Comments on: Are Recovery Rides just as Important as Regular Training?

By: Michael Byrnes

Michael Byrnes — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:16:53 +0000

It is my belief, at least for myself only, that I need a balance of training and a good mix of techniques, riding envirnoments, styles, terrain and so forth for this time of year. Dec-March.
Training on a trainer is great for awhile, but as we all know, it is hard to stay focused after awhile, so , with that said, spin class, computrain( which is the absolute best, in my opinion keep in mind), cross trail riding, single track, and road all provide various beneficial cardiovascular responses and improvements.
As long as you set aside at least 2 days a week that for more than lame efforts, in other words, pushing yourself into a Zone 3 with some time spent in Zone 4. Personally, I get lazy and my body likes the
easy spin, recovery rides, but I am not riding for a living every day, so the changes of me overtraining in 10 hours a week are less than the guy putting 6 hours a day in the saddle.
The zone 2 rides are important and there are days I just want to do the easy ones, but in racing, you push past the limits, so you need to spend some time there as the season approaches, and after, you feel great. Lets ride!

By: Jim Scott

Jim Scott — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:26:40 +0000

@Michael: It all depends on what your goals for the certain workout was. If you wanted a recovery ride, you would look at the overall average for the ride. If you wanted a Threshold ride, you would look at only the specific intervals during that ride.

Jim

By: michael byrnes

michael byrnes — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 22:48:44 +0000

When looking at power zones and time spent in each zone during a ride, is it important to look at the total ride in average watts or percentage of time in each zone, recovery, endurance, threshold, race pace, max and supra max?

By: Fredrik Nystedt

Fredrik Nystedt — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:49:19 +0000

I also believe that recovery rides are quite pointless for the “recreational” cyclist, training 6-9 h a week. It is much better to recover by doing e.g. core work or flexibility training. Junk miles are not time effective when balancing work, family and training…