Home Chat General Chat

no legs left

Jut finished my first Olympic Distance and was really pleased with myself but once I'm off the bike my legs have "no gears": only first - I don't think it's really jelly legs and it doesn't get any better so I end up just running like Peter Kay all the way round 10k.

Do I need to spend more time training on the bike so I don't kill my legs before the run or more on the run so that I can run easier? Also, my cadence is quite low on the bike (about 60) so I suspect it would help if I could get this up a bit!!

Comments

  • MGMG Posts: 470
    Hi Kinbar,

    sounds to me like your pushing to harder a gear. With a cadence that low your probably "mashing", cyclists term for turning to high a gear. Idealy I like to have my cadence around 90rpm, This means I'm not tempted to slip the bike into "top gear" until my rpm is right. If your peddling too hard a gear you'll wear your legs out in no time and youl have nothing left for the run.



    Do some brick training (bike to run) to improve your conditioning and help reduce that pi$$ed feeling in your legs after the bike.



    Practice spinning a higher rpm (might seem weird at first) and you'll soon see that its a much more efficient way to get through the bike leg. Some people prefer to spin at lower rpm but even this is usually around 75-85rpm, so 60 is too low, unless however your cycling up the Alpes d'Huez that is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • treefrogtreefrog Posts: 1,242
    A few things to sort this out : 1. Do loads of brick sessions (running at a fast pace) 2. Some of your running training should be shorter than your distance and fast (flat out fast) 3. Do interval sessions - they are the only way to get your running times down. In fact interval sessions will take your times down no matter what the sport is. Hint , Do the interval sessions around your priority distance
  • TommiTriTommiTri Posts: 879
    I think you have identified the problem and as MG says its likely to be your low cadence. By pushing heavy gears with such a low cadence you are putting far too much strain on your muscles and they will get fatigued before your cardiovascular system. There is a complicated interplay that goes on between muscles and CVS in regards to endurance and it has been shown that a high cadence with decreased resistance reduces the strain on the muscles and moves it over to your CVS which is designed to provide endurance if you get what i mean?

    It isn't quite as easy as saying ride at a certain cadence as the most efficient cadence varies person to person, and seems to have some correlation to body shape and in particular leg muscle levels. You can see this in the comparison of Ullrich and armstrong, Ullrich being considerably bigger and more powerful found he was more efficient at around 80-85 rpm, rather than the 90-100rpm of the leaner smaller armstrong.

    However as you can see by this most riders pedal at at least 80rpm, so thats really what you should be aiming for, where you go from there will require testing and training by you, but it has generally been accepted that for triathlon with the run following a cadence of 90 is a good goal, and seems to have provided the best results off the bike.
Sign In or Register to comment.