feeling crap for no reason why?

[willhub]

Hi.

Well thats basically what happened, today on a ride I was feeling crap for no reason, I only did 65 miles, did some climbs in macclesfield forest, went through this valley that led me to the A54 where I had to climb this steepish hill, I was struggling to keep over 10mph, was doing about 8 most of the time, usually I can do 12mph on that hill, went on the alderly edge, did swiss hill, then was kinda flat and steady 18-20mph on the way back.

I'm really surprised at the fact my legs are aching, I feel so tired too, all together I've done around 75 miles today, and I feel about as bad as I felt when I got back the weekend before last from a 128 mile ride that was half hilly half flat, 60 miles of which where into the peaks.

On Friday I did 80 miles very hilly, it was hill after hill, I felt pretty knackered when I got home, but I recovered by the end of saturday and on Sunday did a club run with the wheelers, that was 92 miles hilly, snake pass, holme firth, and like a load of other steep climbs, and I did really good, I was powering up some hills, I was towing a few riders up snake pass into the headwind keeping an average pace of aorund 9-10mph.

All 3 of those rides where harder than today, so I'm really confused why I feel so rubbish after it? between friday and now I've had a rest day in between the rides so what could be the problem?

I'm planning another pretty hilly ride on saturday, probably harder than today by quite abit but I want to make sure I am in the best possible state, some days I just have that feeling like I'm ready to go and got loads of energy, I did not have that this morning but I thought nothing of it really? It was apparently when I got to the first part of it going up hill near bollington that I was really underperforming.

Thanks
Will.

 

[montage]

Dehydration is my bet.

Fookin hot today it was

 

[willhub]

I kept drinking though, well through the whole ride I had 1 750ml bottle and a smaller 500ml bottle, but through the bulk of the ride, the hilly part I was taking regular swigs.

It was indeed hot but it felt hotter on Friday I thought. Got home about 4 filled a jug with juice and froze it and had a freezing cold shower.

 

[MrRidley]

Somedays you just get like that, it happens to everyone, i done the worst 12 miles today feeling exactly the same.

 

[longers]

All 3 of those rides where harder than today, so I'm really confused why I feel so rubbish after it? between friday and now I've had a rest day in between the rides so what could be the problem?

Them's decent rides on hot days, could take more than one rest day to recover.

 

[willhub]

Maybe, I'm just thinking back to last year thought when I was at York College, 10 miles commute, 10-15 miles commute back, 4 days a week, even weekend a minimum of 80 miles on a club ride, then I started doing sunday runs, they where around 100 miles minimum, usually around 120-140 miles.

I could never do that now, although on the rides I do I am faster, maybe the peak district is harder than the north york moors and the Yorkshire dales? I do notice I find it harder to do longer miles in the Manchester area.

I'll take tomoz off cycling, same for Thursday and Friday and stuff my face with food, see what happenes

 

[yello]

Them's decent rides on hot days, could take more than one rest day to recover.

I'd go for that too. Sounds like a bit of 'over training' to me and you're a bit run down. Have an early night and a day off too, no point coming down with something; your immune system will be low and you're vulnerable when run down.

 

[jimboalee]

I'll take tomoz off cycling, same for Thursday and Friday and stuff my face with food, see what happenes

The food will immediately turn to fat.

 

[willhub]

So what should I do?

I eat beans, soup, rice, pasta etc...

 

[Fab Foodie]

Them's decent rides on hot days, could take more than one rest day to recover.

+1 and wot Yellow said.

Heat in particular can be really draining. After my first 100 miler (just over 6 hours) in pretty warm conditions it took my aged body over a week to recover fully. Rest is training too.

 

[Fab Foodie]

So what should I do?

I eat beans, soup, rice, pasta etc...

A regular balanced diet will be fine, but pasta and beans are better than rice from a GI point of view. Don;'t go mad otherwise as Jimbo says you'll end up a porker and have a lot of ballast energy reserves to haul around like me!

 

[willhub]

Well the feeling crap for no reason is getting worse. Since the ride in the first post all I did was 15 miles round trip to oldham and commuting to college, yesterday when it was peeing it down big time I cycled 29 miles to leyland for bike fit and about 30ish back via belmont, I felt total crap, I was really struggling and today my legs are aching, was not even that much climbing!!!

Going down hill here with no explanation :, worst thing is I've got a 40-60 mile ride to lead, yesterday when I felt okish I agreed to do it, too late now have to, feel like crap like I have a hangover and legs feel like I did 200 miles yesterday

 

[Blonde]

Could be any of the following reasons: You're doing too much on the bike, you're doing too much in other areas of life, you're not getting enough sleep, it's too much alcohol, it's your your age (if you are teen to 25 or over 60 you actually do need more sleep than those in between those ages), you're not eating enough protein, or not eating enough in general, you have a virus, you are under stress at home, at work/college (Are you in the middle of exams?) or are placing too much stress on yourself in your sport, you're experiencing hormonal changes, or it's just due to the weather - especially low pressure, which can give you headaches and make you feel tired and lethargic...... take you pick. Just don't worry about it too much, have some time off the bike, get plenty of rest and eat well. You won't put any weight on in a week! You need to eat well; plenty of vegetables and fruit as well as good quality protein. The low quality flours used in most wheat based products, such as dried pasta, don't have a lot of nutritional value and are also usually full of additives used to preserve the product, so having a more varied carbs source is going to give you better nutrition; perhaps try barley, brown rice, whole oats or oatmeal with the bran still in (you can buy oat bran separately to add back to non-whole oats), quinoa, millet and maize. I really like polenta and cornbread and pearl barley is really nice in soups and stews although not as good nutritionally as the un-polished grain. If you're worried about the longer cooking times, you can always cook it the day before then freeze into individual portions or keep in the fridge till next day.... even rice is fine re-heated in the microwave as long as it is really piping hot before you eat it. Also, you just can't eat too many vegetables!

 

[Blonde]

Re-reading you last post it occurred to me that you aren't doing enormous mileage but that you do seem to be riding more or less every day. I'm afraid that this will leave you feeling a bit worn down. I commute 26 miles a day to/from work in Manchester and it does take it's toll if I do that for five days as well as doing a Wednesday night track session and a 100 miler at the weekend. You do need a day off at least once or twice a week, particularly if you are working or at college etc - you're not cycling professionally, so you still have to do other things on top of the cycling, which will take it's toll. Even the pros have rest days and they don't have other jobs to do as well! Google "over training". Peak Performance on line has quite a bit of info on it. It's about being heart-tired and about hormone imbalances, sleep problems and depression, as well as fatigue in your cycling muscles. You really don't want to end up like that.

 

[willhub]

Well I did 65 miles chaingang today, average 20mph all way around, slow really thats cause of faffing about.

I aim to do at least one long ride a week, I'm going to lay off the hills for the moment, do some flats and thats about it. I commute 3 times a week, it's only like 3 miles there and 3 miles back. so 18 miles a week commuting, I used to do 22 miles a day 4 times a week, weird really as I never felt crap from doing riding every day but now I do.

I like wholemeal rice but apparently it's bad eating it often.

I'm a crap sleeper, I need around 9 hours of sleep, any lower and I'm usually tired, anything higher and I usually feel crap with headaches and everything.

Last week I did 247 miles, when I first started cycling last year, a month into it I was doing 100+ mile rides at the weekend and about 900-1200 miles a month.