Question: I’ve been doing a lot of racing lately — both Zwift and actual race events. I’ve had good results, but now my legs have gone “dead.” My quads burn constantly, like when walking upstairs. Blood tests were negative. Are there any remedies? — Ned K.
RBR Replies: I suspect that every enthusiastic rider experiences dead legs at some point in their season.
Often, the problem is caused by not eating enough carbohydrate. Hard training uses lots of calories. If you fail to eat enough — especially enough carbohydrate — you won’t replenish all of your glycogen stores each day.
Over a period of weeks, this muscle fuel will become more depleted without you knowing it — until you feel like you’re running on empty even before starting to ride. So the first thing to do is make sure you’re eating enough.
If that doesn’t help, you cut way back on your training load for a week and see if you feel better. Sometimes that’s all it takes. In fact, a smart training program will reduce riding time and effort by about 20 percent every fourth week as a way to prevent the problem you’re describing.
The pros say that sometimes they get dead legs for no reason at all and they have to ride through the bad spell. They report that just when things seem bleakest, their legs miraculously come around. There’s still a lot we don’t know about how the body responds to exercise!
To help alleviate dead legs lie down on your back with your legs extended straight up on a wall for 20 minutes after every ride. A friend who was a college athletic trainer shared this with me & it works!
Agree. Back when I used to ride a weekly time trial on Thursdays and then a century on Fridays, I found that “draining” the legs after the TT worked well to revive my legs for the long ride the next day.
How does age factor into this erstwhile ‘dead leg syndrome’? Ingesting more carbs and reduced training aside, in my late 50s now, i find that ‘Recovery’ is the name of the game. Sleep, taking vitamins to replenish loss in urine, drinks fortified with electrolytes, etc. is as strong a contributing factor to recovery (and performance on the bike), as anything else. Great points about ‘carb loading’ and seminal tapering in training, however! Good article.
No pharmacology or supplements work, nor snake oil remedies such as pickle juice. Fifty years ago we prescribed quinine. Its effects are nil at best.
Keeping legs warn at night, even with heating pads, works. Clue to this is the immediate relief with middle of the night emergency hot showers.
You might want to take a look at ketone esters for recovery. Lots of good information on the KetoneAid and DeltaG websites. Per Frank Llosa, the CEO of KetoneAid, 90% of the TDF teams are now using ketone esters, particularly for recovery and sleep.
Rest. That’s it. Take an extra day or two off. You’ll feel like a new rider.