29 years old and falling apart after an event. Why?
Discussion
I've always been fairly fit, but haven't taken it as seriously as I could / should have. Without going into huge detail, I had a bit of a lifestyle change at the very start of this year. As per some of my contributions to the smoking thread, which seems to have quietened down, I packed in both cigarettes and alcohol on Xmas day 2012, cold turkey, not touching either since.
I've worked at getting my fitness up and have taken part in all sorts of stuff since. Anything and everything really. A week long mountain bike trip in the alps, crossing 3 countries. Numerous 10K runs (I'm now under 50 minutes). Rat Race Challenge. Tough Mudder. Tough Guy. Tough Nuts. Basically all sorts of 12-13 mile runs through mud, water, obstacles etc. I'm mountain biking regularly at weekends and sticking in some respectable times at the trail centres I use.
I took part in my first competitive mountain bike event last Sunday - Torq in Your Sleep - a 12 hour race, in which I managed to place 40 / 53 in my category doing 72 miles.
The problem is that I feel absolutely broken after these events, with it really hitting me the following day. Incredibly tight gluteal muscles, tight lower back, shoulders / shoulder blades stiff and full of knots, tight, lumpy quads. Etc. It's genuinely painful to move around and even sleep.
It takes a good physio session to get my right again. And since I've an event every weekend of September and 2 weekends of October, physio is now weekly. It's becoming an expensive necessity.
I'm assured this is normal given how I'm pushing myself, but is it? I have no underlying conditions. The physios always say my muscles loosen off and stretch really nicely and I do feel a massive difference the next day.
Is there anything else I could be doing, other than a few times a week on my foam roller, which might help?
Cheers.
I've worked at getting my fitness up and have taken part in all sorts of stuff since. Anything and everything really. A week long mountain bike trip in the alps, crossing 3 countries. Numerous 10K runs (I'm now under 50 minutes). Rat Race Challenge. Tough Mudder. Tough Guy. Tough Nuts. Basically all sorts of 12-13 mile runs through mud, water, obstacles etc. I'm mountain biking regularly at weekends and sticking in some respectable times at the trail centres I use.
I took part in my first competitive mountain bike event last Sunday - Torq in Your Sleep - a 12 hour race, in which I managed to place 40 / 53 in my category doing 72 miles.
The problem is that I feel absolutely broken after these events, with it really hitting me the following day. Incredibly tight gluteal muscles, tight lower back, shoulders / shoulder blades stiff and full of knots, tight, lumpy quads. Etc. It's genuinely painful to move around and even sleep.
It takes a good physio session to get my right again. And since I've an event every weekend of September and 2 weekends of October, physio is now weekly. It's becoming an expensive necessity.
I'm assured this is normal given how I'm pushing myself, but is it? I have no underlying conditions. The physios always say my muscles loosen off and stretch really nicely and I do feel a massive difference the next day.
Is there anything else I could be doing, other than a few times a week on my foam roller, which might help?
Cheers.
Roadie not mtber here, but like you i only changed from inactive to excersise recently.
I did my first 500 miles on my mtb, and frequently hurt like a beast. Moving my saddle back transferred weight away from my arms / shoulders, and that stiffness went away.
I changed technique from "mash a big gear" to "spin a little gear", and my knees stopped hurting post ride.
Most importantly though, for me - there was a direct orrelation to eating post ride and achiness. If i didn't eat just after the ride (like 20 mins max), i'd ache to death the next day. I have no idea if this will work for you, but i'm guessing the bike uses toally different stabilising muscles, so your running won't have built them up yet
I did my first 500 miles on my mtb, and frequently hurt like a beast. Moving my saddle back transferred weight away from my arms / shoulders, and that stiffness went away.
I changed technique from "mash a big gear" to "spin a little gear", and my knees stopped hurting post ride.
Most importantly though, for me - there was a direct orrelation to eating post ride and achiness. If i didn't eat just after the ride (like 20 mins max), i'd ache to death the next day. I have no idea if this will work for you, but i'm guessing the bike uses toally different stabilising muscles, so your running won't have built them up yet
Cheers.
I'll take a look at the supplements, they're not something I've thought of before. I'll also look at adjusting the saddle a little and see if that helps too - a proper bike fit next month might be on the cards I reckon.
Finally, you're right, I'm definitely pushing myself, maybe a bit too hard this month! Other than this weekend, I've the Bristol half marathon and Tough Mudder coming up. Then 2 weeks off for some recovery. I'll definitely be taking it easier after that.
