How much is to much riding
 

I know someone is going to say theirs never enough riding but I guess that dose not work for me :lol: .

Anyway so I have been riding for a couple weeks (some what new to riding long distances) but over the last 4 days I have done some longer rides then the past weeks.
* Thursday - 22 miles
* Friday - 15 miles
* Saturday - 25 miles (20 miles then an hour rest for another 5 miles)
* Sunday - 15 miles (a ton of up hill action, was trying to go 30 but after 15 legs were shot)

Now my right wrist kills, and its hurting a bit to get up the stairs. So have I over done it, or is this just signs that I am working at a good pace?

Also I am definitely not out of shape, I run 3.2 miles every other day, do 500 meter swim when possible, and also play soccer 2 nights a week. So I hold up well but I understand biking is not using all the same muscles as the other fitness .

77 miles in a week is not a lot, and nothing you've done would be considered a long distance.

However, if these are the longest distances you've done yet, and you've increased your distance this week more than 10-20% from last week, you might be feeling it a bit.

But I would look at your bicycle setup first, based on the fact that you say your wrist hurts. If you increased your distance too much, you'd be feeling it in your muscles, not your wrist. Have you had your bicycle fitted for you? If you've got a good fit, you can ride much, much more than that without pain in places like the wrists.

i ride at least 200 a week

maybe get some gloves, maybe your wrists arent use to the vibrations you get from the road.

The long distance part is based really on what I have already done. I have been riding for about 3 weeks now, and a 20 mile ride was long compared to my last rides. I want to be doing 50 mile rides on a regular basis but need to get my endurance put step by step.

Its possible my wrist started to hurt from my handle bars. The bike I have allows you to adjust the angle of the handlebars (not sure if this is with all bikes or just this part that is has) and it can be chanced between 0 deg. to 40 deg.

After riding the bike I did not like it at 40 deg. so I changed it to 20 and adjusted the handle bars along with that angel so they were in the correct position. Its possible this made it to long for me or something. I will take some pictures and post them up maybe I did something wrong.

I have not got a prof. fitting yet due to current income issues (waiting for my stimuluses check to arrive in 2 weeks). So I want to get one along with a new saddle. So yeah I will post some pictures up if u guys would not mind seeing if I made some weird mistake.

And i am also taking a day off 1. Cause I really sun burnt at the pool and my jersey is really bothering my sunburn arms. 2. So I can let me wrist relax a bit.

Go through this article ... it might help:

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.htm

And this might help too:

http://www.cptips.com/handsyn.htm

Can you take a photo of your bicycle and post it? I'm not sure what you are talking about when you talk about handlebar angles. I ride with mine flat, and about the same height as my saddle.

I could not get a good picture with my camera of the stem my bike has. I found a similar one but mine is made my Forte (Performance Bikes Brand I believe). This is what I have been adjusting along with the handle bars so they are in the correct position after changing the angle of the stem.

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/...tegory_ID=5235

I took 2 days off from riding to help my sit bones recover cause they were very sore from having a seat issue over the weekend. This seem to help because after a quick 10 mile ride (had to do some other things after work but wanted to get a ride in) I was feeling good.

Anyway today I adjusted the stem angel to 0 degrees from 20. It seemed to feel much better when riding and also seem to make a difference when climbing. That said I am going to replace the stem soon because I am afraid of it coming lose even know it is tight as anything. Dont want to be climbing and my bars drop all the sudden, that would be pretty bad.

One pundit who frequents these forums likes to say,"All you can do is all you can do". Or as Floyd Landis once said (I'm paraphrasing here), "If you overtrained your were undertrained to begin with".

My point is when you are starting out you won't know what your limits are until you reach them. The best advice I ever recieved was "train, don't strain". If you are waking up really sore you are over-reaching. Throttle back to a mileage, or number of hours, or training load that make you feel pleasantly fatigued, and then over time, gradually increase the training load.

Last, as was suggested above, go get re-fit on your bike. If you can't afford a professional fit ask a local racer (who appears to have a good position on the bike) to assess your position pro bono. If you join a local racing club with some knowledgeable vets you will find no shortage of good advice.

Two other observations as I went back and re-read your post. Miles are meaningless. To a certain extent hours are meaningless too, but a little less meaningless. One mile ridden in the mountains (or hills) in most cases puts alot more stress on the system than a mile ridden on the flats or slightly rolling terrain. I'd focus on hours if I had to choose between the two.

Second, starting from an untrained state and doing 4 days in a row is probably not the best approach. 3 days on, with 2 days rest, then 2 more days on, may improve the quality of your training/riding. What I see most do is...

Monday - rest day
Tuesday - relatively hard ride w some type of intervals
Wednesday - easy, active recovery ride on the flats if possible
Thursday - not as hard as Tuesday but a ride that should push you
Friday - rest
Saturday - group ride or long distance ride
Sunday - depending on how you feel a moderate ride or easy ride

There is a good article on cycling recovery and over training here. The most important thing to remember (especially if you are not going down the Heart Rate Monitor route) is to listen to your body and rest when it tells you you are tired.

