Tom, those miles aren't unusally long for you, so it's not the workout, it's something else. Did you eat anything unusual the day before? By unusual, I don't mean squid hearts with sheep-eye stew. I mean something that you don't usually eat. Like ice cream, or other "normal" food. There are a few doctors in town that say that allergies to specific foods can cause your symptoms. I could be as simple as wheat gluten, or milk protein, etc. If this happens to you very often, it might do you good to write down everything you eat every day. On the days you feel so bad, review the previous day's list and see if anything keeps coming up on that list.
There are some labs around the country that test your blood for food allergies. I also know there are some allergists that think this is horse hockey, but the two local doctors here had an entire Healthwatch show on this very phenomenon...one of them found he was allergic to milk protein, and went from being told he needed a knee implant at 35 to biking and running with no pain at 62.
It's worth a shot for a while just to write everything down that you eat and drink to see if something stands out.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

Living in the Great White North you are probably immune to this, but I get really sore if I do much of anything in the cold. I assume I just don't warm up properly. It wasn't 70 or 80 below zero there yesterday was it? (That's comparable to 30F in Mississippi terms.)

Hey Tom,
is the pain localized or is it generalized?
if it is localized, I know that some cyclists are
prone to compartement syndrom specially in the
quads. if I remember well, the membrane around
the muscle is too tight on the muscle and creates
a quite strong muscle pain.
if it is generalized, then maybe your body is figthing some infection.

now, "like 12, outside with the powercranks"
if 12 means 12hrs, then I KNOW why your muscles hurt ;-)

Your vehicle was totaled awhile back... did you take some hits you may not have been aware of? You would not be the first to go a few weeks and then have symptoms.

It's localized. Geez, not to be a pus#$%, but I can't belive how sore I am...

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Darn, I menat to say generalized- I'm hurting everywhere.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

you may just be coming down with a flu. better than comp. syndrom that requires surgery...
I am hurting everywhere in my legs...but it's probably due to Computrainer + PC and IM Canada yesterday, 2 laps of IM France this morning...9h30' of CT+PC...(we have one of those darn el pasoan windy days...)

I have never heard of compartment syndrome in the quad... the reason you get compartment syndrome in the tibial area is because you have the interosseus membrane on one side, the tibia and the fibula on the other side and the tough fascia on the 4th side... the quads are not contained in such a compartment so I don't think calling it a compartment syndrome would be a misnomer... not that you can't have a similair tissue damage in the quads though

Could be old age ;-) Sorry. Actually, when I start having generalized body aches, it means I'm coming down with a cold/flu. Anyone around you sick?

that would be a translation problem then. in french, compartment syndrom is called syndrome des loges and can happen for any muscle. although it appears more often in the tibial area.
all the muscles have an aponevrose (french term again, though I guess the english one is close) around them. therefore any can get a compartment syndrom. my understanding is that the excess pressure in the compartment prevents from veinous blood to go back.
though (good for tom) it usually happens during the effort not after.

there

http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/cmpt.html

can happen for any muscle. chronic case is the one for athlete, acute one may be life threatening.

Exertional compartment syndrome can happen in most compartments, ie, muscle groups bound by inflexible structures, but cant happen in just one muscle. It usually/most often originates in the Anterior or Lateral compartments of the leg, since, as Taku said, those are strongly bound by the tibia and interossea membrane. However, in the lower leg, cyclists/runners are also susceptible to developing cs in the posterior and deep posterior compartments (ie calf).

There are described cases of cs in the thigh. The cases I have read about were almost all due to impact in contact sports (football etc) and were not, therefore, exertional(chronic) in etiology.

In rowers, canoeists, motorcrossers, you frequently get cs of the forearm. In theory, cs of the upperarm is possible, but I dont remember reading anything about it.

Francois is right about chronic(exertional) being 'the one for athlete', however, you can, if you dont take care of it, turn a chronic case into an acute situation.

I had exertional cs in the anterior and lateral compartments of the leg, and both compartments of the forearm, all bilaterally, had surgery to fix all of them, hence the info.



IMHO, I really dont think Tom has compartment syndrome.

Ziva