[Smiley]

Been doing this for about a month now. Have a great coach, kicks my assetts EVERY time. I believe him when he says it never gets any easier. We have been doing Graham Street's workouts on Sundays, anyone ever do them? He has a great program.

My question is, how can I get my hamstrings from stop being sooooo tired? Had an intense workout Sunday, and my hamstrings are tired sore. They are uncomfortable to sit on. I guess I need to not work them as hard as my quads by changing up my pedal strokes? Any advice? I do cool down and stretch after every workout.

We go MWand Sundays, for an hour and a half to 2 hours.

[IanHighfield]

Originally Posted by Smiley

Been doing this for about a month now. Have a great coach, kicks my assetts EVERY time. I believe him when he says it never gets any easier. We have been doing Graham Street's workouts on Sundays, anyone ever do them? He has a great program.

My question is, how can I get my hamstrings from stop being sooooo tired? Had an intense workout Sunday, and my hamstrings are tired sore. They are uncomfortable to sit on. I guess I need to not work them as hard as my quads by changing up my pedal strokes? Any advice? I do cool down and stretch after every workout.

We go MWand Sundays, for an hour and a half to 2 hours.

You didn't give your age but if a person is truly sore to the point of having problems sitting, I'd say you are doing too much too soon. This is especially the case if you are over 35.

Cramming intense training into a small window of time is only possible for the young who have a solid background of 12 month training. To lay off for periods of time and then try to "get back" into shape or special condition by short bursts of intense work is a mistake. There is no free lunch. Get a base if you don't have one and then ease into hard work.

Don't try to keep up with video workouts, coaches, or something that a great rider is said to do. If your body is barking it's because it's being overworked. No good coach would push you to pain that does not recede in a day. A certain amount of stiffness is normal and to be expected. To not be able to sit because of bad hamstrings is a warning. You bugger one those and it's a long time coming back.

Temper enthusiasm and do much shorter hard pieces. I ride year round and never, ever go over 50 miles in a day. I do not want to be out there for more than 2 hours at a time. My training speed is about 25mph but it took me years to get there. If you don't ride year round take it slowly up to max when trying to cram. (I hate the concept, base work is everything)

[whyeyebike]

I'm a member of Cyclo-Club which is Graeme Street's project. I have done only a few of his workouts so far because I became a member while I was in the middle of another training routine. I will say though, he has some excellent core, strength and strectching videos as well. You might find that the stretching workouts could relieve some of your pain. He has an "in 5 series" which is awesome. I use the "warm in 5" before every bike ride and the "cool in 5" after. They have made a huge difference in how much my legs hurt before and after rides. Plus I have increased my flexibility a good deal.

[Smiley]

I took off about 2 months, but generally cycle year round. It is just hard intense workouts. So I do have somewhat of a base, I hope!

I use Graeme's shoe scrapers technique a lot,which uses all hamstrings, so maybe let up on that a bit to relieve my tender hamstrings. We do another workout tonight, so hopefully will help my tight muscles! Tomorrow is massage, which hurts like a sonofabiscuit, so that tells me lactic acid. Maybe I need to cool down longer?

The stretches do help a lot that Graeme uses, I agree with the flexibility whyeyebike!

[mikebike]

how long are his workout sessions, Smiley?? I think you should be dead during them and shortly after but not overly sore (providing you have a decent base)

When I have to ride the trainer... I do about an hour. During that time I do about 5 minutes easy spinning to warm up and the same on the 5 minute cool down.

During the middle I do some intervals usually fairly short ones (minute on & 2 off) then some tempo (about 5-7 minute bursts or about 80% effort)

I do it to music (head-phones) and in the garage.

enjoy the training... I am hoping it gets warmer here in FL so I can get back off the dang trainer (we have a / relationship

[IanHighfield]

Originally Posted by Smiley

I took off about 2 months, but generally cycle year round. It is just hard intense workouts. So I do have somewhat of a base, I hope!

I use Graeme's shoe scrapers technique a lot,which uses all hamstrings, so maybe let up on that a bit to relieve my tender hamstrings. We do another workout tonight, so hopefully will help my tight muscles! Tomorrow is massage, which hurts like a sonofabiscuit, so that tells me lactic acid. Maybe I need to cool down longer?

The stretches do help a lot that Graeme uses, I agree with the flexibility whyeyebike!

Smiley, stop whatever it is that's hurting you. If it's "shoe scraper" stuff, knock it off. You do not have to target any specific part of your leg. The very fact you are telling us you have pain in the hamstrings should be enough for you to stop. The normal course of pedaling conditions every muscle and cord exactly as it should be conditioned for what you are asking of it; to wit, riding a bike. Don't fall in love with commercial videos or designer trainers who only care about your money. Sorry, that's why they teach or sell DVDs.

Listen to your own body. Ride your bike as much as you can and intersperse harder pieces. This is natural, classic, interval training. Do hill repeats if you want to build strength but start small and easy. Do fast sprinting but start easy. NOBODY should hurt themselves in training. You hurt yourself in the race. Don't get this backwards. The key to good training is not to get injured and miss training or enthusiasm down the road. Regular bites of firm riding mixed with hard pieces will get 99% of your potential to the fore without risking injury. Unless you plan for the TDF there is no reason to go after that last 1%.

Always warm up a bit and wind down a little. I do no stretching, ever. I actually think this can be more damaging than beneficial. I'm not alone in this thinking but nobody ever sold a book on how not to stretch.

What I propose is the advice given me by some world class British time triallers. These men have coached me since I was 13. I just turned 21 and have never been injured a day in my life. I do not get sore for long periods. If something does not feel right, I do not do it again. Very simple. I ride longish weekly mileage at 85% effort with a mix of pickups lasting several minutes. I do hills. I do not waste time stretching. I drink beer. And I can maintain 31.5 mph for 10 miles fairly easily. As I get more physically mature I hope to go over 33 mph for 25 miles. A person can't get there with sore anything.

Lose the videos and train naturally.

[TxCyclist]

How long are your stretching sessions and what stretches do you do?

[IanHighfield]

I Googled Graeme Street. He's not a cyclist. He's not an athlete. Doesn't circulate among top riders. He's a business man on the order of Doctor Phil or Oprah Winfrey out to sell products.

Follow him if it pleases you, but from what I read, and what I see on this forum, he doesn't know how to train cyclists but he does know how to mine them.

[jeepster93]

Pain...

Pain is the bodies way of saying"STOP THAT", "DON"T DO THAT".

I tend to listen to my body.
I'm also 55 years old.

[Smiley]

Our coach just turned 60, and the entire cycling group is pretty hard core, but they all range in age from 30's to 60+. We only do Graeme's workouts on sundays, and then we also switch it up using Carmichaels workouts just for a change to or routine MW workouts. Our coach leads the rides.

Last night we did an hour of just standing, let me tell you it was a welcome relief to the hamstrings. Also about 10 minutes warm up and cool down. Now I don't have sharp shooting pains-I know that is the pain that tells you to stop doing what you are doing. The muscle tiredness and sore feeling from putting pressure on the muscle, I thought was just from working out hard, and I have lactic acid build up which I need to get rid of. Correct?

I know massage helps to get that out, and I do have one scheduled for tonight. Also the foam rollers help, which I did in ball class today.

I do yoga stretches, and other stretcing for quads, hamstrings, glutes, inner thighs, hip flexors, lats and delts.

Train naturally?!? Cannot do that here when it is 12F on a nice day with no wind. Winter riding is not for me, too much snow! So stuck indoors getting ready for our century ride in June.