That is a good schedule. Yeah I agree I probably pushed myself a little to much riding several days in a row and then not resting. I have a couple routes in the area I can take and I think I will mix them up and also give your schedule a try.

I also need to work on how I am biking. I seem to be doing more sprinting now and wearing myself early out in the ride. Also are their any good articles on hill climbing, such as proper techniques and tips for better training?

The number one mistake beginning cyclists make is they ride too hard! That is to say they feel like they need to work on the upper end of the aerobic/anaerobic spectrum to improve. Instead if you focus on the mid-point of that spectrum, what is now commonly referred to as the Sweet Spot (SST), you will get most of the physiological benefits of training at threshhold, without the physical and psychological pain. Again, the mantra is train, don't strain. Take a look at this article for more insight.

http://www.fascatcoaching.com/traini..._partdeux.html

On Tuesday you might do 3 x 10 mins @ SST and build up to 3 x 20 mins over time (on a climb or on the flats). You should also work on sprinting, to build up your leg speed and ability to ride with groups when they surge. I'd throw in a sprint workout once a week (5-6 sprints would do the trick). But the real emphasis should be on building your aerobic engine, which will make you stronger and faster and able over time to handle more intense work.

Yeah I figured I was working to hard since I really am still new to riding. I need to start using my heart rate monitor to make sure I am not pushing myself to far and also to stay in my good rate area. When running I stay around 170 but if I do some long sprints I normally get to around 190 which is a little high for me. I need to sit down today and get a schedule down and work on some things.

Also after doing some reading on hill climbing I have found that I should like them and not hate them. So with this and some work I think I should be good.

Thanks for all the info and advice in this matter.

It's too much when you start feeling like you don't really want to go out on the bike. If you feel it's a chore, or if you have to force yourself, you may be overdoing it. If you earn your living from riding a bike, that's different, but for the rest of us... if you want to have a long term, passionate, lifelong love affair with cycling, don't make it a chore, and don't do only cycling for exercise. Walk on some days, or do something else. Give your body a break. You should always look forward to getting on that bike.

I agree and I definitely dont want to have the feeling I am riding just to get fit. It is a upside to riding but I also like it because 1. Cost nothing to run (ex. no gas), 2. Better on the knees then running, 3. Their are some very nice views on my rides, 4. It is nice way to release some stress.

Do yourself a favor and get your base miles in - prior to speedwork.

You are in a good position to injure the body since your 'already developed' cardio makes it to easy to over stress 'virgin bike muscles'; I speak from experience. Get a good six weeks of base in at a pace that does not leave you walking like a chimp the next day. Ensure you get good fit advice.

It sounds like you want to be biking for a long time...don't rush it. Like running, it takes time! Hard intervals of any kind will increase the amount of time it takes you to get your base in due to recovery -or lack thereof. Like the man said, 'speedwork is the icing on the cake'. Consider just taking it easy for a while at the top of zone 2 or bottom of zone 3, ensure your recovery nutrition is timely (ie.choc.milk 10mins post ride) then start enjoying the newly processed muscles w/o pain.

And finally, try not to increase your long ride or total weekly mileage by more than 10%.

Hope this helps.

TM

No pain, no gain. Riding in "zone 2" under anyone's definition isn't the best use of time. Unless you plan on riding 25-30+ hour weeks, don't even bother with zone 2. Here, read this:

http://www.biketechreview.com/performance/base.htm

Yeah I have been controlling my work out now. Yesterday I worked on my hill climbing but watched how hard I was pushing myself and keeping my heart rate in a good zone.

Dose choc. milk really help that much ? Just never heard anyone tell me to drink it? Also I drink soy choc. milk dose that also work?

3.2 miles every other day and an occasional swim and soccer practice sounds to me about minimal for exercise- so expect that it's going to take time to build up mileage and cardiovascular endurance. I think the best suggestion is to allow yourself to develop over time. Why push it?

The wrist- just check your form and make sure you're not pushing all your weight into your wrists while riding. I'd suggest perhaps doing a bit more core work and just continue to work on maintaining your form. The more you ride, the more you'll be able to develop good form and technique, and then you'll find you won't have sore wrists anymore.

How much is too much? If you wear a heart rate monitor, and you find your heart rate is unusually high throughout the day, you'll need to take a break. That is an indication that you've pushed too hard.

How much is too much? If you wear a heart rate monitor to bed at night, and you find that your heart rate is 10 beats higher than your usual resting heart rate when you wake up, then you'll need to skip that ride, and all subsequent rides until your resting heart rate when you awaken returns to normal.

