quads always sore
 

Hi All,
Looking for some advice. My quads are sore all the time. I have checked my saddle height and aft/forward positioning and all good. I ride about 100 miles/week or more. Usually as I pass 5 miles on a ride I start to feel better and just block it out. It's not really a hurt just sore. I use a roller daily which helps but wondering what I could be doing wrong.

thanks

I am very interested to hear what others have to say about this. I have the same issue and ride about the same number of miles/week.

It's difficult to determine the cause in your case without knowing your experience in cycling, your age, your riding intensity (including hills and sprints), how many days per week you ride, other training you do, etc.

You might try working in a good number of recovery days, and an easy week in every four, if you're not already doing these things.

add me as another. i avg 16-17mph and 1000ft climbing per ride. i chalked it up to not resting enough and pushing a bit too much.

Diet and recovery can both make a difference. Make sure you're getting enough protein in your diet (0.8g / lb of body weight) and that you are getting at least a couple of recovery days per week. In some cases, you might need several back-to-back recovery days to catch up on recovery. Though 100 miles a week isn't a big training load for most cyclists, if you fall behind on recovery, you still need to give your body a chance to catch up. Most periodized training plans will have a light week with extra recovery programmed in once every four to six weeks.

Other things to consider are bike fit (OP has already checked that) and technique. A smooth pedal stroke and good cadence give you the most balanced use of your leg muscles. A pedal stroke that over-emphasizes the 2 - 5 o'clock portion will be quad dominant and won't recruit the glutes and hamstrings as much. Likewise, too low a cadence (below 80 RPM) will put the muscles into anaerobic glycolosis sooner creating more fatigue and requiring more recovery.

Thanks for the info. I need to do more recovery rides (that's difficult as I hate going slow when no wind:)). My diet is good but more protein would help I'm sure. This is my 3rd full season of riding as I started late in life (49 now. 5' 11" weight 215 but not fat). Last night rode 33 miles with 1700' elevation at 17.4MPH. I have a lot of hills where I live so more recovery rides would help I'm sure. I have a century in 3 weeks so just want to be ready.

Same here, but my "recovery rides" last until the first Strava segment. I find that when life keeps me off the bike for several days, soreness goes away and I am much stronger on my rides.

This usually points to diet/drink/recovery.
What do you drink during the ride?
Do you take days off to recover?
Diet?
Howlong are you rides?

rides under 2 hours just drink water. Longer rides at Gatorade/water mix with cliff bars. Will stop for Intense choc milk too. Ride during week are around an hour to 1 1/4 usual at a good pace. This issue is recovery rides which I don't do enough of. Hope to go on one today.

What is your cadence? It sounds like you need to be spinning faster in a lower gear. Mashing the pedals at low cadence activates the quads and over time could hurt your knees also.

There is a possibility that your saddle is a bit too far forward which results in hamstrings not being engaged enough. Whether or not this is the cause of your problem, it is easy enough to move the saddle for a trial of several days. I find it helpful to mark the saddle rails with a felt tip pen to make it simple to get back to a previous position if a change does not work out.

cadence is always 90-100.

I kind of like the feeling of my quads being a little sore and fatigued from cycling.

Foam roller. If you cry a little you're doing it right.

Glad to read I'm not the only one. I've had that problem too. I do about 150-200 miles a week. It has gotten a bit better since I started massaging my legs and taking a few supplements. I also started using a rolling pin on my quads. I've also found elevating your legs when I go to bed at night seems to help.

sore as in lactic acid build up, the burn...? I like Sports Legs, works like a champ.

You mention a roller, but what about stretching? I've been forgetting to do that lately, and have been feeling the consequences lately.

My quads are always sore as well, but I've only done 200 miles total since I've had my bikes a few weeks.

My cadence is really low though. I seem to come in just under 80. It just feels more comfortable for me to "muscle" through it. It seems like you guys are suggesting that is bad?

What is the suggested cadence?

That kind of distance with that kind of average speed with that kind of climbing is pretty respectable. But I must inform you, the correct spelling is GUADS, not quads. Here on BF you're supposed to call them guads.

If you've been assimilated into the cloud of Garmin users-- resistance is futile-- you can port your riding activity over to a fitness-tracking app like MyFitnessPal, which can track protein intake for you if you input what you eat. You might be surprised, but who knows.

If the goal of your training is adaptation (trying to increase performance) then the combination of stimulus and recovery is crucial. And as a 49 YO rider myself, I can tell you from first hand experience that your body needs much more recovery than a younger rider. Recovery rides at too high an effort actually do more harm than good. Most recreational riders completely suck at recovery rides and are much better off just not riding at all for a day or two. This is partly because they don't have the discipline to ride slow, and partly because their power output isn't high enough that wind and/or hills won't push them out of the zone (even at a modest pace). If you insist on doing active recovery, you need to do it with an HRM or power meter and force yourself to keep HR/power in the correct zone (even if that means getting off the bike and walking).

Higher cadence 90 to 100 is better than 80. You want to spin not muscle your way through it as you described.Especially when you hit hills, drop gears and spin your way up, seated if possible. The spinning helps prevent muscle fatigue.

I have the same problem; I used to ride up to 400 miles per week, riding almost every day. Riding less this year...tore my quad off my knee in January. USE THIS, it REALLY WORKS.

https://www.thestick.com/cgi-bin/com...ion&key=G-1750

I moved seat back a little. Rode today 18 miles 700' into 10 mph headwind on way back. Ave 18mph. Quads a little sore more towards inside by the knee. Calves sore too. Any thoughts a saddle position?

I did the same last July 4th. How has your recovery been? Doing PT? I did up until insurance wouldn't cover it anymore then joined gym and found a great personal trainer. My progress really picked up with the trainer. Losing 50 lbs helped too.

I was with my brother-in-law when it happened. He correctly diagnosed the injury and said "it will take you a year to recover, but you will recover." Damn if he wasn't right. And, I tried my damnedest to beat that time period. Riding has helped tremendously too.

Hope your recovery is going the same. Be well!

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