Time Off
 

I'm 65 and recently took a two week hiatus from my daily 10 mile ride (25 or 30 miles on Sundays) because of travel requirements. Today I resumed the ride and my legs and knees felt great. I wonder if it's good to take a prolonged break every once and awhile. My endurance probably suffered but my legs felt refreshed. Maybe two weeks is too long but I think taking some time off occasionally helps. What do you think?

Rest is a part of any reasonable training plan. Taking a few days away from riding allows you to clear your head, rest your body, and come back renewed and ready to ride.

I am also 65 and I've noticed that I can take a few days off and when I return to cycling I feel refreshed and even faster than I was when I stopped. After a layoff of two weeks though I'd begin losing my fitness.

I am a 61 year old almost-daily commuter. Once in a while I have to take a day or two off due to commitments that make the bicycle commute impractical. My best rides are usually after a two-day break. Sometimes I take a week off due to travel. After 7+ days off, I think my conditioning starts to suffer.

My solution is to play golf two or three days a week and bike three or four days a week. Don't get bored with either activity and the poor old body parts get a rest depending on the activity! I do agree, a couple of days off the bike and I feel stronger the next time I ride. But golf is the same... a couple of days off of golf and I generally play better. Lets see... there must be a lesson it that.

Would be nice if there were a formula to show exactly how long a bike break can be before it cuts into fitness levels. Probably not an issue for most of us.
The power meter/HRM guys probably already know the answer to this question, as it affects them.

Well, I had a family emergency 2 weeks ago and missed out on 4 days in a row of cycling. I could tell there was an impact when I started up again.

In Joe Friel's book, Cycling Past 50, he recommends a rest day when you ride hard. I'll soon be 67 and have been following his advice of riding every other day for the past few years. I'm always rested, refreshed, and ready to ride. :)

from memory, two weeks is the limit of where you start to lose fitness. I do take a day off now and again, it does work to make you stronger.

I found the same thing really felt refreshed after a week off the bike. One thing that really helps is a deep tissue massage to get the soreness and stiffness out of you muscles.

Taking time off is necessary for improving - it allows your body and muscles to repair and rebuild. I'm 58 and at our age we probably have a pretty good idea from experience what works and what doesn't, especially if we've kept logs through the years. My best and most enjoyable rides are usually the first ride after a few days off.

I see I'm not the only one who feels a few days off is a good thing.

Yep. That's standard training methodology. To improve fitness you need to stress you're body by riding hard, and it then adapts during the recovery period afterward. Riding very hard every other day is more productive at improving fitness than riding moderately hard every day. One reason is that you can stress your system harder if you've rested a day. These aren't new ideas. There isn't a training book or manual out there that doesn't emphasize the importance of recovery periods.

Rest is good.

I like coming back from two or three days off.

Next year I am going to try Ron's method
Ride every other day.

I will be a bit of a naysayer. If you were hitting it pretty hard every day, then I would think a day of rest is a great idea.

I would guess that 10 miles takes you no longer than an hour? If the level of effort feels moderate to you, then I am not sure why you'd need a rest day (or week).

Unless you are really grinding out those 10 miles a day, then I wonder if you should check that your bike is fitted correctly. I would be worried that the fit it causing issues with your legs more than the level of effort.

Let me be very clear that I am not making some macho man claim about that I ride a century a day or nonsense like that. If the riding you do is a hard workout for you, then a rest day would really help.

The two weeks off was job related and involuntary. I would never suggest anyone to take a two week hiatus from biking. I merely stated that when I resumed, my legs felt rested and strong. I would have achieved the same feeling if I had taken two days off. I expected that my endurance suffered but ten miles is not a long ride. If I had tried to do thirty I would have had trouble.

I will soon be a year older and with every one of those birthdays it takes me a little longer to recover.

Im 73 and in the summer I try to ride every other day. Some time tho due to weather I might ride two or three days in a row. But then again usually due to weather or family committments I might be off the bike for 2 to 6 or 7 days. I do notice that when I ride again I really feel fresh and strong.

Call me a 'fetus', but, at 52, I don't feel much need for days off. I TAKE them, yeah -- but I don't follow any sort of training plan. My riding is transport and fun. Any more than 2 in a row, though, I feel it, and not in a good way. Riding is part of my identity, one of the really few things in my life that are unalloyed pleasure. I suppose I could be 'addicted' to the ride endorphins, but I don't feel good if I skip more than the occasional 'necessary' day.

If a day off from work is wrapped up with obligations at home, and I can't ride, I accept it. If the weather is disagreeable (rain rides are a warmer-weather thing...), I skip and look forward to the commute the next day.

Oddly, though -- when I broke my collarbone, I was off the bike for 7 weeks, couldn't even touch it. The day I was released to go back to work was the same day I could get back on the bike, and I rode to work. It felt GREAT! Didn't really feel the lack of conditioning, either.

Main thing is to keep ridding with some sort of regularity.