Andy_K 

A couple of times I've seen flargle recommend a hard training day on the day after a race. As I was riding to work this morning I was surprised to notice that my legs felt pretty good, so I rode my commute like a time trial (if a time trial course were littered with stop signs and traffic lights) and ended up with a new personal best (as silly as I know it is to track such a thing for a commute) and was completely jelly-legged when I got there. (FWIW, commuting is my main time for training rides during the week, so whatever I do has to be squeezed into the 10-12 miles each way to and from work.)

So I'm wondering, does anyone else do a hard workout the day after a race? Should I just pick this as whatever type of ride I need work on, or is there something specific that would benefit me most in this slot? What type of benefit should I expect to see from doing this?

SpongeDad

I have often found that I ride just as well on the second day a two race weekend. I've seen some workout programs that stack short intense intervals against longer FTP intervals the next day, but then there are two good days of rest/endurance riding before the next hard day.

Allegheny Jet

If you intend to race on Saturday and Sunday you should do some back to back hard days. The key would be to have a good recovery before you hit it again during the week. If your average ride (commute) is 30-40 minutes you could use the commute as a recovery ride and just take a little longer at a very easy pace. You may want to do the Sunday workout with the anticipation of getting some longer Z3 riding (60-90 minutes, if your race is 45 minutes) to improve muscular endurance or a set of 4 min Z5b hill intervals, as well as some dismounts/mounts. Think about what your training lacks and/or what your weaknesses are and use the Sunday ride to address those issues which can't be addressed while commuting.

Keep in mind the training effect takes a couple cycles before you notice improvements and at first you may feel really beat up for a few days.