Rest or Ride: soreness as a judge?

You should ride, but take it easy. Use a low gear, stay out of the big ring even if it means coasting. You want to get the blood moving and stretch the legs, you will feel better.

AmpedCycle said:

I'm trying to figure out whether I should ride today, or rest... I'm a little sore, but not as sore as I was yesterday. The ride today would be with a cycling club that is pretty hard (with max sprint intervals). I have a big weekend planned... a hard, mountainous 60+ mile ride on saturday, and I want to be recovered for it.

I'm thinking that if I take today off, ride wednesday and thursday, and then take friday off, I would be ready. But what if I rode today (tuesday), wednesday, and thursday, and took friday off? Would I be less recuperated for the ride I want to do saturday?

I'm hoping you guys will chime in before 5pm, because that's the deadline!

If you have a big ride on Saturday then you should taper. Ease up on the volume and intensity. If you want to take a day off do it Thursday. On Friday you should do a shorter recovery ride with a couple of short (up to 5 minutes tops) hard (but not full on) efforts to open up your legs.

If you're still sore today from a couple of days ago do a shorter low effort recovery ride, such as 30 minutes at 70% MaxHR just to get the blood flowing and increase glygogen stores. Eat plenty of carbs before during and after the ride to restore the glycogen. Leave your cyclometer at home and don't worry about average speeds or staying above 22 MPH!

I've read some of your posts and it doesn't seem like your training is varied enough and doesn't empasize recovery much. Just an observation.

If you would characterize the feeling in your legs as 'soreness' then I definitely would not pile on another hard ride (ie, don't do the group ride). If you want to ride, then make it a shorter recovery ride at less than 'tempo' pace so you don't screw up the rest of your week and the weekend.

So, how important is this 60 mile mountainous ride on Saturday. I mean, if it's your main goal for the year, then just ride easy all week, with a few efforts to stay open. If it's important, but not the biggest goal you have, then get out tonight and at least sit on the fast moving group. Gotta' think about training for the following weeks, you know?

You'll have 3 days of recovery. Do a real easy ride on Wed, off on Thurs, and a decent ride on Friday to get your body swinging. Athletes tend to taper too much and miss out on all the fun. Like what your friends will be having tonight!