Short-term muscle memory?
11-24-05 | 11:23 PM
#1
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Da Big Kahuna
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 814
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From: Oahu, Hawaii
Short-term muscle memory?
This is something I've been thinking about for a long time. If I do a ride where I'm taking my time, even though I'm not tiring myself out, I find it very hard to then change to a harder effort - I'm not talking about something major. For me, a major effort might see me running at 17-19 mph for most of about 8 miles (where it is mostly flat) assuming the wind isn't bad. A good steady push will see me at 14-17. Taking it easy will drop me to 11-15.
But if I am more aggressive right away, I tend to stay faster - at least until I really start to get tired. And sometimes I'm taking it easy, don't feel like I have the energy to push, but make myself do it. When that happens, I tend to stay faster again.
Take today. Since I rode 53 miles yesterday, I was taking my time. My first 11 miles (includes hills for the first 3.5 miles), averaged just under 13 mph. I stopped after 19 miles. Then, 3 hours later, I started to ride home taking my time again and not feeling like going faster.
After about 6 more miles and me going about 11 mph, this other rider comes flying past me so I decided to see if I could keep up with him. Turns out I could, but I was working fairly hard. I didn't get close enough to draft, but I was riding about 18 mph. Over the next couple miles, I stayed with him, though we both had to stop for a couple traffic lights. But towards the end of that two miles, I started finding myself feeling like he was hold me to too slow a speed (remember, I'm not drafting), so I finally decided to pass him and it was easy to do.
I found myself going more like 20-21. He then came up to draft me and I guess I got a little psyched because I got it up as high as 25 mph. Now, I was working pretty hard then and after awhile, I had to back it down, but even on a little hill, I was still doing 17-19. Shortly after that, he dropped back and then turned off the road so I eased up.
But even after easing up, I was typically going 14-15 mph.
Now, I can see how riding with someone made me turn on some competitive juices so that part may not mean much, but that I could "cruise" 3-4 mph faster once I had pushed it for awhile makes me think the muscles sort of adjust to the change. But without forcing myself to push for awhile, the muscles just don't seem to want to be more aggressive than however I start out.
Okay, maybe short-term muscle memory is a crazy theory, but it's all mine!
But if I am more aggressive right away, I tend to stay faster - at least until I really start to get tired. And sometimes I'm taking it easy, don't feel like I have the energy to push, but make myself do it. When that happens, I tend to stay faster again.
Take today. Since I rode 53 miles yesterday, I was taking my time. My first 11 miles (includes hills for the first 3.5 miles), averaged just under 13 mph. I stopped after 19 miles. Then, 3 hours later, I started to ride home taking my time again and not feeling like going faster.
After about 6 more miles and me going about 11 mph, this other rider comes flying past me so I decided to see if I could keep up with him. Turns out I could, but I was working fairly hard. I didn't get close enough to draft, but I was riding about 18 mph. Over the next couple miles, I stayed with him, though we both had to stop for a couple traffic lights. But towards the end of that two miles, I started finding myself feeling like he was hold me to too slow a speed (remember, I'm not drafting), so I finally decided to pass him and it was easy to do.
I found myself going more like 20-21. He then came up to draft me and I guess I got a little psyched because I got it up as high as 25 mph. Now, I was working pretty hard then and after awhile, I had to back it down, but even on a little hill, I was still doing 17-19. Shortly after that, he dropped back and then turned off the road so I eased up.
But even after easing up, I was typically going 14-15 mph.
Now, I can see how riding with someone made me turn on some competitive juices so that part may not mean much, but that I could "cruise" 3-4 mph faster once I had pushed it for awhile makes me think the muscles sort of adjust to the change. But without forcing myself to push for awhile, the muscles just don't seem to want to be more aggressive than however I start out.
Okay, maybe short-term muscle memory is a crazy theory, but it's all mine!
