Training & Nutrition - Take it slow or No Go

I ride my bike nearly every day, but not big distances. I'm borrowing my friends geared bike for club rides for the summer and today was my first one in a year. It was 45 miles, which I should be able to do fairly easy by the end of the summer.

I'm definitely feeling it, but I think I could go tomorrow. I'm thinking these are my choices:

1. Go for it. Use small gears and take it slow, but if you what to pick up your pace and be a better rider you'll need to start riding 5-6 days a week.

2. Take a day off. You just got back into riding longer distances and you should transition easy. Five-to-6 days a week is a great goal, but it shouldn't be your first week. If you really want to ride again you have Memorial day to do so.

I'd do a short, easy recovery ride instead of the long one. You can do another 45-miler at intensity when you're truly recovered.

$.02

To get stronger, I'd do rides of medium lengths of about 20 miles. But, my trick was to start off slow and pick up speed on the flats. Then do some hill work. You ride almost every day for a week, I think at least your muscles demand one day off for repair. Maybe a second day with a really easy ride. Then vary the intensity the other five days.

I ride my bike nearly every day, but not big distances. I'm borrowing my friends geared bike for club rides for the summer and today was my first one in a year. It was 45 miles, which I should be able to do fairly easy by the end of the summer.

I'm definitely feeling it, but I think I could go tomorrow. I'm thinking these are my choices:

1. Go for it. Use small gears and take it slow, but if you what to pick up your pace and be a better rider you'll need to start riding 5-6 days a week.

2. Take a day off. You just got back into riding longer distances and you should transition easy. Five-to-6 days a week is a great goal, but it shouldn't be your first week. If you really want to ride again you have Memorial day to do so.

#2

You don't get better when you ride. Riding puts stress on your body, and you get better when you are recovering. If you work out every day, you don't get enough rest and therefore can't work as hard as you need to to improve.

5 days a week, a rest day once a week and a slow, short recovery ride once a week. eg, Mon off, TWR block training, friday recovery ride, Sa/Su another 2 day block.

just make sure you are going slow enough on the slow/recovery days and hard enough on the hard days. Most people don't do either.

Recovery is a ligit riding plan. Don't ride recovery just to rack up the miles. People who have milage goals are just plain silly.