# Hitting 40 with sore legs



## mldebono (Dec 18, 2005)

I used to ride quite a bit - I have done a sub 5 hour century, been among the top 5 finishers in RAMROD. That was seven years ago. Two years ago I had an ACL replacement and this January, I started riding again.

5 months later, averaging about 6 to 8 hours a week riding I find my legs don't recover. They are sore until I ride again. After an 30 minutes they finally feel loose.

I do two rollers sessions a week (one hour) and two road rides, two to three hours each. I keep my cadence high. 

Am I just getting old? Any thoughts?

Thanks.


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## Alex_Simmons/RST (Jan 12, 2008)

mldebono said:


> I used to ride quite a bit - I have done a sub 5 hour century, been among the top 5 finishers in RAMROD. That was seven years ago. Two years ago I had an ACL replacement and this January, I started riding again.
> 
> 5 months later, averaging about 6 to 8 hours a week riding I find my legs don't recover. They are sore until I ride again. After an 30 minutes they finally feel loose.
> 
> ...


Persist - it might take season or three to reclaim former glory. Get there gradually, with a sustainable progressive overload in training. It will pay dividends eventually.


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## bwalling (Apr 2, 2011)

If it's taking that long to recover, then you're probably working harder than your body is ready for. You're not going to be as fast as you once were. Quads melt like butter when you don't use them. Knee surgery is a real ***** because of this.


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## retrosticks (Nov 8, 2010)

Eat Right / Rest and Recover / Weight Train / Massage, I am 41 with double tourn bicept tendons it took 3 years of dedicated work for them to feel...well OK. Just keep up the work and don't overtrain


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## easyridernyc (Jan 10, 2008)

i was gonna say that sounds like a long time to be feeling that kind of pain...you should have been past the feeling sore stage after workout months ago. then i saw acl, and all bets were off, that's a pretty devastating injury. even though the knee isnt impacting directly or taking any hits, the joint itself is going to be weakend, and probably substantially so,compared to what you used to have it do. even if the muscles around the joint get back up to working speed, the lack of coordinated function, could be causing you to stress different parts of the muscles around the joint, or to use the muscles in ways that you werent using them before. which could explain lingering soreness and pain. with the acl itself, its gonna take at least a year to get it back to where it was, maybe two. and if you're thinking competitively? pushing it hard is gonna hurt. 

its interesting that you said you've ridden hard before, i mean are you trying to get back into race shape, are you training at a pace comparable to what you used to do in peak condition, are you expecting the same level of performance as before, or what? if you expect to be the same guy after that kind of major knee surgery, you should recognize intuitively that its not gonna happen, at least not for a while. and again, not without some pain. thank goodness its not the knee that's barking and that you dont have any other pain or flexibility issues around the joint. stay at it, but be sensible, talk to the doctor about the results of your increasing the pressure, i suspect he'll confirm something along the lines of slow and steady winning the race...


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## Alex_Simmons/RST (Jan 12, 2008)

easyridernyc said:


> its interesting that you said you've ridden hard before, i mean are you trying to get back into race shape, are you training at a pace comparable to what you used to do in peak condition, are you expecting the same level of performance as before, or what? if you expect to be the same guy after that kind of major knee surgery, you should recognize intuitively that its not gonna happen, at least not for a while. and again, not without some pain.


It's possible with persistence.

My sustainable power pre- and post- trans tibial (below knee) amputation in May 2007:









My 5-min power to weight:


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## DMH2979 (May 24, 2011)

I agree with what others have said. I am 2 years post total hip replacement and started racing again this year. I was off the bike (basically didn't do any physical exercise) for 5 years. 

Prior to my leave due to injury, I raced and trained basically full time (cat 1). It has taken 2 years of getting dropped a lot and hard work to start to feel competative again. My FTP and 5 minute power are slowly getting closer to where it used to be. 

However, I've found 2 things. 1, as I am now 7 years older than I was back in the day, it takes me longer to recover from hard workouts. If I bonk (which I did in epic fashion at a race over the weekend), it seems to take even longer to recover from than it used to. 2) My endurance and FTP came back relatively quickly, however, it was the 3, 4, 5 minute VO2 type efforts that have taken the longest to come back.

With your years of high quality training and racing, you will come back much more quickly than if you were starting from scratch. My coach basically said that if I didn't have the 7 years of basically full time training and racing in my legs prior to my injury, I'd be up a creek w/out a paddle. But it still takes time.

Be patient -- it will come back -- and good luck


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## woodys737 (Dec 31, 2005)

Alex. You are the man! 4.25W/kg! Very inspiring.


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## woodys737 (Dec 31, 2005)

OP: I'm 43 and have been off the bike for 8 months. Mt FTP is around 70W less than peak pre injury. I walk around with sore legs after just a relatively easy 1 hour on the bike. They stay sore the next day as well.

Also, I am experiencing what DMH2979 has stated above^^^.


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## AJL (Jul 9, 2009)

mldebono said:


> Am I just getting old? Any thoughts?


Lots of us are getting 'old'. Welcome to the club  

Around 45 I started to suffer from DOMS. Generally speaking, having a protein drink within 30 minutes after finishing ones ride will reduce the soreness. A lot of guys on the forum prefer a large glass of chocolate milk (not the low calories stuff because you need carbs too).

I find that L-Glutamine mixed into whatever I drink afterwards makes a big difference. And when in physical therapy once the PA confirmed that that particular amino acid can reduce muscle soreness.

Hopefully this will help you as you improve your form. Good Luck!


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## twinkles (Apr 23, 2007)

I'm 47 now, ouch, but a few years ago I built myself up a set of sub 1500 gram wheels to replace my old 1800 gram wheels. After riding them, I noticed that I had difficulty making my quads sore. I also notice that my knees, with a surgery on each of them, don't hurt as much as they used to. I still don't have the snap i had 10-20 years ago, but It's nice to be able to push it without getting sore.


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## Alex_Simmons/RST (Jan 12, 2008)

woodys737 said:


> Alex. You are the man! 4.25W/kg! Very inspiring.


Thanks, never really my intention, I just love racing my bike.

I'm 47 next month by the way.


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## mldebono (Dec 18, 2005)

Thanks for all the responses. As long as it's my quads and not my knees I will keep at it. I have every illusion of recapturing my old form. If I can't train my way there I will get some lighter wheels. 

Thanks


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## BeepBeepZipTang (Oct 8, 2009)

40's 50's 60's just a number At 43 myself, I find doing the tri sprints, duathlons and club rides keeps me young (kinda mid age crisis, my wife says to me). Just last april I saw this 62 year old man ran past me at the LA Tri sprint and chanted Toga (my NY club gear)

He was very inspiring for man that age to still want to compete.All fun, anyways....

Keep at it while you can and Good Luck


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