My legs feel “fine” during the SS interval but sometimes I get a dull pain feeling during the recovery between intervals. Is this common/normal? If so what causes it? I’m curious as to what is happening physiologically.
Thanks for any information.
2 Likes
Are you a new cyclist?
Are you new to structured training?
How is this different than any “normal” pain or ache experienced by all cyclist?
Obviously, cycling, and structured training specifically, lead to differing levels of general fatigue and temporary discomfort. This can be due to many factors. Lactic acid build up, injury, muscular strain and recovery…ect. More information is needed.
I’ve been cycling at a competitive racing level since 2013 and a TR user since 2014. The pain is different in a sense that it’s just a dull ache that only happens during the easy parts of the workouts of SS rides.
I wonder if you’re over-tensing muscles in the recovery section. Going from constant high engagement on the SS interval you’ve got to relax as much as you. Keep your pedaling “light” and efficient. Over-engaged muscles may hinder bloodflow and slow clearing away metabolism byproducts.
Hi @Tim_Beveridge !
I believe I experience the same. I was browsing through TR forum (and the interwebz 
) for possible causes. When I do longer/harder SST intervals, or treshold workouts with multiple repeats (like San Pedro on TR), after a few repeats an “aching pain” appears in my legs (mainly in my quads). It appears slowly, than stays with me for good few minutes! It’s not like lactic acid build up (recent FTP test done, and FTP feels okay during over/unders and treshold compared with HR data and RPE feelings during the intervals. Interestingly, if I do deep force breaths for half a minute, the aching sensation starts to dissipate. Also, if I “load” the muscles by standing up on the pedals (butt break - I do training indoors mainly ) the aching sensation disappears completely for a minute, than building up again. A good long cooldown (10+ minutes usually see it building up for about 2 minutes, than holding there for 4-5 minutes, than slowly dissipating.
My theory (can’t confirm -bro science here) is as the aching sensation appears only during rest phases in workouts where my muscles doing lots of kJoule work around treshold (from SST to VO2max % of treshold power) the aerob energy support on the muscle is “tiring out” and this sensation is when the body tries to balance it out again.
It would be nice to have the team shed some light on it on the podcast
I often experience the same. It is a very different pain than the usual muscle burn I experience during work intervals. It is a very deep and dull achy feeling that can at times be fairly intense. I usually only feel it in one leg at a time and the pain immediately goes away when I start the next work interval. I have no idea what causes it, nor is it consistent between workouts or even in rest intervals within the same workout.
1 Like