Sports Recovery for geezers

[Fast Friendly Guy]

@rcannon100 72844 wrote:

I took a long ride. It was an easy ride and I had no problem doing the ride. But lordy, days later and I still feel like I am bruised. Recovery time is getting harsher…How do you 50+ guys do these monster rides and still soldier on??

Bob,
As a master of ‘senior moments’ and as an official ‘old fart’, my strategy is simple. I pretend I’m Tim K, Vincent N, Chris S., Jason B, Steve E, or any of those energetic and fast young guys. An essential element of my strategy is to stay away from mirrors and avoid looking too closely at selfies. Then after riding further and faster than nature intends for me, I remind myself of Rule 5. At 63, I may be only young in spirit, but I’ll tell you one thing….I get senior discounts and those young athletes don’t!

P.S. An Advil or two sometimes comes in handy.

Dave

[Rootchopper]

Be one with your frailty! I hate when I am dropped on hills by everyone. I ride at least 3 miles per hour slower than I did ten years ago. But I still enjoy it.

As for recovery, I try to make it a point to take one day completely off the bike now and then. Sometimes two. If my schedule doesn’t tell me when to take a break, my body usually does.

[rcannon100]

I think one of my problems is it is hard to get a true off day. Off days mean hiking the dogs on the Billy Goat trail – or climbing ladders to repair the roof – or lifting in order to repair a flower bed. One of my problems might be that my off days are not “off” enough.

[PotomacCyclist]

Strength training and periodization! And a true off-season. Those would be my top suggestions, other than rest, nutrition, sleep. (I only do static stretching after workouts, and mostly after running. I don’t stretch after most bike rides unless I feel like I need to that day.)

Adults begin to lose muscle mass after their mid 20s, all other factors being equal. (If a slim sedentary person begins strength training in his 40s, it’s possible for him to be stronger and more fit than he was when he was 25. But someone who is an elite athlete at 25 will not match that level of fitness at the age of 45, for the most part, except that many 20-somethings tend not to have super aerobic endurance and it takes years to fully develop AE.)

This is why all adults should include some type of strength training as part of a healthy lifestyle. It doesn’t need to be bodybuilding training. For most people, that is excessive and counterproductive. It doesn’t even need to be a year-round activity. (That goes to the periodization approach.) But there should be at least some ST during the year.

Periodization is the idea that you change up your fitness routine during different times of the year, depending on your goals (whether that’s just general fitness or you are training for a particular event). A common schedule is to ease back on endurance activity in mid-winter (yes, I know there’s Freezing Saddles) and incorporate different types of activity. The winter is a good time to work on strength, when most people are not doing as much of the long workouts/rides as they might be doing in the spring and summer. Cross-training can help give certain muscles and areas a rest (such as your sit bones) and work on improving muscle balance. (Cycling tends to focus on the quads, as most already know.)

Strength training is particularly important for cyclists because cycling is not a high-impact sport. This means that it doesn’t really do much for your bone density, especially in the core and upper body. Decreased bone mineral density leaves you more susceptible to fractures and weak bones later in life. Smart ST increases strength in the muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons, when done properly.

Periodization gives you a chance to recover while it also helps you to peak for any key events or races. Even if you take a rest day each week, if you put your body under a lot of physical stress, that is probably not enough. An easy week is a good idea, maybe every 3rd to 5th week or so, depending on how fatigued you are. (When tracking fatigue, you need to account for not just your bike rides, but also for lost sleep, stress from work or non-cycling life, illness, skipped meals, and other factors.) Even with the rest day and the easy weeks (or cutback weeks), it’s also a good idea to have a more substantial break at regular times during the year. I don’t mean complete rest, although that might be wise for some people (especially those that train extremely hard for much of the year). It can be a super-easy week during the early summer and then a longer break during the late fall or early winter. How much of a break and what that really means, depends on how hard you have pushed that year. Someone who has trained very intensely may need a few weeks off completely. (Many pro endurance athletes take such an off-season break at the end of their race seasons.) Someone who is more of a casual rider probably won’t need as much of a break. But they may be helped by taking a mental break.

After the off-season break, it can be helpful to take a more casual approach for a while, maybe a month or two where you continue to stay active, but you avoid any hard workouts or very long rides. Maybe limit your riding to no more than 45 to 90 minutes for an experienced rider, with no super-hard hill workouts or extended hard intervals during this period.

The weekly, monthly and quarterly/biannual breaks can help you to do more work during other times of the year.

