I am new to the forum. I am 55 yrs old weigh 160 pounds and just got back into cycling after a 20 yr layoff. I started cycling again last August. This past winter I worked on my base mileage. I averaged about 250 miles a month from Dec to March. Since then I average about 170 miles a week. I usually ride with a group of faster riders two to three times a week.; Sometimes I can hang with them, sometimes not. Early in the season, I wasn't having alot of problems with recovery from one hard ride to another. The rides have been getting faster as everyone improves. Over the last three of weeks I have been getting sore legs after hard rides. If I have a good ride on Tues, the thurs and sat group rides are horrible because of the soreness in my legs The problem is that the soreness lingers to the point that it is taking three or four days to recover. I rode 72 miles on Monday. I changed up my schedule this week and road easy Tues - Thursday. Today (Friday) my plan was to put in a 50 mile ride, which I do weekly with the group. My legs were still sore from Monday's ride, which forced me to stop after 14 miles. My question is, what can I do to help my sore legs and speed recovery.

thanks for the responses
Richard Morris

Sounds like over training to me.

If you want to get better, ease off a little. Better yet, find yourself a coach.

I'd ease off a bit, go do my own ride.
There's a Hammer product called "Recoverite", I'm not sure if it's even intended to help with that problem, but might be worth trying. Seems like I've read that drinking chocolate milk after a ride will have similar benefits.
It may help to adjust cadence or fit.

Good advice so far. Massage those legs a bit after riding. I'm solo so I'm thinking of getting a piece of hard round foam for the back of my legs.

Get plenty of potassium and make sure that your pedals and cleats fit your posture as regards any possible toe-out or toe-in....(knees grinding ? )

I'm 11 years off until last spring and am going to cancel my century plans
myself until the end of the summer. Takes awhile to start from scratch again.

Reality hit the road.

The problem is you didn't really build a base before significantly increasing both your intensity and volume. Next year try and get more time in during the off season and early season. When building a base your volume should be high, then as you start to increase intensity the volume will decrease.

For now I would suggest working on you base and do more solo steady state long rides and fewer group rides. Or do less work on the group rides. Cut it back to one hard group ride per week for a while. Try and ride every day even if some of the rides are shorter and just spinning.

You can also try massaging your legs with a roller.

The older we get, the longer it takes to recover. You're riding like someone half your age, not that it can't be done, but it will take longer to get back to where you can do it again without soreness or pain.

Couple of ways of looking at this.

If you want to increase speed or endurance- go out with riders that are a bit faster than you or do rides that are longer and at a pace that is just above your level.

Or you are trying to achieve what is not possible.

Depends on whether you enjoy the rides or not.

A 20 year layoff does mean that you have not got cycling fitness back yet and it could be some time before you do regain the fitness you think you should have. I was still running competitive 15 miles cross country 30 years ago but I doubt I could run a mile right now. I could train to get a 5 mile run in- but not at the pace I was way back and I doubt that it would only take a year to manage that.

I would suggest going with the club once a week till you build a "Base" back again and 170 miles a week will do that. Just don't do all the rides at a level that pushes you above what you can manage.

Yeah, gregf83 has it right. You didn't build enough of a base - 250 miles/month isn't that much - and then you doubled the mileage and increased the intensity at the same time. Inevitably, you are paying the penalty. You aren't giving your muscles time to recover from one hard effort before doing another, and that doesn't make you stronger, it just breaks you down.

Rest is best. Take a week off, now, to recover fully. Then follow greg's advice. You'll be fine.

Hi,

About your age and about your weight. Riding since DEC. Your overdoing it.

Took me 3 months to work up to about 80 - 100 miles a week, 360 a month
but that is at my own pace. I've stuck with that sort of mileage and picked
up the pace a little over the last 2 months but still at my own pace.

Its better to ride with slower riders when you want to put distances in.

rgds, sreten.

Thanks for the advice. Rest it is and I am going to change my workouts to one group ride a week with more solo rides to work on building a strong base for next year.

Richard Morris

Good advice above but I'd like to emphasize taking a recovery ride the day after you do a hard ride. Just a shorter easier ride where you can relax and spin your legs without pushing very hard.

It sounds to me like you've pushed your legs way too far, and they will take a while to recover. It might be a week, it might be more. The first thing I would recommend is letting the legs recover fully before any long or hard rides. It might be wise to stay mostly or completely off the bike for 5-10 days, at least until there is no soreness in the legs. If you ride, keep it at a light spinning pace and not too long. Once you have recovered, work back slowly, and if there's any soreness, back it off a day or two. Then follow the advice in some of the posts above. Doing three hard or long group rides a week was obviously too much, so dial that back for sure.

It may help to adjust cadence or fit. You aren't giving your muscles time to recover from one hard effort before doing another, and that doesn't make you stronger, it just breaks you down. If you want to get better, ease off a little. Massage those legs a bit after riding. You can also try massaging your legs with a roller.

The older we get, the longer it takes to recover. Just don't do all the rides at a level that pushes you above what you can manage. Its better to ride with slower riders when you want to put distances in. Good advice above but I'd like to emphasize taking a recovery ride the day after you do a hard ride.

The conventional wisdom is that you need to cool down -- are you doing that? If the end of your ride is hard, you should add some easy spinning afterwards. By having the muscles moving easily, you get all the waste gunk pushed out. Or you could take the last few miles of your ride easy.

Today, I finished my ride hard, because I was trying to set a record. So, when I got home, I jumped on the stationary bike and did a few minutes of easy spinning -- just like the pros on the TDF.

Be aware that I'm just re-spouting the stuff I read here.

My DOMS often comes 3-4 days after a ride, but it is never so bad that it would prevent me from riding.

+1 I don't consider that I have an adequate base until I can do 120 miles a week comfortably, and that's for my lower level of riding.

FWIW,way back when I trained for marathons, the generally accepted wisdom was - don't increase mileage, or time, by more than 10%/week, otherwise, you risk injury. For me, recovering from an overuse injury, that advice echos back. Well...duh.
I am back on that regimen and, so far, it is working. I don't know how to factor in hills in the equation, but common sense tells me when to back off.

Nice idea. I just bought a rolling pin at the store for $6 to try at it.....The things I didn't used to do.

Building a good solid base before undertaking hard efforts is necessary to avoiding over training or injury. Massage is part of recovery just as it is for pro athletes in all sports. Good nutrition in general is important during strenuous exercise. Good nutrition during a long, hard ride is important for maintaining the necessary effort for the duration of the ride. After a long hard ride, beginning the muscle repair and rebuilding process and restoring lost glycogen by consuming protein and simple carbs is crucial to recovery in the shortest possible time. There is a ton of detail about from reputable sources, (which I'm not) for free on line. Start digging.