Recovery ride??? Why not day off?

some people do a recovery ride for psychological reasons, i.e., they feel they must be out on the bike, and thus by limiting the intensity a recovery ride is better than riding hard.

on the other hand, some people do seem to recover better when they do a recovery ride, which in most cases, shouldn't be longer than 60-mins and you should have a high glycaemic carb-electrolyte drink with you (and drink it too!).

on the third hand (!) some people recover best with a proper day off and no exercise at all.

and to really confuse matters, some people find a day off after certain sessions good, but after different types of sessions a gentle recovery spin is best.

you'll have to experiment to find out what's best for you!

bear in mind though, the ride should be short (e.g., 15 - to - 60-mins), as flat as your environment allows (rollers are good for this) and you should have a sports drink with you.

but, yes, if you're really exhausted a day off and lots of good carby foods are in order (e.g., pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, etc)

ric

Good Question, and I hope that Ric is right! I went out for a slow ride today, but it wasn’t meant to be. Caught a little head wind, dropped down into the drops, pulled my knees in, and spun. Picked up to 22-23MPH and my heart rate dropped? Less wind resistance? I don’t know, but it sure felt good!

Sometimes I get a slow ride in (when my wife rides also!) and sometimes other factors cause me to miss a day. One thing for sure, my whole day goes better after a ride. (I work afternoons).

CYA!

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by stormer94
I'm curious why people do a recovery ride. If the goal is to recover and get stronger, wouldn't a day of rest be the answer, NOT more riding !?!?

I've been putting in the miles lately, and I'm taking the day off tomorrow. 🙂 I felt like [censored] today for about the first hour, had trouble getting my heart rate up, cadence was down, I'm pooped....

Although, for a period of about 30 minutes in todays ride (at about the hour and thirty minutes mark I noticed it) I may have hit some special mythical place. I'm cruising along at about 18-20mph on flat ground, cadence 85-90 and my heart rate at about 145-150 and for whatever reason, even more than usual I was noticing how I wasn't breathing hard for the amount of work I was doing. Pulse was up, cadence was up, speed was up, and I was barely breathing in and out much more than you would on a good walk. I just thought about it for a while (because what else do you have to do in the saddle for a few hours). It was almost eerie, I was thinking I am either in some kind of sweet spot, or am halucinating due to boredom. It was like 10 miles of dead flat road about 1.5 hours into my ride where I noticed it. I'm 40, and not any kind of high category rider.

What was up with that??

Believe what's up is that the miles are getting you in shape. I've experienced the same effect this season. Unfortunately, I'm still not going much faster, but at least I'm a lot more comfortable and breathing easy on the bike.

i probably only miss a day of riding once every 3 or 4 months. i feel like if i skip a day i'll never be able to be as fast as could be if i had ridden. but sometimes the circumstances are so bad that i have to *(tear) go onwithout my ride. going by this i'd say that rest day/recovery ride preference is most likely a psycological thing

-nitro