Oh the pain...

coddlesangers

Background - I am 42, have been doing racquet and field sports all my life. I have a chronic knee injury from a very old ACL which was repaired back in 1995, so can't do anything particularly high impact.

I decided about a month ago to get myself in shape for the new season, my primary sport today is table tennis, which I play competitively. Do not diss the ping pong, at a respectable level it requires a very decent level of fitness to play.

So - I did the following

Cycle 20kms, half of which involves a 200 metre (yes, metres, not feet) climb
This happens 3 x per week for cardio and legs.
1 hour of table tennis footwork drills x 2 times a week
2 hours of playing x 2 times per week

So to the problem. Its pain, all day, every day in my legs. Its there from when I wake up, to when I go asleep. It eases when I'm doing stuff, and doesn't impede the training - but what I'd like the forumers to tell me is if this goes away, or if there is a modification I can make, or any clever stretches I can do? mostly its hamstrings, quads, calves....err entire legs really, and i do a pretty thorough streching routine post training.

Ideas? Any nutritional things I should be looking at? Help!

columok

coddlesangers wrote: »

Background - I am 42, have been doing racquet and field sports all my life. I have a chronic knee injury from a very old ACL which was repaired back in 1995, so can't do anything particularly high impact.

I decided about a month ago to get myself in shape for the new season, my primary sport today is table tennis, which I play competitively. Do not diss the ping pong, at a respectable level it requires a very decent level of fitness to play.

So - I did the following

Cycle 20kms, half of which involves a 200 metre (yes, metres, not feet) climb
This happens 3 x per week for cardio and legs.
1 hour of table tennis footwork drills x 2 times a week
2 hours of playing x 2 times per week

So to the problem. Its pain, all day, every day in my legs. Its there from when I wake up, to when I go asleep. It eases when I'm doing stuff, and doesn't impede the training - but what I'd like the forumers to tell me is if this goes away, or if there is a modification I can make, or any clever stretches I can do? mostly its hamstrings, quads, calves....err entire legs really, and i do a pretty thorough streching routine post training.

Ideas? Any nutritional things I should be looking at? Help!

Are you eating sufficiently to fuel your recovery? Lots of carbs immediately after training and make sure you've heaps of protein in your diet. Also make sure you're getting as much sleep as is humanly possible.

Burkatron

coddlesangers wrote: »

Background - I am 42, have been doing racquet and field sports all my life. I have a chronic knee injury from a very old ACL which was repaired back in 1995, so can't do anything particularly high impact.

I decided about a month ago to get myself in shape for the new season, my primary sport today is table tennis, which I play competitively. Do not diss the ping pong, at a respectable level it requires a very decent level of fitness to play.

So - I did the following

Cycle 20kms, half of which involves a 200 metre (yes, metres, not feet) climb
This happens 3 x per week for cardio and legs.
1 hour of table tennis footwork drills x 2 times a week
2 hours of playing x 2 times per week

So to the problem. Its pain, all day, every day in my legs. Its there from when I wake up, to when I go asleep. It eases when I'm doing stuff, and doesn't impede the training - but what I'd like the forumers to tell me is if this goes away, or if there is a modification I can make, or any clever stretches I can do? mostly its hamstrings, quads, calves....err entire legs really, and i do a pretty thorough streching routine post training.

Ideas? Any nutritional things I should be looking at? Help!

Did you just jump straight in doing all this after a period of inactivity or did you slowly build up to it? Has the pain being there since day 1 or has it gradually built up? Have you left the cycle out for maybe a week & give your body a chance to recover?

coddlesangers

Eating after the workouts, I do NOT do - mainly as they finish late - I do try and eat a fair amount of carbs before I start though.

And I haven't tried not doing the cycle, as I (probably mistakenly) assumed that since I am leaving a day minimum between the cycles, that that would be enough to allow me recover - on those inbetween days I am doing my at the table and footwork drilling, so my legs aren't getting any days hardly at all when I don't do anything.

I've not jumped into this straight away, I've always been active - however, it is an order of magnitude of intensity up from what I was doing. Particularly the footwork drills, they are killers.

Burkatron

coddlesangers wrote: »

Eating after the workouts, I do NOT do - mainly as they finish late - I do try and eat a fair amount of carbs before I start though.

And I haven't tried not doing the cycle, as I (probably mistakenly) assumed that since I am leaving a day minimum between the cycles, that that would be enough to allow me recover - on those inbetween days I am doing my at the table and footwork drilling, so my legs aren't getting any days hardly at all when I don't do anything.

I've not jumped into this straight away, I've always been active - however, it is an order of magnitude of intensity up from what I was doing. Particularly the footwork drills, they are killers.

You've pretty much answered your own questions there. Eat after you work out, it doesn't matter what time of day it is just eat! If you can't stomach solid food at that particular time look into recovery shakes, real food would be better!

If I was in your situation I'd take a week off & try to get my leg's right, if that doesn't work go see a qualified professional (physio, osteopath etc.) & get an assessment.
Do some research & find a balanced weight's programme instead of killing your legs every day, then slowly work up into a routine! What you're doing currently is going to cause muscle imbalances you already have to get worse as you're over training groups of muscles & not hitting others at all!

coddlesangers

Many thanks so.....will try to get more rational about it all.