Does a sick day count as a rest day?
 

Do two days in bed with food poisoning/stomach flu count as rest days, or would you add another day off the bike if you were due for a rest day when you got sick?

Sick days = rest days for sure, you are not training so stress isn't adding to your legs. How you decide to ride after the fact depends on how you typically respond to this type of thing and how well hydrated you were. I can come out of it fine if it was just a quick sickness and ride hard the next day, but make sure you are well first or you can hit a energy slump that might be hard to pull out of. Did it hit you in the middle of a hard couple of weeks? do you have an A race coming up? Are you a risk taker?

For me if it knocked my off my bike for a couple of days, I would likely take the next day very easy and just make it a full/partial rest week. For me that is 3 to 4 days off the bike and no intensity all week. then start training hard as ever the following week. If I had an A race coming up, that would change everything and I would risk it by getting on my training schedule sooner than later to ensure I was ready. I would still take it a bit easier and decrease duration, basically make it like a peak week.

Also remember that many cyclist train too much anyways, so getting sick might just be a clue that you needed a few days off the bike and a rest week was needed. You are not going to lose much fitness in a week unless your base sucked.

you're not adding stress, but you're not healing at full power either.

sick days = .68 rest days.

no. it's a sick day telling you that you need a rest day (or more).

For me, if I'm too sick to train, I'm usually suffering in other ways, so there is no rest involved.

It depends on how sick you are. I've had 24 hour stomach bugs that were just fine for recovery. On the other hand, I've had surgery, abscesses, and an abdominal infection that knocked me down for two years. A high fever might be in between, if your body is using too much energy to fight the illness, you might not realize any adaptations and end up with tired legs from the workout two days prior.

Good question. I kind of decide on a case by case basis. Most of the time if myself or someone I coach is out for 2 or 3 days, then they get a rest week starting when they got sick. This makes sure the immune system recovers and when it's time to get back to training, the body is ready to work again, and isn't fighting itself.

Makes sense. Was thinking I'd ride today, but the head rushes when I rode to the end of the driveway told me it wasn't time yet. Have a crit I'd sure like to ride Wednesday. Maybe if I can manage an easy ride tomorrow I'll go for it, but ir's looking like a "take it easy and get well" week.

BB

Sick days are not rest days.