I'll take a look at the supplements, they're not something I've thought of before. I'll also look at adjusting the saddle a little and see if that helps too - a proper bike fit next month might be on the cards I reckon.
Finally, you're right, I'm definitely pushing myself, maybe a bit too hard this month! Other than this weekend, I've the Bristol half marathon and Tough Mudder coming up. Then 2 weeks off for some recovery. I'll definitely be taking it easier after that.
I get nothing after weights and recover so quickly after weights, in fact I often feel better after weights than before a weight session. If I run 10km+, I feel tired out for a good few hours afterwards and few problems sleeping after evening runs which is getting annoying with my distance running getting past 10miles now.
thenortherner said:
mybrainhurts said:
My uncle was as fit as a fit thing. He dropped dead in early middle age. Just a thought...
Thanks. 72K quality posts, I'm sure. Has there been a thread you haven't managed to brain fart on yet? You're doing a heck of a lot of hard exercise. I'd expect even a yoof of 29 to suffer after those type of endurance events. If you think it's too much cut back; if not, suck it up.
I'd say you are pushing your body to its limit, then over. You need to look at diet, recovery time, fueling at the events and hydration. A hard event could be 3000kcal burnt, 2-3 litres of water/sweat and electrolyte depletion. Your body is used to how your previous lifestyle made it. It's took me 3 years to figure out what my body can do, kcals in and out, fluids needed and recovery time. Look at supplementing your diet with extra bcaa, omegas, glucosamine and acai. Make sure you are eating real foods, green veg, fish etc.
Age.
I'm 33 and hurt more every day.
As already mentioned though, post exercise nutrition can help massively. If I take a proper recovery drink (protein, carbs and BCCA and leucine) it makes a massive difference.
Secondly, hydration is very important.
Thirdly, stretching, doing a proper warm up and cool down. In my mid twenties I never bothered, now I have to!
I'm 33 and hurt more every day.
As already mentioned though, post exercise nutrition can help massively. If I take a proper recovery drink (protein, carbs and BCCA and leucine) it makes a massive difference.
Secondly, hydration is very important.
Thirdly, stretching, doing a proper warm up and cool down. In my mid twenties I never bothered, now I have to!
thenortherner said:
mybrainhurts said:
My uncle was as fit as a fit thing. He dropped dead in early middle age. Just a thought...
Thanks. 72K quality posts, I'm sure. Has there been a thread you haven't managed to brain fart on yet? I'd say be thankful you've not got underlying issues, for one thing. If you push hard, I'd expect to hurt. However, as others have said, there are things you can do to mitigate the problems.
As above, recovery nutrition and hydration counts for a lot.
Incorporating a stretching routine that helps loosen the affected areas will help massively. Cynically, it's not in your physio's interest, but get them to show you some stretches you can do yourself to ease out the target areas. Setting yourself a fifteen minute routine that addresses the key areas and doing it two or three times a week will help massively I think.
Are you warming up properly? On a long event, it's easy to plan to start slow and warm up in the race, but that rarely happens, for me at least! Warming up isn't just ten minutes of light pedaling. You can go reasonably hard to ev the heart up without depleting energy reserves. As you've ID'd, age plays a role here. As you get on to your thirties and above, the warm-up and pre-event prep becomes more important, or so I've found, comparing my racing in my 20's to my 30's.
Bike position is important, but less so on an mtb, IMHO, because you tend to move about a bit. That said, I'm more static on my full susser than my old hardtail, so maybe that has something to do with it? Anyway, doing a self-MOT as you ride, checking to see if you're relaxed in the neck, shoulders, arms etc is a good idea. You could be turtle-heading, or perhaps you have a peak, which causes you to tip your head up instead of looking up slightly and keeping your neck more relaxed?
I personally find a hot bath to really loosen muscles, followed by a stretching session really, really helps. I say this having run 80km at the weekend and totally trashing my quads, then doing the hot bath and stretch business once home on Sunday and finding I can descent stairs again, which I couldn't on Saturday afternoon!
Finally, base-fitness is really important. You'll probably find that the issues get less as you carry on competing because your body's getting more used to the abuse. I believe it takes the human body quite a long time to adapt to such high levels of activity - years, not weeks or months.
Top work BTW - I binned the booze last year and have gone down a similar road - mtb enduros and long runs - and I'm hurting too, but loving it.
As above, recovery nutrition and hydration counts for a lot.
