Training & Nutrition - Recovery Rides

I have a problem with recovery rides. I think they're the "day after" a big ride, a very strenuous ride, be it a century ride, or a very fast group ride that leaves you thinking that you rode way beyond your abilities.

Is it that important to have a recovery ride? Can't an alternative type activity suffice? Does it have to be riding?

What are you supposed to be "recovering" from?

There is science and reason supporting the idea of continuous low-intensity activity directly after exercise that has produced inflammation and lactate or acid accumulation. However, the time-frame for this practice is from directly after to 1 or 2 hours after exercise induced damage/deficits.

Riding around a day later is something else. I doubt there is any proof that it actually produces measurable benefits. However, if it makes you feel better, then just do it.

PS - these issues are similar in nature to the professional-practice of obtaining aggressive massage after racing.

You haven't actually described your "problem."

Are you too tired? Bored? Low motivation to ride? If so, the answer is simple: Don't ride. Hence no "recovery" ride.

Let's frame the question another way. What do the experts describe as a recovery ride? What is it supposed to be?

Recovering from what, you may ask? From a strenuous ride. I am questioning some kind of conventional wisdom that says there exists recovery rides.

This actually happens in distance running. The coach will tell you to go on an easy run after a race day. What the heck is that supposed to do?

You may want to put my original question into some kind of context about bored, tired, whatever. But mine is a general question.

Recovery rides are generally a zone 1 ride just to loosen muscles and promote fluid movement, typically 45 minutes to 1 hour in duration. In Cycling Past 50 Joe Friel recommends a day off riding after a long ride or overreaching, do the recovery ride on the 2nd day post ride. Day after can be massage, walking, etc. Also be sure to follow nutrition requirements for recovery, esp protein for muscle repair. There are other recommendations as to timing of the recovery ride.

I have a problem with recovery rides. I think they're the "day after" a big ride, a very strenuous ride, be it a century ride, or a very fast group ride that leaves you thinking that you rode way beyond your abilities.

Is it that important to have a recovery ride? Can't an alternative type activity suffice? Does it have to be riding?

The point of a recovery ride (so I've been taught) was just to give the leg muscles a rest after a hard ride. So far as I know, that can also be achieved from using your legs as little as possible. The point is to let your legs recover so that muscle development can take place.

You may want to put my original question into some kind of context about bored, tired, whatever. But mine is a general question. I answered your question. There is no such activity as a "recovery" ride or exercise - if it performed more than three or four hours after the intense exercise session.

Try to follow along. I use big words. "Recovery" from exercise-induced cell damage and metabolic imbalance it thought to be achieved by stimulating muscle tissue under light load. This is thought to be accomplished best by performing reduced-intensity exercise while hydrating and fueling with mineral rich fluids.

The best time-frame for performing this activity is during EPOC. (post exercise oxygen debt) Performing low-intensity exercise a day after an exhaustive race or workout may be often termed "recovery" work, but it is not decreasing the cell damage from a previous day's work. Nor is it speeding up cellular repair and nutrient transport by re-hydration. It is simply working out while tired.

Another technique thought to help athletes recover involves massage. It is believed that mechanical manipulation of muscles can aid circulation and restore metabolic imbalances more quickly.

Now, are you recovered yet?

It seems to me then that I have to take mineral rich fluids right after the workout. I think that means electrolytes which is mainly minerals. Right now I pop two capsules of Endurolytes chased down by Gatorade on the rocks. It seems to work. But the other thing, massage. Since its the legs, I actually can do that myself.

The low intensity exercise, I can just walk like a half mile around the neighborhood just shuffling around to get circulation but that's about it. That would be really low intensity.

By next morning, I'll know how shot I am feeling. That's when I will decide to do nothing as far as exercise.

How important is a recovery ride?

Well, how so? I am not a professional racer. So does it make any difference if I do a recovery ride or not? I have found that doing an easy ride the day after a hard event and gradually pushing a bit harder as I get more comfortable, seems to take away any residual soreness I have from a hard ride (except soreness in the rear from saddle sores and stuff like that).

Does it have to be riding?

Well, I would think that for it to be a "recovery ride", it would have to be riding. But to be less literal, maybe not. I have found that atheletic activities are very specific. Running does not really transfer over to cycling except that both require a good aerobic base. The closer you get to the specific motion you get in cycling, the better the activity would be.

I believe the recovery process is greatly accelerated by warming up the stressed muscles and getting an enhanced blood flow through them. Obviously, if you do something different, you will not warm up the stressed muscles as well as riding would.

But I have found that even taking a walk a couple of hours after an intense century helps a surprising amount. So other activities should help the process.

Of course, if you are heartily sick of cycling after a hard ride, doing something else should give you noticeable benefits. Doing something to warm up the legs is a whole bunch better than nothing.

There must be a distinction between stressed muscles (over worked) and lactic acid still in the muscles. Maybe there's both, more or less.

Circulation makes a lot of sense because the blood flow will help get rid of the lactic acid unless that acid somehow leaches out of the muscle cells into surrounding tissues and eventually goes away, albeit slowly.

Then massage seems to make a lot of sense. By pressing on the tissues, this might speed up the process of removal but maybe nothing for muscle damage due to over work.

I don't think many riders actually get sick of cycling after a hard ride, but its more like pain even when at home and climbing up the stairs. You feel it.