ShartRate

I started doing some bicycle commuting at the end of last year and was starting to get in better shape until winter hit Now I'm finally surpassing the speeds I was reaching at the end of last year, though I am still about 15 pounds north of my weight at the end of the year

Anyway, every morning I get up and I feel like I have lead in my legs. I feel tired, my legs feel heavy, and I start to feel ever-so-slightly discouraged about riding to work. Then I get on the bike and start pedaling, and within a block or 2 I'm feeling better but still tired. And then I hit the first hill and still feel a little tired. On and on until I get to work, now more tired since I've been riding, and when I check my phone GPS I just went as fast as the day before or even a little faster.

Anybody else get this sensation? I just want it to be easy already

Leisesturm

What weight, what speed?

spivonious

Take a few days off. It sounds like your muscles aren't fully recovering between rides.

ShartRate

Do you have an Excel file that you're going to put it in?

ShartRate

I've been tempted to do that, but as I said I don't really have any "bad" days. My commute is only around 8.5 miles round trip too.

Are days-off a normal thing for bike commuters? I kinda figured people got into a mode where they rode 5 days a week no problem.

dramiscram

Greg Lemond said it : It never gets easier, you just get faster!

MMACH 5

If you're commute is strenuous, switching to an every-other-day type schedule should help. Make the full ride on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday, either drive or take a shorter ride to the bus stop. This worked great for me.
Also, depending on how long you are pedaling, it might not hurt to have a banana around the half-way point. My commute is over an hour and a half, each way, so a snack at about 45 minutes helped a lot (it even had me getting to work in a better mood).

jrickards

I thought of something similar: ensure that you have enough nutrition and water, even though it is not a long ride, you may still be down on energy. If you're up early enough, have some carbs as soon as you get up (granola bar, rice, banana) and lots of water, get ready for your ride and then take off. If your tiredness is related to energy levels, then this might help.

mattgmann

I can relate somewhat. I started commuting a few months ago, and on my morning ride it still takes a few miles to feel comfortable on the bike. I have watched my average speed inch up though from ~12mph to 15mph (over 10 miles) over the last few months though without perceiving extra effort. Weight loss was quick at first, but has stagnated. I'm down to about 225 from 265 at Christmas and seem to be ticking off about a pound a week now.

Coffee is a life saver for me. I'm not sure what the caffeine does, but if I slug a joe 20 minuted before my ride my legs have quite a bit of extra go. I also eat breakfast at least 30min before I ride and that seems to make a difference as well.

On the flip side, my evening rides are much faster even though I generally feel beat after a day's work. They often feel slow and sluggish buy my ride time is much quicker on the return trip. Some of this may be accountable to terrain, but for the most part both rides are similar in hills/traffic etc.

ThermionicScott 

+1. Whenever I ride to work, I think "damn, I'm out of shape ". But then I look down at the speedometer, and realize I'm making good time.

It does help to have some calories and caffeine in one's system before heading out, though.

WonderMonkey

How about for two days in a row you slow down and make it a very easy ride? How do you feel on a Monday after the weekend off?

hubcap

Days off are certainly normal for a lot of commuters. I have been bike commuting for about 8 years and started doing it everyday, all year around, a few years ago. My commute has always been between 30 and 40 miles round trip. When I started bike commuting, doing it 5 days a week would really get me worn out. Now it doesn't really bother me at all. I might feel a little tired if I have been battling serious headwinds a couple days in a row since I often ride a single speed for a portion of my commute. But usually I'm ready to jump on the bike on the weekends too. Taking off at least one day out of the seven is nice though.

For the length of your commute, I would just continue to ride. If you continue to feel sluggish after a while, take a good look at your sleeping/eating patterns.

xlDooM

My solution for this is water and food. I eat half a box of nuts, raisins and other dried fruits every day (good for about 900 calories) every day since I started doing an 18-mile round trip commute.

Of course if your times are good and you are trying to lose weight, you shouldn't go crazy. Find yourself a recovery snack that is 80% carbohydrates to replenish your glycogen stores (this is what gives you energy to bike), and 20% protein to repair the muscle damage you did. Low-fat chocolate milk is often cited as a good choice. It's rather high in sugar content and still contains some fat, but as long as you consume somewhat less calories than you expended, it's not a problem.

In case you want more information, this is roughly how it works:
- you start your ride using almost exclusively glycogen (carbohydrate store) for energy
- after a few minutes your body realizes this exercise is going to take a while and your liver starts metabolizing fat to contribute to the energy supply
- the longer you ride, the greater the contribution of fat in your total energy supply (I think about 50/50 after 30 minutes, but it's been a while since I researched this)
- when you eat after your ride, your body will use the carbohydrates to refill the glycogen stores first
- only when your glycogen store is full, will the excess sugars be converted to fat

Important side note is that if you run out of glycogen, you will burn fat almost exclusively (you also burn some muscle tissue), but converting fat to energy without glycogen is much, much slower so you will "hit the wall" if this happens, and you will burn much less calories because your power output drops (it's better to do 300W on 50% fat than 100W on 100% fat), not to mention you will feel like ****, lose focus, possibly pass out or have an accident.

So my suggestion would be: calculate your calorie uptake using something like https://bikecalculator.com/ , eat/drink a 4:1 carbohydrate/protein mix right after the exercise (increased heart rate and hormone levels make your uptake more efficient) to recover about half those calories, and see how you feel the next day. If this is detrimental to your weight loss program, your rides may be on the short side or you take up too many calories in regular meals.

One more remark before I go: when you arrive at work or home, your body is still in fat burning regime, so anything you do then is worth more for fat loss than something you do in in isolation. Stay busy, you can relax later. Better to concentrate your efforts into few long bouts than many short spurts, which do nothing but use up glycogen without touching the fat reserves.

imi

HOT then really COLD shower... Strong black coffee... Rock 'n Roll... Banana for energy kick... Vitamins... Water...

That's what gets me from coma to MUP champion every morning!

spivonious

I had my first 5-day commute a few weeks ago (7 miles each way with some moderate hills), and I started riding to work last July. I did 2-3 days a week over the winter, and try to do at least 4 days a week now. Average speed last time I checked was 15-16mph.

Are you legs just heavy, or do the muscles ache? I know that for about a month after I started, my leg muscles were slightly sore. I took a week off, adjusted my diet to have more protein and less sugar, and my legs came back stronger than ever. If you don't want to take days off, just do an easy ride. Keep your average speed under 12mph. Downshift instead of pedaling harder.

Muscles need time to rebuild after exercise. If you don't give them that time, you're risking an injury, which will keep you off the bike for a lot longer than a few days.

ShartRate

I took some of the advice in this thread and decided to try taking it a little easier. I see each commute as my exercise but that doesn't mean I can't kick back a little

I came home last night at a pretty relaxed pace. I wasn't THAT much slower than when I was putting in more effort, and I didn't feel quite as bushed when I got home.

When I got up this morning, my legs didn't feel quite as heavy, kinda like they wouldn't mind going for another ride. So I headed to work this morning and decided I would try to take it a little easier again. That worked for about the first half of the ride, the second half has some hills and I haven't figured out how to go up those without going as fast as I can But, now that I'm at work, I don't feel as tired I think. And my moving time was just the same as it's always been!

Perhaps I'm getting into some mind over matter stuff here...

RoyIII

Try getting a little more sleep, too

jrickards

+++1, Excellent info!!

I-Like-To-Bike

Makes sense if a commuter is training for a race, or believes commuting is (has to be) a race.

The OP might try slowing down and then maybe he wouldn't be tired, and might enjoy the ride more.