If you do a lot of races or very long events (centuries and so on), you can also think about planning how much that takes out of you over the year. A usual recommendation is to have no more than a couple or a few key goal events a year. You can still do other events, but they shouldn’t be super hard or super long (unless you really are an elite-level superman). Even the fittest cyclists in the world can’t really handle two Grand Tours in one year. If they do race both, they usually focus on one, and play only a supporting role in the other. It’s very rare for a cyclist to win two Grand Tours in a year.

It also depends on how hard you go in your goal and non-goal events. (If you go too hard in a longer non-goal event, it really becomes a goal event.) If you are training hard and pushing hard during long races, you need more total recovery that year. Easier and shorter events won’t take as much out of you.

If you train specifically for races, you have to look into the level of stress that puts on your body. Even the top pros don’t do the super-hard workouts year-round. They will train hard at some points of the year, but they will also shift to building volume at other periods of the year, and blend the two at other times (with slightly less volume).

Within those general guidelines, you should also monitor how your body responds to accumulated fatigue. Experienced athletes have a better feel for when they are really pushing too hard (although pros have been known to burn themselves out or push to injury too). It’s the common saying of “listening to your body.” Stress is good in managed amounts. Too little exercise stress and you don’t develop fitness. But too much stress for too long a period without a break leaves you open to burnout and injury.

***
As for nutrition, there is general nutrition and there is sports nutrition, which becomes more important when you ride/train a lot. You probably know most of it already, but it can’t hurt to monitor your nutrition habits to see if you might be lacking in your diet, especially during and after long/hard workouts. There’s a lot of debate about whether fasted workouts help to make you a more efficient endurance athlete. It’s probably a good idea to skip the carbs for short, easy rides, and even for easy semi-long rides. But I’ve found that once I start going over the 75-90 minute mark (especially for running, but also for cycling), that everything goes better if I take some calories during the session, along with water. For longer sessions, I always try to get post-workout calories as soon as possible, both carbs and a moderate amount of protein, along with water (drinking to thirst).

If you don’t replenish the carbs soon after those long rides or races, your cortisol levels remain elevated. This also means your immune system remains temporarily weakened, which is not a good thing, especially if you do that on a repeated basis. The glycogen depletion signals your body to stay in stress mode. Getting those post-ride carbs helps to lower the cortisol levels.

[PotomacCyclist]

I don’t know anything about recovery from hockey or Ultimate Frisbee. I try to avoid stop-and-start high-speed sports, including those and others like basketball and football, even touch football. Too risky on the knees for adult amateurs, even if you do a lot of strength and agility training, which I do during the winter. One knee injury can wipe out weeks and months of training and general exercise. Not worth it to me. I’d rather ride. (And run. And swim. And strength train. And…)

[That said, if I can get my strength and agility up to a high level, I’d love to do something like American Ninja Warrior. However, that doesn’t appear to be as risky as something like hockey or basketball. If you fall, you fall into the water. I’ve been focusing more on things like pull-ups, one-arm bench push-ups, barbell squats and kettlebell swings for the past two months. I’m not bulking up though. Just as with cycling, it’s better to have a good strength-to-weight ratio for Ninja Warrior than to be overly bulky.]

[Rod Smith]

Get up the next day and do it again.

[Vicegrip]

@Rod Smith 72856 wrote:

Get up the next day and do it again.

I use this but to a lesser degree than Rod does. I think our bodies are wonders of adaptation. A dose a day to set a baseline and then bump it a time or two a week with a increase keeps the hurt at bay. A hard ride followed by days off never gets you a good base line as far as the little stuff type soreness goes. My thinking is to ride often as in every day or so at least and a good longer than standard ride weekly for your body. Do a big ride once a month or so for your mind and ride with friends as often as you can for the soul. Drinking enough water during and after and easy full range motion and light exercise the next day to get the blood and rebuilding materials to the far corners of your body helps. A 15 mph 10 miler the day after a century kind of thing.

I think an important aspect is not to do any cumulative damage along the way. I think this where cycling is well suited for us guys and gals that remember when phones had cords and dials. Other than falling off or getting hit cycling is great for cardio and overall fitness building.

I lift weights 3 times a week and eat right enough that I can enjoy the rich stuff when it is at its best.
One aspect I fail at is enough sleep, never have likely never will get the recommended 8 hours a night. Most of my life I was 180 or so but the weight and decreased fitness crept in over a 10 year span and I found myself at 220 and out of shape. changed my diet, started working out again and have enjoyed the new/old me ever since.

That and Motrin.

[rcannon100]

Okay, I am listening and thinking what this means.

