superdex

I'm slowly dragging myself into Training, as opposed to just going out riding. Bought Bike Racing 101, and one of the workouts in it is called the Push Ride: ride at recovery up to endurance effort at 70-80 rpm. The book mentions this is a tiring ride. Ok, cool. I did that ride yesterday, and yeah, riding around in the Big Gear was tiring, but I'm not exactly sore today. Should I be?

Turboem1

Soreness is not a good indication of whether you received a good workout or not. If you did the workout and were exhausted during it then you are fine. Just because you are not sore is not a cause for concern thinking you didnt go hard enough.

ericgu

I agree with turbo.

First of all, if you have good recovery nutrition, you shouldn't get all that sore on training rides.

Second, the training you describe sounds like an aerobic/tempo training regimen, and that doesn't have a real muscle strength component to it - it's more about endurance...

DannoXYZ 

Yeah, once you're in halfway decent shape, the only way you're gonna be sore the next day is by doing super-endurance rides like 200miles+ or by doing high-intensity anaerobic strength workouts like sprints & intervals where you hit max-HR repeatedly.

greyg8r

After a year of intense working out and training, I only get sore if I exercise a new muscle group. I can pound away on any muscle group that I have been training and while I will get muscle fatigue, it will not be sore the next day.

Machka 

Sometimes not being sore is a very good thing ... it means you've got the bicycle set up properly.

matthew_deaner

Danno, I know that you are an authority in sports nutrition, so I'm not challenging you on this... but I would like to pick your brain for more info if you don't mind.

Is what you said above (in quotes) really true for everyone that is in shape? I consider myself to be in good condition, and I'm sore the day after all training rides, even when they're not that intense. Sometimes the soreness lingers several days. We have a lot of hills around here, and that might be part of the reason. Another reason may be that I'm not in as good shape as I thought I was.

I have noticed that, compared to my riding buddies, it takes me significantly longer to recover.

FYI - I average 225-miles per week. I do about two intense rides per week, the rest of my mileage is commuting or long, slower rides. I am 6'0, 167-lbs, with a "sprinter" type build (lots of fast-twitch leg musculature). I do long distance riding and some racing.

bfloyd

Everyone recovers differently as all bodies are different. It takes me several days to fully recover too from harder rides and yes, the hills can have alot to do with it (I live in a very hilly area too). I do one hard intensity day a week (a 40 min. hill repeat of standing sprints) and that one day is a brutal ride. I would like to add in another one but due to my shcedule and my body (as it is aging) can only take the one hard day. The rest are medium to light intensity and it allows me to recover for the next weeks hard day again. I also find that I improve faster with the one hard day a week. I'm sure Danno will add more of his knowledge on this.