physical side to overtraining. Very hard to 'plan' for it. Sounds like that's the wall you are hitting.
If you gave yourself some time, say six weeks, off from the bike and focused on running, swimming, strength training you will be restless to get back on. Also, you might find that you are faster and stronger on the bike when you get back on.
Sandy
If you gave yourself some time, say six weeks, off from the bike and focused on running, swimming, strength training you will be restless to get back on. Also, you might find that you are faster and stronger on the bike when you get back on.
Sandy
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like the other person said, you sound too light. however, i am not too up on the physique of top cyclists.
i am in great shape, 5'4", and 135-140. you are almost a foot taller!!! yet only 20 lbs more?
edit...i guess i should have used a calculator for that...10 pounds!!
i am in great shape, 5'4", and 135-140. you are almost a foot taller!!! yet only 20 lbs more?
edit...i guess i should have used a calculator for that...10 pounds!!
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Last edited by mx_599; 02-17-06 at 12:57 PM.
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Originally Posted by mx_599
like the other person said, you sound too light. however, i am not too up on the physique of top cyclists.
i am in great shape, 5'4", and 135-140. you are almost a foot taller!!! yet only 20 lbs more?
i am in great shape, 5'4", and 135-140. you are almost a foot taller!!! yet only 20 lbs more?
I watch the fat intake and haven't eaten fried food in over 3 years. Haven't had beef either. ONly meat i have had in 3 years is poultry. So i guess when you compare me to the rest of the world, you will find that i am different. I eat healthy, exercise and am naturally thin. Yet if i ate like the majority of the people do, i would probably be about 30- 50 lbs heavier even with the exercise. Diet makes a HUGE difference, at least on me it does.
Here is a pic from a couple years ago. It shows a pair of pants that i had just bought before i started to eat better and exercise.
Last edited by Portis; 02-17-06 at 01:01 PM.
#6
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So has your weight stabilized? Or are you still losing weight? If you're eating the same and doing the same kind of workouts as you've been doing the past two years to lose 50lbs, I would say that the trend is continuing. Unless you've been doing strength and muscle-building workouts, some of that weight-loss is muscle tissue. You may have reached the point where additional muscle-loss is detrimental to your performance. That is, the muscles have dropped to the minimum-strength to do the kinds workouts you do. On some days, they haven't fully recovered and you'll need an extra day. So add some sprints and intervals to your weekly schedule and an occasional day in the gym to load your muscles higher than you can ever do on the bike (3-5 rep stuff).
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do you bike for health or because you feel the need to be on two wheels?
you look fine to me. but i think you could stand to add more resistance training to your program for musculature in your shoulder girdle area. it looks like you might have a tendency to slouch. forget about biking for a moment...i think you could benefit from training this upper back/shoulder region.
you look fine to me. but i think you could stand to add more resistance training to your program for musculature in your shoulder girdle area. it looks like you might have a tendency to slouch. forget about biking for a moment...i think you could benefit from training this upper back/shoulder region.
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I bike for mental and physical health and because i enjoy it i guess. Like i said, i really have no specific goals and don't really consider myself to be "in training" for anything. My basic premise is that doing something is better than doing nothing.
That pic is sort of bizarre because of my strange posture in it. (among other reasons. ) I dunno why i was slumped in that pic but will say it is not the norm. I also know that my upper body could be a lot better in terms of development, but that is not a goal.
I used to lift weights for years and I look like a little girl in this pic compared to how i have looked in the past and how i could look. I really just don't have it as a priority. My wife refuses to let me date and so I pretty much leave my shirt on when i mow the yard.
That pic is sort of bizarre because of my strange posture in it. (among other reasons. ) I dunno why i was slumped in that pic but will say it is not the norm. I also know that my upper body could be a lot better in terms of development, but that is not a goal.
I used to lift weights for years and I look like a little girl in this pic compared to how i have looked in the past and how i could look. I really just don't have it as a priority. My wife refuses to let me date and so I pretty much leave my shirt on when i mow the yard.