Incorporating a stretching routine that helps loosen the affected areas will help massively. Cynically, it's not in your physio's interest, but get them to show you some stretches you can do yourself to ease out the target areas. Setting yourself a fifteen minute routine that addresses the key areas and doing it two or three times a week will help massively I think.
Are you warming up properly? On a long event, it's easy to plan to start slow and warm up in the race, but that rarely happens, for me at least! Warming up isn't just ten minutes of light pedaling. You can go reasonably hard to ev the heart up without depleting energy reserves. As you've ID'd, age plays a role here. As you get on to your thirties and above, the warm-up and pre-event prep becomes more important, or so I've found, comparing my racing in my 20's to my 30's.
Bike position is important, but less so on an mtb, IMHO, because you tend to move about a bit. That said, I'm more static on my full susser than my old hardtail, so maybe that has something to do with it? Anyway, doing a self-MOT as you ride, checking to see if you're relaxed in the neck, shoulders, arms etc is a good idea. You could be turtle-heading, or perhaps you have a peak, which causes you to tip your head up instead of looking up slightly and keeping your neck more relaxed?
I personally find a hot bath to really loosen muscles, followed by a stretching session really, really helps. I say this having run 80km at the weekend and totally trashing my quads, then doing the hot bath and stretch business once home on Sunday and finding I can descent stairs again, which I couldn't on Saturday afternoon!
Finally, base-fitness is really important. You'll probably find that the issues get less as you carry on competing because your body's getting more used to the abuse. I believe it takes the human body quite a long time to adapt to such high levels of activity - years, not weeks or months.
Top work BTW - I binned the booze last year and have gone down a similar road - mtb enduros and long runs - and I'm hurting too, but loving it.
I don't buy in to all this training too hard bulls
t. Provided you aren't injured, you have a good diet and you get good rest/sleep, you should be able to hammer your body day after day. The problem as we get older, as you've found, is recovery takes longer.
I started kickboxing at 29 with a work fellow who was 18. The next morning we were both sore (no laughing). By the end of that day he was virtually recovered (despite a shocking diet, getting wasted on booze frequently and smoking like his life depended on it), but I was worse than the morning, taking probably another 24 hrs to recover. We had roughly the same workload and did some form of exercise everyday.
But genes aside, it's just how it is as you age.
All IMO of course.
t. Provided you aren't injured, you have a good diet and you get good rest/sleep, you should be able to hammer your body day after day. The problem as we get older, as you've found, is recovery takes longer. I started kickboxing at 29 with a work fellow who was 18. The next morning we were both sore (no laughing). By the end of that day he was virtually recovered (despite a shocking diet, getting wasted on booze frequently and smoking like his life depended on it), but I was worse than the morning, taking probably another 24 hrs to recover. We had roughly the same workload and did some form of exercise everyday.
But genes aside, it's just how it is as you age.
All IMO of course.
Liquid Tuna said:
I don't buy in to all this training too hard bullst. Provided you aren't injured, you have a good diet and you get good rest/sleep, you should be able to hammer your body day after day. The problem as we get older, as you've found, is recovery takes longer.
I started kickboxing at 29 with a work fellow who was 18. The next morning we were both sore (no laughing). By the end of that day he was virtually recovered (despite a shocking diet, getting wasted on booze frequently and smoking like his life depended on it), but I was worse than the morning, taking probably another 24 hrs to recover. We had roughly the same workload and did some form of exercise everyday.
But genes aside, it's just how it is as you age.
All IMO of course.
Well, your opinion goes against that of pretty much all of the understanding of modern sport science and the physiological understanding of excessive exercise stress on the body, but I suppose you are entitled to your opinion. Diet and sleep are extremely important, but they won't magically let you abuse your body. Over-training is real, central nervous system burnout is real, injuries caused by cumulative damage to tissues is real. Eat and sleep as best you can, but if you push to the limit every day, you'll ruin yourself in no time.t. Provided you aren't injured, you have a good diet and you get good rest/sleep, you should be able to hammer your body day after day. The problem as we get older, as you've found, is recovery takes longer. I started kickboxing at 29 with a work fellow who was 18. The next morning we were both sore (no laughing). By the end of that day he was virtually recovered (despite a shocking diet, getting wasted on booze frequently and smoking like his life depended on it), but I was worse than the morning, taking probably another 24 hrs to recover. We had roughly the same workload and did some form of exercise everyday.
But genes aside, it's just how it is as you age.
All IMO of course.
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