how much time off for planned rest?

jrstevens said:

I'm taking a planned rest week this week before I begin my next phase of training after performing 12 weeks of base. Is 5 days OTB plenty or should I take the full 7 days? It's tough doing nothing at all:p

Good subject for discussion, but believe this is a question only you can answer. Would say it all depends on how tired you are from the base training, and your age, experience, ability to recover, etc. If you've really been doing "base" riding, as in easy endurance level, all aerobic, not sure why you'd need any arbitrary time OTB.

If you feel that a recovery week is in order.....

3 days completety off; go golfing or something
1 moderate workout to get back in the rhythm-
Resume planned training

That one way to work the week without messing up the overall schedule too much.

Greg

dhk said:

Good subject for discussion, but believe this is a question only you can answer. Would say it all depends on how tired you are from the base training, and your age, experience, ability to recover, etc. If you've really been doing "base" riding, as in easy endurance level, all aerobic, not sure why you'd need any arbitrary time OTB.

okay I guess I was misleading in my OP. I have done some spirited group rides on the weekends, tempo work up to 30 min, and 2 crit races so not all my time on the bike for the past 12 weeks has been in zone 2.

Also, last year I made the mistake of training from August until July sans a regeneration week or break of any kind and predictably ended up overtrained so this year I'm trying to train smarter.

JS

jrstevens said:

okay I guess I was misleading in my OP. I have done some spirited group rides on the weekends, tempo work up to 30 min, and 2 crit races so not all my time on the bike for the past 12 weeks has been in zone 2.

Also, last year I made the mistake of training from August until July sans a regeneration week or break of any kind and predictably ended up overtrained so this year I'm trying to train smarter.

JS

Only take a week completely off the bike if you want to start losing fitness.

If you felt like you were tired and needed a break from your regular training, you should maintain the intensity you usually ride at and reduce the volume of training by up to 40%.

Usually, for many people who aren't pro cyclists and have other things to do (e.g., family, work, school, etc) these normal life stressors get in the way of training sufficiently to give the rider a natural recovery period of a day or two.

FWIW, i usually train/ride 6 or 7 days a week with one or two of those rides being a real easy recovery spin. If i feel tired one week, i may have an extra day off or an additional day or two.

There's no real need to schedule a rest week, every 4th week (and even if you did, you don't want to do nothing for that week).

Ric

jrstevens said:

I'm taking a planned rest week this week before I begin my next phase of training after performing 12 weeks of base. Is 5 days OTB plenty or should I take the full 7 days? It's tough doing nothing at all:p

Your rest week should be a week of reduced volume and intensity, not a week off the bike altogether. And frankly, since base involves very little intensity to begin with, you really just need to cut back on volume.

If you're following a training plan like Friel's (which I assume you are, because you're using the term "base"😉 he explains what recovery weeks should be like. Re-read what he says.

Bob

ric_stern/RST said:

Only take a week completely off the bike if you want to start losing fitness.

If you felt like you were tired and needed a break from your regular training, you should maintain the intensity you usually ride at and reduce the volume of training by up to 40%.

Usually, for many people who aren't pro cyclists and have other things to do (e.g., family, work, school, etc) these normal life stressors get in the way of training sufficiently to give the rider a natural recovery period of a day or two.

FWIW, i usually train/ride 6 or 7 days a week with one or two of those rides being a real easy recovery spin. If i feel tired one week, i may have an extra day off or an additional day or two.

There's no real need to schedule a rest week, every 4th week (and even if you did, you don't want to do nothing for that week).

Ric

sounds like sage advice. I've felt like in my head that although I don't put in monster weeks like pros I have other non-physical stressors they don't deal with that contribute to my overall fatigue. number one on the list being my dissertation!😄