Training Tips
How to pick your breaks and get the most out of them
How to recover and get the most out of your breaks
We all love riding. We want to do our best and be able to perform well for as long as we can. To do so, incorporating adequate rest into our training is critical.
Rest happens in a few ways. On a small scale, within each training week, you allow for adequate recovery between workouts. Then within each monthly block of training, during a rest week, you give yourself a chance to recover and adapt to the training load you just did. Finally, each year, there’s a break between seasons.
At the weekly level, the rest is really about maintaining the quality of your workouts. For instance, you need more rest after a VO2 workout before doing your next quality ride. In this case, rest doesn’t necessarily mean a day off the bike. It does, however, mean doing a workout, such as one with an endurance focus, that is appropriate for your recovery needs and leg fatigue after a hard workout.
Rest at the monthly level of the training block is about adaptation. We know that it is through resting that the body is given a chance to repair itself and adapt to the stresses of the training. Despite this knowledge, many of us avoid taking appropriate recovery time.
When you look at your seasonal training load, you can think of rest as a reset button. The timing of your reset is typically during part of the year when you don’t have any goals on the horizon. If you don’t race cyclocross, for example, then fall is a good time to take it easy. You can take a prolonged rest. What is appealing about a long rest is how your perception of your fatigue level changes as you really recover.
At the Cycling Gym, we often find that athletes don’t realize how tired they are until they have rested for a bit. You might think you aren’t that tired at the end of the year. But after a week of rest – with easy rides, hiking or other non-cycling activities – you suddenly become aware of the fatigue from the season, even feeling that you probably need another week of rest. Here’s a great trick to prepare for this time of the year: throughout the season, write down the things you miss doing that you want to do during your off-season break.
Think of your year-end rest, whenever that year-end may be, as a way to replenish your energy for the following season. Imagine a bucket of water, full when you start the season. Each time you train, you dip into the bucket of water, the level dropping as the season goes on. The different types of rest help manage the water level. The weekly and monthly rest keep the bucket from being emptied too quickly. The seasonal rest allows the bucket to be refilled in preparation for the coming year.
When you are planning how much rest you should be taking, keep in mind that the stresses of real life are just as tough on you as training and need to be factored in. Remember to give your mind a break, too. If you are tired mentally, then you won’t be able to motivate yourself to train appropriately.
Rest doesn’t necessarily mean taking days off the bike: it means managing your overall workload properly by varying your riding intensity as needed. Rest when the time is right, and your motivation to ride will stay strong as your riding improves.
“You might think you aren’t that tired at the end of the year. But after a week of rest – with easy rides, hiking or other non-cycling activities – you suddenly become aware of the fatigue from the season, realizing that you probably need another week of rest.”