Anyone got any suggestions on how to stop my legs feeling so heavy and tired.

I work 12 hr shifts and try to cycle to work as much as possible. It’s between a 20 to 25 mile journey each way. I leave 5 am, get to work for 6.30, leave at 7pm and ride home for about 8.30.
I do two days of this the second always being the hardest and then do 2 nights of it the same. I can rarely manage to make both nights as my legs are usually shot. So I take a mtb in the car and ride 6 miles each way down a bridleway in.
Does anyone have any tips on how to make it so I can cycle all 4? Do I need to just MTFU or is it the short turn around time with little to no rest?
Is it worth trying energy gels and other stuff instead of just juice? I’m trying to loose weight so don’t really want to load with calories.

My commute is 14 miles each way. I am no athlete at all and getting on a bit at 43. I find having rest days helps, as it seems you do. I commute Tuesdays and Thursdays. If I do more I find that I have to use the weekends as rest days which defies, for me anyway, the point in getting the extra miles in for fitness.

I found forcing myself to spin more helped.
On the back to back days when I have been pushing big gears (usually with a headwind home)I would get heavy legs on the rest day.

Doing all 4 would be 200 miles, which is a fair old bit of riding particularly with erratic breaks. It’s not all that surprising you’re feeling it, particularly if you’re riding hard from cold (as is tempting to do on a commute, it’s a means to an end after all!).

I’d say that you’d be better making sure you’re having a decent recovery drink afterwards, moreso than gels, energy drinks etc during. A milkshake when you get in will help, needn’t be a fancy recovery branded one, a Frijj will do! Compression tights may well help as well, under your normal clothes.

Otherwise I’d just say it’s about building up to it. FWIW, I did a similar length commute into London and after 3 days I’d be wrecked, whilst 4 consecutive days of 50 mile rides wouldn’t pose a problem – the stop start nature and as I said previously going hard all the time made it far more tiring than ‘normal’ riding.

life long commuter here.
the only time my legs feel fresh, is after a good long rest.
if you are doing exercise day in day out aching legs/muscles is always gonna happen.

my commute is only ~9miles each way, there’s a *bit* of climbing, and stop-starting, but i’m surprised just how knackered it leaves me.

(been doing it 2 or 3 times a week for 8 years, if i’m not used to it now i never will be)

so, er, i’ll just hang out here and let the recovery-gurus educate me.

From personal experience, everything Njee said +quite a lot.

You’re dong a fair old whack there OP. Chappeau for doing what you’re doing at all.

Stop start is hard. A 50 mile commute on top of a full day’s work is hard. The fact that you’re riding, then working, then riding again is hard. As Njee said, doing three 50 miles rides on consecutive days, though not easy, probably wouldn’t put anything like as much strain on your body as doing what you’re doing.

My advice (I currently aim to do a 100km commute twice a week plus about another 100km elsewhere) is to not beat yourself up about it. Do what you’re body tells you, give yourself a week here and there when you only do it once or twice. The week after that I guarantee you’ll feel like you’re on EPO!

50% of it could be the start. Does your route start with a hill, or worse a downhill followed in short order by an uphill?

My suggestion:

If you can, add 5-10mins to your journey and do a 5 second and then a 10 second stretch of all affected muscles.

When you set off go at a very slow pace for the first 5 minutes, and up the first hill. Build up to your usual pace after that, but stay in a lower gear around 60-90RPM for the first 5-10.

Your problem is also exacerbated by the diet/riding combination, but 0I’ll let someone else write about that.

If you are overweight, then swapping, say 10kg of fat for 5kg of muscle will give you a significant power/weight boost and really help.

I’m trying to loose weight so don’t really want to load with calories.

Just spotted this part also. The hardest time to lose weight is ironically when you’re riding a lot, at least if you’re actively trying to lose weight. Your boddy is naturally demanding more calories and it’s really hard to get the restriction just right so that you still burn more than you consume. It’s also a lot easier to eat more than you need.

There is some research that shows that riding in the morning before eating anything actually has a big benefit to training your body to more readily access energy from fat stores. It’s called fatigue training; I pretty much do it whenever I ride in the morning. I have a cup of coffee (also read that the coffee helps to kick start the fat burning process) and maybe one gel if I’ve not eaten much the night before and the ride is going to be more than 50km, otherwise I have nothing.

My rule for intake if I’m trying to cut weight is to eat a generous meal in the evening if I’ve ridden hard that day, but if I’ve not ridden, I try to restrict the intake. It’s not very scientific but it’s easier to execute when you have a lot of other stuff going on around you.

There’s a temptation when commuting to ride as quickly as possible (happens to me anyway), could this be happening here? Might just need to slow down a bit?

