Sluggish Recoveries?

[Nokomis]

Does this happen only on longer rides, or everything? Are you getting enough calories during the ride??
Nanci

Happens on every ride. I believe I'm getting enough calories ~ especially since I'll hit this at the begining of a ride as well.

Try this, on the flat as you apprach your small hill, down shift once and then once again as you attack the hill. If you are spinning too much then click up once. It may also help to get out of the saddle to finish the attack. Sit back down once the hill becomes easy or is conquered.

That's exactly what I was doing this past ride. I was working on high cadence in flats, shifting down to compensate for the extra work of these little blips, but couldn't maintain rpm or recover speed after the exertion. I even found myself going to my granny gears to try to help w/ spinning fast even if I wasn't moving fast - but it's as if my legs are under water and simply can't maintain the quick movement.

I'll have to get a heart rate monitor. I guess one of the frustrations is the pain / exhaustion is so isolated - I don't feel that my cardio or aerobic system is being over taxed in these stretches, it's that the legs don't want to move.

Thanks everyone for your help! I do appreciate all the feedback & will continue working on it & applying your suggestions!

[bcipam]

Sounds like maybe your reps are too high - you are just spinning your little legs out of fuel. If you don't have one - get a computer with a cadence monitor. Try and stay around 80 - 90 - if you find yourself often going over 100, you will use up your fuel too quickly abnd tire out your legs. The key to hills whether or are attacking them or gliding up them is maintaining a comfortable steady cadence. If you find yourself spinning too fast in order to approach a hill, your technique if off. Stay at 80 and adjust your gearing to compensate the load.

[spokewench]

Expensive Cadence Meters, aside, new pedals aside; (not that you bike fit might be off or whatever since I don't know you and have never seen you ride); You need to train your weakness!

we all have them. whether its hills, small blips. a heart rate monitor might help you understand what your body is doing. But from what I am hearing, if you are coming into the blip at 18 mph and you are running out of steam at the top or before the top and then have to slow way down to recover, you are going over your lactate threshhold and you are having to reduce your workload to recover. So, even if you think you are not working that hard, it really sounds like you are pushing your limits coming into the blip and pushing past that threshold while on the blip causing you to blow!

[bcipam]

which is why in inexpensive heart rate montior would be helpful. You can get a Polar for $25. Well worth the investment.

[Dogmama]

which is why in inexpensive heart rate montior would be helpful. You can get a Polar for $25. Well worth the investment.

Ditto on the HRM - although I've never had good luck with Polar.

Are you overtrained? It sounds like you've been hitting it hard all season. When was your last week off?

When I'm overtrained, my recovery is the pits and difficult cycling really suffers. I take a week of easy cycling/more days off.

[Dianyla]

Don't forget to get your iron checked, too. Heavy exercise (especially endurance, but even just lots of shorter hard rides) can deplete iron stores. Even if you don't have full-blown anemia, just a subclinical "low iron" condition, you may still experience performance degradation, fatigue, inability to deliver enough oxygen to your muscles feeling out of breath, etc.