How much is too much? If you're feeling achy and yucky all the time, and you're feeling a general feeling of fatigue throughout the day. You'll need to take time off from riding until you feel healthy again.

How much is too much? If you're obsessing over your rides and you find that you're alienating yourself from friends and family. At that point, it may be good to step away from the bike and find some other interests and go hang out with friends and family, and find some other healthier activities.

Well, good luck.

koffee

Personally I would not say my running is minimal effort seeing how I am able to do a 3.2 mile in 20min which I feel is pretty good. Along with swimming 500 meters is a very decent amount per workout which I have been doing after every run weather premising. So its a combination of both and soccer is 2 nights a week for 40 min is more for fun. That said I do see were you are coming from cause I could honestly be pushing myself harder with both my running and swimming but I want to balance it all between biking. I am not trying to do it all to get a work out thats a plus of it because I do it all since I enjoy it.

For my wrist I think I have found the issue in my forum as you mentioned. I talked with my uncle who is a very active rider and he should me the proper hand positions when riding. I was actually pushing my hands to much into my bars when riding which I believe was causing the pain.

I have a heart rate monitor but I keep forgetting to put it on before riding after someone at work suggested I wear it. I need to put it with my riding gear to make sure I wear it to see how hard I am working.

I also do not want to get to the point were I am riding and not having a social life also. I want to ride because I enjoy it not to make it something that I must do. I always put my friends and family before my activities I do on my own time. I make time in my day for riding and time with my friends and family to keep it all balanced.

Over the past couple days I have found a large improvement in my riding. I have been working on my forum, hill climbing tech. , and not working myself to the point of being very painful. I am keeping it to 1 or so rides during the week and 2+ hours on Saturdays with a rest on Sunday. It has been working so far pretty well and I hope this is a sine of things to come.

It sounds like you really enjoy your activities, which is great! I personally think that the best exercises for increasing your health benefits are the ones you enjoy. Hopefully, you will continue doing your other activities too, in addition to your cycling.

I still recommend core work. A big reason why people push their weight into the handlebars (besides wrong hand positions) is with an untrained core. You'll find as you fatigue with longer rides, you'll revert back to pushing your hands into your handlebars. Keeping a strong core and keeping yourself upright longer should help eliminate this problem (or drastically minimize it!).

You will usually see the largest improvements when you initially begin riding. As time progresses, and you become fitter and more efficient, the improvements will be much more imperceptible- to that end, I would definitely recommend a heart rate monitor and perhaps some performance testing so you have a benchmark comparison for later on, when you can't see the more minute changes with your physiological improvements. That testing should help keep you motivated to continue as you continue with your training.

Keep in mind, when I refer to what you did before as "minimal", I'm not talking about how fast you can run that 3.2 miles- I'm referring to the total time that you spend exercising. Sadly, the average American thinks that they are doing enough for regular exercise, when often, they are not. Because of the obesity issue in America being one of the fastest growing afflictions on the general population, the American College of Sports Medicine (the organization that regulates exercise standards) recently updated their guidelines for exercise. For the average American, they recommend (in a nutshell) a minimum of 30 minutes a day most days per week. So (in a nutshell), a minumum of 180 minutes of exercise per week is recommended- and that's just to be heart healthy. If your exercise is close to that, even if vigorous, then you are doing the minumum to be heart healthy. For increased health benefits, you need to do more accumulated exercise throughout the week. That's what I meant by the remark, so I apologize if it came across as glib remark. However, this is all I do- work in the health and fitness industry with training, testing, and exercise prescriptions and measurements, and I tend to be very direct.

Good luck with your training... and as long as you're having fun with it, you're definitely on the right track.


koffee

if you feel like **** when you start your ride, turn around and go to bed

Yeah I definitely agree that I do need more work on my core as you mentioned. Also no offense was taken about my other workouts. I understand were you are coming from and do agree with what you are saying.

I will see over the next couple weeks how I improve with my riding. I really need to focus on my riding and getting the basics down. I cant start running before I know how to walk sort of deal.

Also yeah if I feel like crap I am definitely going back to bed. Even if I do feel good I want to go back to bed ha.

Dude, try the chocolate milk...seriously.
http://www.winforum.org/HeraldTimes_StagerResearch.htm
I thought it was a bit off until I tried it a couple of years ago. Nice that it's available everywhere and cheap, as compared to other recovery drinks.
http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/art...u-faster-12108
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"Here, read this:"
http://www.biketechreview.com/performance/base.htm
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Lots of people swear by 20MP training! Lots of people who are already trained in the discipline!

Personally, tend to run into problems when I'm forced to walk around like robbie the robot too much.

T

There is no miracle to chocolate milk, although I would avoid soy as the body does not absorb soy protein as well as cow-based protein.

The idea is that you need carbs right away after a ride -- try to get it within 15min of your workout. Go through velonews.com nutrition articles, as there is a good on in there recently.