I’ve got a similar commute. Usually do 3 or 4 days a week on top of a weekly MTB night ride and weekend ride. I usually find I have one really bad day. Most often on a Thursday, where I’ll be 15-20mins longer, but strangely find that I feel much better after that bad day, like I’ve had a rest. I also do the mornings with no food and that works quite well but I do have to eat a lot during the day.

+1 on having a week off now and again. You get used to being tired all the time, but when you have a proper rest it really does feel amazing.

Warm up and down properly and don’t get all strava competitive on your commute.
If I go over a certain speed and effort on my ride in my legs feel much more tired on the way home. I generally bimble in at about 14mph and back at 16-18mph with 1000ft of climbing each way (10 miles ew)

This is the reason I only ride twice a week generally, there’s no way around it my legs need rest days and I won’t put up with the aching leg feeling.

That is a bugger of a commute.
I find prolonged stuff like commuting harder to get used to than the odd really big ride, you’ve just so little time for recovery. When I switched from road to offroad commute over the same distance it killed me, took me a good few months to get used to it. Key for me was pacing myself, monday mornings I was tearing it up and friday afternoon I was grovelling home. Not just that tho, climbs, pulling away from lights/gates, any acceleration. You just have to softly spin low gears, any punchy efforts will take their toll in subsequent days.
Rest days help but if you’re aiming for all 4 in a row maybe mix up your full commute with mtb days and do a few weeks on each
start with:
Full,mtb,full,mtb
then
full, full,mtb,mtb
full,full,mtb,full
until you can manage all four.

TBH it sounds like you’re not far off being able to consistently doing all 4 anyway so shouldn’t take too much longer to manage it without the pain – at which point you will be kick arse fit.

I would recommend the use of a heart monitor.

The problem could be that you dont know how much effort you are putting in.

I use my commutes for extra miles and set the alarm at level 2. That way i just spin along at an easy pace if im tired. Helps with recovery.

heart rate monitors are great to stop overtraining.

Also get used to checking your pulse when you wake up. Get an average and if its up by about 10-15% have an easy ride or rest day.

Look to do a full recovery ride instead of a rest day on the MTB. Just keep the effort really low. I find it’s better than a rest day to be honest. but you do need to go really slow…

Heart rate monitor is a good call if your commute is flat.

I use to use one, but riding anywhere in hilly Sheffield in zone 2 is not really possible unless you’re super fit.

A good cheap indicator of effort, If you’re breathing hard enough so you couldn’t maintain a steady conversation, you’re pushing too hard for a recovery ride.

Sounds like you’re putting in quite an effort, so don’t feel bad for the odd rest day or slow day on the bike!

Thanks guys I use a heart monitor, I think most of you guys have hit the nail on the head. This is my commute
https://www.strava.com/activities/284227857
No major hills but enough to hit tired legs and usually a bit windy. TBH the wind sometimes drives me mad.
Will try to take it steadier and use shakes etc.
I will keep you all informed.

I should say I’m using a calorie tracker that takes into account my calorie burn too so I can try and stay slightly negative.

My road riding is a mixture of one-hour evening hooligan sessions and 30 to 50 mile weekend jaunts at a less frantic pace. Now that the rides are becoming regular I’m finding that the legs are constantly tired and sore. I’m almost 59 so I put this down to age – have no way of comparing because I didn’t re-start cycling as an adult until 26 years ago. I wonder how people manage on long multi-day trips? I did C2C last summer and found it beneficial for my spinning style but it took me a good week to feel recovered from the five days of riding.

I’m careful to eat a high-protein diet and I’m quite looking forward to the second half of this week when I’m entertaining overseas visitors, which will mean plenty of quality food and an enforced “no cycling” weekend.

Gazman do you go over the QE bridge? 😯

I worked in Widnes for a short while so know that area and would be terified of riding over the bridge.

TBH the wind sometimes drives me mad.

Doesn’t the wind drive everyone mad? In some respects you can use the wind to go slower. Sounds odd but when it’s windy I just don’t fight it, drop down a few gears and spin. This actually results in expending less effort than trying to maintain a normal pace when it’s not windy.

“Wind resistance (yellow) and other losses (purple)”

I swear by this stuff for reducing muscle fatigue, I usually just take a 500ml drink straight after, but you can use it during, other flavours available and it’s cheaper elsewhere than Amazon. http://www.amazon.co.uk/BSN-Raspberry-Effervescent-Instantized-Powder/dp/B0055BYDAW

Gee tee, yes I do, their is a footpath to the side though so I’m not with the cars etc

Smells good doesn’t it. Like victory.

You need to treat some back-to-back commutes as RECOVERY rides. That means Zone 1 or less than about 120 bpm. Ride on the inside ring to control effort/speed. It’s still riding and will help with your other rides. It also feels silly-easy. But you need recovery; the most overlooked aspect of training.

