Originally Posted by
wolfchild
My advice is: don't hammer it too hard everyday... Ride at a lower intensity. Follow a well balanced diet with plenty of protein. The more you weigh and the more physically active you are the more protein you will require for recovery...I think one of the reasons why I've been able to commute and ride daily and still keep up with my physical labour job and strength workouts is because majority of my rides are done at a low-medium intensity. Sure I could hammer hard if I wanted to but I know it would only lead to a burn out and compromise my recovery.
Good point. I pay attention to how I'm feeling and slack off as necessary. I think a good question to ask yourself is "what will make me stronger tomorrow". Usually doing nothing is not it. And a hard ride might do you good, but not every day or even most days. If you're doing a 30-40 mile commute then relax most days and step it up for maybe a day or two in the week - if you've established that you can handle the basic ride day after day.
I consistently find that if I choose to back off a lot that in practice it makes little difference in the time. Far less than I would expect after feeling that I was just goofing off.