Intensity, volume and recovery

Yeah sure intensity has a lot to do with recovery, you are shredding the muscles and they need time to rebuild. High volume CAN be a good recovery, but for recovery you need fuel and time for adaptation. So, if your high volume recovery takes away from time for building and/or fuel for building it will certainly effect recovery. The thing is, most people can't put their minds around just how easy of a pace it takes for a recovery ride, so for most people it is just better to say that you need to be off of the bike to recover or you need to go low intensity and low volume, in which case low intensity = the lowest most can get themselves to go (L2). If you have the ability to stay at a high cadence in L1, never more, then you can recover on the bike.

SLOW is the key to a good recovery on the bike, but their will be times where you no matter how slow you go you will need to be off of the bike. TSS is only going to get you so far, at some point you have to know yourself.....

Hi, I agre with bgoetz, on your recovery rides need to be super easy to allow your aerobic systems to flush out your legs. If you are using a power metre make sure you know your training zones to help you train smart. One issue alot of people forget when setting the rest interval between hard sets or days is your age. Older athletes may need longer between harder sessions.
This is what I use.
[FONT= calibri]Recovery, [/FONT](PRE 3 TO 5)Super easy recovery rides.1 to 2 hours. Suggested Cadence above 90 rpm
[FONT= calibri]Aerobic, [/FONT](PRE 5 TO 6 ) Build that aerobic base, 2 to 6 hours. Easy riding, Suggested cadence 85 to 100 rpm
[FONT= calibri]Tempo / steady state, [/FONT](PRE 6 TO 7) Strong but steady training. Just below (5 to 7 beats) Anarobic Threshold pace. 1 to 3 hours. Suggested cadence 90 to 100. For Areorbic endurance work (big gear stuff) 65 to 70 rpm. (1 to 2 hours) Rest n/a
[FONT= calibri]Anerobic Threshold, [/FONT](PRE 7.5 TO 8.5) Intervals ranging from 5mins to 20 mins in duration. Rest 1:0.5 or 1:1 Ratio. Suggested cadence, 90 to 100
[FONT= calibri]V02, [/FONT](PRE 8.5 TO 9.5) Short intervals up to 5 mins in duration. Rest 1:2 to 1:3 Ratio. Suggested cadence 85 to 120 rpm
[FONT= calibri]VV02 [/FONT](PRE 10) Very short explosive intervals, 5 sec up to 15 secs. Rest 1:4+. Suggested cadence, 85 to 120rpm

Hope this helps

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by ole304 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Hi
I'm a scandinavian cat 3 cyclist with powertap that have some recovery-question. I often wonder what parameters that infect my needs of recovery. In litterature the only parameter are workload (TSS), and of course relation to current fitness (CTL). But I often feel that a low intensity/high volume workout don't need as long recovery-time that a high intensity/low volume- workout(both workout with similar TSS). Am I right about that? intensity are infecting the need of time to recovery?

Thanks!

Used to be people worked hard all day and recovered during 8-10 hours of sleep. There is no reason that a good night's sleep each night would not be enough for you.

One of the good things about having a coach is that he knows what your current state is, where you want to go, and how your body reacts. Using that information he can help you get there. We know none of that.

I think this answers your question: In general, the peak efforts will do more damage and a different type of damage than more modest efforts. So recovery time might be longer for peak efforts.

If I was taking more than overnight to recover, I would change my training plan.

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So where do sit in Cat3 - tough to stay in the pack, easy to sit in the pack, easy to place well?

Where do you want to get to - Cat2, placing well in Cat3, pack fill in Cat3, just want the racing to be easier?