Need Help With Recovery?!?!

Recovery is a funny thing. I posted just a few minutes ago with a question about proper recovery times for a ride I'm planning 4 days from now. I know exactly what you mean... the fatigue associated with rides after you've had a stressful day or two.

I think the best thing to do is have a complete rest day (no riding) before a hard ride. Right now, for instance, I'm contemplating wheter I should ride tonight, or not... and I had a rest day yesterday. So that would mean 2 days off the bike, in a row. Are you sore after these rides? That's what I use as a basis for determining if my muscles need additional recovery time.

jbdmd said:

I am a split road and mountain biker. i ride between 4 and 6 days a week
I had the crappiest of mountain rides yesterday and am not sure why. here is my last week:

sat: hiked rim to river to rim at the grand canyon (just on a wim with some friends...i figure it was cross training)

sun: 45 min recovery ride (hr in 60-70% range)

mon: off

tue: High tempo, hard group road ride~ 40 miles 1:45 hr 80% of max or better
felt strong!

wed: recovery/tempo ride (hr 70-80% of max) for 1:30 felt tight for first :30 then felt good for last hour (should this have been a true recovery ride instead??) had a couple glasses of wine at dinner...not tips didn't feel dehydrated

thu: intended a hard mtb ride, 2500 feet of elevation gain...slightly harder then my typical ride (hr usually 80% of max or greater for 2:30-3:00) felt like [censored] out of the gate, no legs, lungs and energy fine...vut ride off at 2:00 mark

I am planning a true recovery ride today (60-70% hr x 1 hour) off on saturday and a hard mountain mike ride on sunday again!

Why did thursday suck so bad? Wine? improper recovery after tuesday?

Thanks for any advice!

jason

Without knowing anything more about you than what is printed above, my guess would be Tuesday's hard group ride was too long/hard followed by Wednesday's less intense workout. I see no taper prior to Thursday's MTB ride. All I see are back to back sessions with no taper or recovery.

AmpedCycle said:

... I think the best thing to do is have a complete rest day (no riding) before a hard ride.

Not true. I responded to your question in your thread.

Doctor Morbius said:

Without knowing anything more about you than what is printed above, my guess would be Tuesday's hard group ride was too long/hard followed by Wednesday's less intense workout. I see no taper prior to Thursday's MTB ride. All I see are back to back sessions with no taper or recovery.

Thanks to both of you for the replies! This is what I did:

I was frustrated as hell after that [censored] mtb ride on thursday so i decided to take off entirely on friday and and saturday and go back to the mtb on sunday.

sunday road for 2:11 distance 15 miles 1200 ft of climbing in the first 6 miles, 60 % of the ride my heart rate was a 85% of mhr....I felt much much better.

monday (it was raining ...in phoenix go figure!) so I set up my trainer on the patio turned on the ceiling fan and truly did a recovery ride: 45 minutes at 60-65% mhr

tuesday (today) back to the hard group ride: cut short by a big rain but felt very very strong 42% of the 1:47 minutes was greater then 85% mhr

my plan is recover for 1 hour wed and friday, medium to hard mtb ride on thursday and a very hard mtb ride up in flagstaff on saturday

I think what happend last week is I had an endurance ride between two hard rides instead of a recovery ride between two hard rides

I am not sure if the wiser thing to do would have been to just recover on friday and off on saturday last week but i was [censored] at my bike so i sat on the couch and ate oreos and drank shinger bock (not together!)

jbd

jbdmd said:

Thanks to both of you for the replies! This is what I did:

I was frustrated as hell after that [censored] mtb ride on thursday so i decided to take off entirely on friday and and saturday and go back to the mtb on sunday.

sunday road for 2:11 distance 15 miles 1200 ft of climbing in the first 6 miles, 60 % of the ride my heart rate was a 85% of mhr....I felt much much better.

monday (it was raining ...in phoenix go figure!) so I set up my trainer on the patio turned on the ceiling fan and truly did a recovery ride: 45 minutes at 60-65% mhr

tuesday (today) back to the hard group ride: cut short by a big rain but felt very very strong 42% of the 1:47 minutes was greater then 85% mhr

my plan is recover for 1 hour wed and friday, medium to hard mtb ride on thursday and a very hard mtb ride up in flagstaff on saturday

I think what happend last week is I had an endurance ride between two hard rides instead of a recovery ride between two hard rides

I am not sure if the wiser thing to do would have been to just recover on friday and off on saturday last week but i was [censored] at my bike so i sat on the couch and ate oreos and drank shinger bock (not together!)

jbd

It sounds like your rides tend to be fairly long and intense. Seems like some form of recovery would be a good idea between those kinds of efforts. I did quite a few of those types of rides last Spring and Summer but found I wasn't recovering between efforts very well. I didn't give up the intensity but I did cut back on the time I spent at that level. My speeds have improved and I don't feel as drained this year. It just takes some experimentation or a good coach that can guide a person through all of the trial and error.

Doctor Morbius said:

It sounds like your rides tend to be fairly long and intense. Seems like some form of recovery would be a good idea between those kinds of efforts. I did quite a few of those types of rides last Spring and Summer but found I wasn't recovering between efforts very well. I didn't give up the intensity but I did cut back on the time I spent at that level. My speeds have improved and I don't feel as drained this year. It just takes some experimentation or a good coach that can guide a person through all of the trial and error.

thanks!

i am in a circuit for the remainder of the month where i am training to increase lactate threshold and vo2max so i am working hard at high hear rate stuff

perhaps more moderation would be better...the problem is i feel like a puss if i don't go super hard all the time...unwise!

i will keep wendesday's mtb ride to 1 hour of climbs.

thanks for the help again and keep it coming!!!

Doctor Morbius said:

It sounds like your rides tend to be fairly long and intense. Seems like some form of recovery would be a good idea between those kinds of efforts. I did quite a few of those types of rides last Spring and Summer but found I wasn't recovering between efforts very well. I didn't give up the intensity but I did cut back on the time I spent at that level. My speeds have improved and I don't feel as drained this year. It just takes some experimentation or a good coach that can guide a person through all of the trial and error.

thanks!

i am in a circuit for the remainder of the month where i am training to increase lactate threshold and vo2max so i am working hard at high hear rate stuff

perhaps more moderation would be better...the problem is i feel like a puss if i don't go super hard all the time...unwise!

i will keep wendesday's mtb ride to 1 hour of climbs.

thanks for the help again and keep it coming!!!

jbd