Here’s the thing. I drank the cool aid. I am a 100% bicycle commuter. And then on the weekend I am hiking the dogs and doing the yard work. There is no off season. This does not lend to periodization. And to do strength training, I um, have to ride my bike to the gym. (I dont race and I dont really tour – altho I would like to extend my range and my endurance so that I can tour).

During Thanksgiving break I was basically doing double work outs. Cycling and then hiking the dogs. By the end of that break, I felt horrible.

I think what I am hearing (and reading) is that I have to find a way to have a true off day (and that probably means picking one week day and driving in). Maybe the solution is to get that folding bike I have been drooling over so that I can ride the subway most of the way.

PS There was interestingly enough a lot of athletes who played both hockey and ultimate. Both involve a lot of sprinting. Both are great team sports that involve a lot of passing. And in both of them your body takes a beating. No checking in Ultimate – but you dive and hit the ground almost constantly. My wife used to say that I had not actually played Ultimate unless I came home with my leg torn up and covered with blood.

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[Jason B]

@Fast Friendly Guy 72849 wrote:

Bob,
I’m Tim K, Vincent N, Chris S., Jason B, Steve E, or any of those energetic and fast young guys.

P.S. An Advil or two sometimes comes in handy.

Dave

Hey now, I’m not in that group. Reaching 50 soon enough, in fact I reach for Bayer and St. John’s asprin not that Advil hocus pocus.

[dcv]

@Jason B 72867 wrote:

Hey now, I’m not in that group. Reaching 50 soon enough, in fact I reach for Bayer and St. John’s asprin not that Advil hocus pocus.

Word, I only pretend to be young. Thanks for the props though.

[Vicegrip]

@rcannon100 72865 wrote:

Okay, I am listening and thinking what this means.

Here’s the thing. I drank the cool aid. I am a 100% bicycle commuter. And then on the weekend I am hiking the dogs and doing the yard work. There is no off season. This does not lend to periodization. And to do strength training, I um, have to ride my bike to the gym. (I dont race and I dont really tour – altho I would like to extend my range and my endurance so that I can tour).

During Thanksgiving break I was basically doing double work outs. Cycling and then hiking the dogs. By the end of that break, I felt horrible.

I think what I am hearing (and reading) is that I have to find a way to have a true off day (and that probably means picking one week day and driving in). Maybe the solution is to get that folding bike I have been drooling over so that I can ride the subway most of the way.

PS There was interestingly enough a lot of athletes who played both hockey and ultimate. Both involve a lot of sprinting. Both are great team sports that involve a lot of passing. And in both of them your body takes a beating. No checking in Ultimate – but you dive and hit the ground almost constantly. My wife used to say that I had not actually played Ultimate unless I came home with my leg torn up and covered with blood.

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I am in a mirror loop of yours. From thanksgiving on I have been doing “other stuff” and not riding as much as normal or enough for my liking. The last two weeks have been real hard to get in rides and when I do I feel out of sorts for a while. Did just under 50 miles yesterday and it took a while to get into the groove. My back was bothering me from mile 20 to 40 or so and it never bothers me. For us regular folks that ride to go places and improve fitness at the same time I think there is too much and too little. Training for real watt improvement requires a plan and to follow it.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@dcv 72875 wrote:

Word, I only pretend to be young. Thanks for the props though.

I’m trying to decide if he thinks I’m old or slow. Or both.

[PotomacCyclist]

@rcannon100 72865 wrote:

Okay, I am listening and thinking what this means.

Here’s the thing. I drank the cool aid. I am a 100% bicycle commuter. And then on the weekend I am hiking the dogs and doing the yard work. There is no off season. This does not lend to periodization. And to do strength training, I um, have to ride my bike to the gym. (I dont race and I dont really tour – altho I would like to extend my range and my endurance so that I can tour).

During Thanksgiving break I was basically doing double work outs. Cycling and then hiking the dogs. By the end of that break, I felt horrible.

I think what I am hearing (and reading) is that I have to find a way to have a true off day (and that probably means picking one week day and driving in). Maybe the solution is to get that folding bike I have been drooling over so that I can ride the subway most of the way.

PS There was interestingly enough a lot of athletes who played both hockey and ultimate. Both involve a lot of sprinting. Both are great team sports that involve a lot of passing. And in both of them your body takes a beating. No checking in Ultimate – but you dive and hit the ground almost constantly. My wife used to say that I had not actually played Ultimate unless I came home with my leg torn up and covered with blood.

This Post Approved By Puggles!