And who’s going to believe you with a name like that, eh? 😉

My commute is also ~25 mile – I find it more enjoyable to cycle home one day and back in the next.More often than not increasing the distance(off road funtime). Have a day off and repeat.
As mentioned by far more qualified folk than me, hydration and food are a big factor. Also, if you have an active 12 hours ,that’s hard, so fair play.
When I was between cars, I had to do the ~50 mile round trip five days a week, for 3 weeks – it nearly killed me. 😳

Last night I left the bike at home, I feel like a different person. Will take a bike tonight though.

Another distance commuter here. I ride 18 miles each way and have done it for eight years. My distance covered has built up to 12,000 km p.a. for the last few years (all cycling including commuting).

I built up to it gradually tho, three days a week for circa 6 months before progressing to four. Five days commuting is just too much when I’m riding at weekends too although I have noticed that I have distinct peaks and troughs in fitness even though I’m not doing anything noticeably different.

When I’m on a peak I can ride five days commuting plus weekends without any problems. But this will only last a few weeks and then I will always, always ‘crash’ in terms of fitness and be back to 3 days and have to build up again for a couple of weeks before I peak again.

In terms of sore legs I learn to live with it. I find that I now recover much quicker even though I was 50 in October. A day off mid-week and I’m raring to go again.

However drinking plenty of fluids (far more than you might think) is important as well as spinning more as mentioned above. Pushing a big gear really drains your power quickly and will leave you with sore legs.

I’ve also noticed that my calves swell when my legs are sore. Whilst I may think it’s great that my calves are ‘beefing up’ it’s actually a sign that they are full of lactic acid. A very gentle recovery spin will drain the acid and my calves return to ‘normal’ size.

Interesting stuff, I’m planning on commuting 35 miles each way tomorrow. To be honest I’ll only do it occasionally when the weather is nice, just a bit concerned that I’ll struggle to get home tomorrow, especially with my glass back. Still, I’ve plotted a nice route down country lanes away from most of the traffic. Might be a bit nippy in the morning though, 23C is forecast today but car was showing 3C on the way in this morning!

TiRed – Member

You need to treat some back-to-back commutes as RECOVERY rides. That means Zone 1 or less than about 120 bpm.

i have a HRM, so i intend to try this tonight. I doubt it’s possible for me to keep my pulse below 120, and actually get home. But i’ll see how it goes…

My 35 mile commute this morning turned into nearer 38 due to a satnav inspired detour. Didn’t push too hard at 14mph average but a couple of stiff climbs at the end means my legs are a bit tired and sore now when climbing the stairs, getting home might be a bit of a struggle. Still, it was worth it, 95% traffic free down the country lanes of West Sussex, sunrise on the Fulking road, birds singing, stunning scenery. It was glorious!

Gazman – present for you:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/k1Bake]Widnes[/url] by geeturner1972, on Flickr

Recognise it? You should do. It’s taken next to the QE bridge!

Still, it was worth it, 95% traffic free down the country lanes of West Sussex, sunrise on the Fulking road

Good on you for doing it. Where do you start from (I’m in Horsham is why I ask)?

A quick tip for you. Everyone’s different but my ride in is 37 miles and my ride back is only 25. I get the train back from Dorking to Horsham specifically because I am always cooked by the time I get to Dorking.

Make sure you eat really well at lunch, by which I mean replenish your energy stores. I’d also take an energy gel before you set off and have one in reserve.

I’ve tried to ride all the way in and all the way back twice and on both occassions bonked within the last 15km. I can do a 180km ride in a day no problem but there is something about doing a full day’s work that seems to limit me to 100km before being spent.

+1 to what everyone else has been saying, that mileage for commuting is seriously draining. My commute is 21Km (13 miles) each way and it takes a while to build up to doing that for five days a week each spring and still be able to get out at the weekend for “pleasure”/sporting rides.

Since we don’t have showers at work I tend to take it easy on the way in and also eat something ASAP after getting in to work to aid the recovery.

A commute in urban areas is very stop-start so if you aren’t careful and try to push it then the whole thing is closer to interval training which you should only really be doing once or maybe twice a week not eight or ten times! Give yourself another quarter of an hour to do each ride – sod the Strava segments, that’s not why you are commuting to and from work, and take it easy.

sod the Strava segments, that’s not why you are commuting to and from work, and take it easy.

Err, speak for yourself 😉

Decent advice though, I think setting yourself speed based targets is a sure fire way to be permanently knackered and rather demoralised.

Doesn’t always work: This morning I somehow managed to ride to work five minutes quicker than normal – the tail wind and the guy I was trying to keep up with might have had something to do with that 😳

geetee – I’m in Worthing. Bit late on the gel front but I’ve eaten plenty and it’s quiet at work today so I’m taking it easy. Hot though, still think it’ll be a struggle. Won’t be doing it too often!

My ride yesterday started at 6am, when it was about 4 degrees outside, but my ride back at 6.30pm was a triffle warm! Spring is the hardest month to get clothing that works for early mornings and early evenings.