Legs tire out before I do

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2008-08-15 4:02 PM

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Subject: Legs tire out before I do

I've been training for about a month. Before that my training consisted of swim workouts. I have noticed that my cardiovascular is great, but my leg muscles are what suffer. They get burned out before I'm ready to quit. Do I need to work more on endurance or strength? Do I need some weight workouts to strengthen my legs or run and bike longer? 

2008-08-15 4:09 PM
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Subject: RE: Legs tire out before I do
You probably need both. If you ride or run hilly courses chances are your strength may be the issue. The more muscle you are able to put on the easier those hills will become. But if I had to guess you are riding/running flater courses and your endurance is the issue. The longer you train months/years the more of a base you will have and you will start to see gains. Increase mileages slowly so that you do not get injured. Consistency and patience are the key.
2008-08-15 4:11 PM
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Subject: RE: Legs tire out before I do
me too!

my legs always run out of puff on the bike! ahh
2008-08-15 4:41 PM
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Subject: RE: Legs tire out before I do
John64 - 2008-08-15 4:02 PM

I've been training for about a month. Before that my training consisted of swim workouts. I have noticed that my cardiovascular is great, but my leg muscles are what suffer. They get burned out before I'm ready to quit. Do I need to work more on endurance or strength? Do I need some weight workouts to strengthen my legs or run and bike longer? 

endurance, strenght is not a limiter for endurance sports like triathlon. Keep on running/biking more and that will help; if anything add some hills to your rides/runs, do some drills, threshold/tempo sets etc and that will help you get fitter faster.

Weights will help you get stronger at lifting weights, not at running/biking.

2008-08-15 4:55 PM
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Subject: RE: Legs tire out before I do

If you want to weight train use lighter weights and higher reps. Do the opposite in the off-season. 

If you need a lifting break or an experiment just focus on your core strength.

 
Jorge is 100% correct...ride ride ride.

Learn the gears, do intervals, hills, sprints, coast and catch your breathWink, etc. Variety

2008-08-15 5:24 PM
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Subject: RE: Legs tire out before I do
Make sure your pedal cadence and stride rates are not too slow. Increasing the cadence & stride rate helped me a lot. 


2008-08-18 2:58 PM
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Subject: RE: Legs tire out before I do
I am having the same problem right now. My legs are draging but I dont feel like I am gasping for air. I guess the solution is to get out and run, run, run, bike, bike, bike.
2008-08-18 3:02 PM
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Subject: RE: Legs tire out before I do
Run more.  Mostly lots.  Sometimes harder.
2008-08-18 3:12 PM
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Subject: RE: Legs tire out before I do
John, More endurance. Your logs appear to indicate you're not really doing all that much biking or running so your legs haven't adapted to the stresses placed on them. Is there any chance you're overweight, as that could be a limiter as well.
2008-08-18 3:16 PM
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Subject: RE: Legs tire out before I do
amiine - 2008-08-15 5:41 PM
John64 - 2008-08-15 4:02 PM

I've been training for about a month. Before that my training consisted of swim workouts. I have noticed that my cardiovascular is great, but my leg muscles are what suffer. They get burned out before I'm ready to quit. Do I need to work more on endurance or strength? Do I need some weight workouts to strengthen my legs or run and bike longer? 

endurance, strenght is not a limiter for endurance sports like triathlon. Keep on running/biking more and that will help; if anything add some hills to your rides/runs, do some drills, threshold/tempo sets etc and that will help you get fitter faster.

Weights will help you get stronger at lifting weights, not at running/biking.

x2. Your heart and lungs will adapt much more quickly than your muscles, tendons, and ligaments. It's an endurance issue, not a strength issue.

I would just caution against amiine's advice to add tempo/threshold work to the run. Get a lot more miles on your legs before attempting that type of work, or else it's an injury waiting to happen. (I think you said you've only been running for a month.) You'll be OK working harder stuff into your bike workouts, though.

Good luck .

2008-08-18 4:09 PM
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Subject: RE: Legs tire out before I do
John64 - 2008-08-15 5:02 PM

I've been training for about a month. Before that my training consisted of swim workouts. I have noticed that my cardiovascular is great, but my leg muscles are what suffer. They get burned out before I'm ready to quit. Do I need to work more on endurance or strength? Do I need some weight workouts to strengthen my legs or run and bike longer? 

Thanks for asking a question I was wondering about too!  



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