How long was the long ride? How much longer was it than your usual ride? 30 miles might be considered long for some while others might consider that a warm-up or recovery ride. Was it hilly? Did you ride at a very hard effort for much of the distance? The tougher it was compared to your usual riding, the more you need to schedule some recovery time. That can be active and maybe even a little passive recovery.

There are no strict rules here, but your body is clearly screaming at you. If you feel “horrible” for days, then you need to address the situation quickly. I would really try to avoid the painkillers, whether it’s aspirin, Advil, Tylenol or other. I would only use that in case of serious injury and then, only on the recommendation of a doctor. It’s not good to rely on painkillers, especially on a regular basis. All drugs have negative side effects. The more you use them, the worse the side effects can be. (I remember reading an interview with the head of orthopedics at Massachusetts General Hospital. He said that they use NSAIDs to inhibit bone healing in certain situations. Bones are always being remodeled by the body, in response to stress. If you interfere with the rebuilding process for too long, you can make your bones weaker. A lot of runners overuse/abuse NSAIDs. No surprise that many of them end up with stress fractures.)

Are there sharp pains anywhere? Unusual pains? If so, then that could indicate an injury, something that a doctor would have to confirm. If you just feel extreme fatigue, that might not indicate an injury, but it does hint that you haven’t recovered from the long ride. Or do you have old injuries from Ultimate or hockey? Post-ride recovery nutrition involves more than just the carbs/protein within the first 20-30 min. after you stop. For very long rides, you have to get a complete meal maybe an hr. or two after the immediate recovery calories, and continue to have complete, balanced meals. One recommendation (if I remember properly) is to keep up with the recovery meals for as long as the duration of that ride. You won’t be eating non-stop. That wouldn’t be good. Just eat every 3 hours or so as you might normally. Don’t skip any meals during that extended post-ride recovery phase.

When it takes days to recover from a ride, you really should put more attention on recovery and set aside other fitness and activity goals temporarily. If the ride was much longer than usual and much tougher than usual, it can’t hurt to focus on recovery for a while. Maybe that means just a few days of easier activity. Or it can mean a bit longer a period. If you feel “horrible,” that’s a good indicator that you still haven’t fully recovered.

Sometimes people get sick after efforts that are longer or tougher than usual. That’s because the immune system gets weakened temporarily. Could this be a post-ride cold or flu?

Remember, your general health is the most important goal when it comes to fitness, riding, physical activity and nutrition. Other goals, like consecutive-day streaks or mileage goals, can work but only to the extent that they don’t grind you down too far. As mentioned before, some stress is good, but too much stress (for you) can become a problem. Don’t dig too deep a hole.

[KLizotte]

@rcannon100 72865 wrote:

During Thanksgiving break I was basically doing double work outs. Cycling and then hiking the dogs. By the end of that break, I felt horrible.

What do you mean by “horrible.” Overall fatigue or were body parts simply hurting? The former means you needed some serious downtime; you were simply doing too much overall and not giving your body time to recover. The latter could simply be part of the normal tear and repair process that should go away in time with adequate training. I’d be far more concerned with the former if you are feeling very fatigued on a chronic basis. I’d say cut back somewhat and/or see a doc to see if something else is wrong (thyroid, nutrition, low grade infection, etc).

[rcannon100]

@PotomacCyclist 72886 wrote:

Or do you have old injuries from Ultimate or hockey? …

When it takes days to recover from a ride, you really should put more attention on recovery and set aside other fitness and activity goals temporarily.

Actually I think the old injury came from surfing. I think I repetitively blew a hamstring battling waves. Was having way too much fun.

The prob is that family and home come first, and cycling comes second. If something get set aside, the dogs get their hikes but the cycling is going to get curtailed.

Seriously, thanks for your words. I am reading and rereading this stuff. Unfortunately, this seems the pattern every break / vacation. I go from normal activity to basically doing double workouts and doing heavy chores. By the end, I am in a fatigue pit.

It wasnt that the ride was so long in mileage as it was all day. 6 hours on the bike meandering and wandering. It was fun, and not challenging. And the only reason I stopped was that it got dark (I rode 38 miles, found 8 geocaches, had good coffee). But again, I think the problem is cumulative fatigue that started with HP100 (I rode 28 miles which is about my normal limit before I feel it the next day).

What I am hearing and reading is that I need to be much more deliberate, have a plan, and really do a better job with rest cycles. It is a hard thing to do when there is a flower bed that needs to be rebuilt and dogs that want to do the Billy Goat trail (B&C).

[Author]

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