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Road Cycling - Recovery Ride Question

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djbowen1

07-18-03, 08:47 AM

I ride M-Th 18 Miles per day 1 way against very heavy head wind. And Sat & Sun i ride 20 -30 miles per day. Currently i dont ride on fridays. How often should i take a recovery ride and what exactly should my reocvery ride consist of?

peloton

07-18-03, 08:52 AM

You really should do a recovery ride after every high-intensity ride (hill climbs, intervals, other speed work). At the very least, y7ou should be doing one or two every week.

Recovery rides should be flat, spinning rides of 2-3 hours, where you keep your heart rate below 75% of max. That's what my coach says, and it works for me.

SamDaBikinMan

07-18-03, 09:22 AM

I call them "no burn rides" and try to do an hour on the bike with minimal effort and making damn sure I never experience any lactic burn whatsoever.

I do a recovery ride after every hard day. I will sometimes do hard rides back to back but try not to. No more than three hard days per week and two or three recovery rides.

I read somewhere that recovery rides should be so effortless you almost feel like it is a waste of time.

roadbuzz

07-18-03, 11:06 AM

Originally posted by SamDaBikinMan
I read somewhere that recovery rides should be so effortless you almost feel like it is a waste of time.
Also, "guilt inducingly slow."

RiPHRaPH

07-19-03, 06:12 AM

tuesday: tempo ride
wednesday: interval training
thursday: hard effort
friday: light, dancing on the pedals
saturday: medium, short effort.
sunday: long ride (>50 miles)
monday: off.

repeat.

make sure that your hard efforts are hard enough and your easy day(s) are easy enough.

example: if our tempo rides are 20-21 mph avg, then the light day(s) is 16.5-17 mph. but go by HR. be around 65% of max on your light days.
your recovery ride should be flat and without hard effort.

Pat

07-20-03, 02:51 AM

Well, you can do recovery rides by feel or at least I do. Some people are compulsive "no pain, no gain" types and they probably need formal rules. It depends on how well you can listen to your body. If I rode hard the previous day and get on the bike and my legs feel a little sluggish then I just take it easy. And if I really clobbered myself, I just ride a slow cruise and nothing faster.