after a rest day

I know guys who say they're ok if they miss 2 days, but swear that if they miss 3 or more, they're hopeless. Being 38 (ie, 'old' 🙂), I find the more rest I get the better -- I'm even thinking about cutting down to 4 days a week on the bike instead of 5 or 6.

I suppose the obvious question is, has this happened to you before?

We're obviously not all the same, so it's probably mostly a matter of figuring out what your legs like. Having said that, there are days when we do everything right, but the legs feel like [censored], and there are also days when we're supposed to be knackered, but we feel fantastic. Unfotunately, this unpredictablity seems to increase with age :p

In my opinion, motivation also plays a HUGE roll. Some days there's just nothing that gives you a spark.

mattjf said:

Is it normal to have a tough ride after a rest day? I had 2 rest days (sun and mon), with monday being unplanned. Today I was in terrible form and very uncomfortable. Couldn't find a rhythm at all. Is this to be expected for the first day back?

-Matt

I suspect its normal for many people. Most coaching schedules and racers will take a rest day two days before an event, but the day before an event is a (relatively easy) ride including a few (typically for me, three) short race-intensity efforts. Presumably this pattern arose because most riders discovered that they didn't ride as well on the day directly following a rest day.

palewin said:

I suspect its normal for many people. Most coaching schedules and racers will take a rest day two days before an event, but the day before an event is a (relatively easy) ride including a few (typically for me, three) short race-intensity efforts. Presumably this pattern arose because most riders discovered that they didn't ride as well on the day directly following a rest day.

ditto. especially if i've been training hard - the day after a rest day my legs are shut down.

I figured this was the case. I had a great ride today. I was just curious if it happens to lots of other people. Now that I am doing group rides on specific days, I need to plan out accordingly. Make sure I don't have a rest day right before a group ride.

-Matt

mattjf said:

Is it normal to have a tough ride after a rest day? I had 2 rest days (sun and mon), with monday being unplanned. Today I was in terrible form and very uncomfortable. Couldn't find a rhythm at all. Is this to be expected for the first day back?

-Matt

You may want to try an active rest day. ie: riding at a cadence of around 75 to 80 rpm and keeping your heart rate down for 30 to 45 min. Chris Carmichael talks about it in his book "The Ultimate Ride" It's also talked about in several other books too. You just want enough activity to work your legs some what.
Streching well during your rest days might help you too.
B.

mattjf said:

I figured this was the case. I had a great ride today. I was just curious if it happens to lots of other people. Now that I am doing group rides on specific days, I need to plan out accordingly. Make sure I don't have a rest day right before a group ride.

-Matt

After a couple days off, i do 10 minutes of zone 3 then rest of ride zone 1-2 for a 2 hour ride.this realy helps the way i feel the next day when it's time to go hard. my coach said it's waking the body up.

HammerHead said:

ditto. especially if i've been training hard - the day after a rest day my legs are shut down.

Same thing for me. And for many riders that never take a day off during a Tour. I beleive that the harder you train, the more you should expect a "leg shut down" after a day off. But many other cyclists are very sharp after a day or two "off".🙂