Keep riding or go home?

Mish

I ride 3 days a week with longer more intense efforts on weekends.
I rode a couple days in a row very hard and didn't ride for 4 days. When I got back on the bike I felt dead. Things got a little better after about 30 minutes but I still felt tired and slow. I was mentally looking forward to riding but physically I just wanted to go home, so after an hour I did. This has happened on a few occasions. What's up and should I just go home or push on?

david462

i get that thought in my head every now and then (turn around and call it a day). sometimes i will turn around but its better not to. you dont feel good about doing it. it happened today, and i kept going and the rest of the ride wasnt all that bad, just started out hard.

sogood

I experienced that issue a while back too. You just have to ease back in after a longer break. The second and third day would invariably be better, much better.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

Bailsibub

Mish,

Sogood is right about easing back into it. One thing that could help is just an easier ride after a long break the day before a hard ride to 'open up' the legs.

This is optimal.

But what if you have no choice but to ride hard after a break like that? Well, from my experience, it's still possible to ride just as hard after four days off, although it makes you completely suffer. So even though one feels dead, it's possible to push through the pain. But that is only if you HAVE TO ride. Doing that too often can make cycling a real drag.

jeff828

I used to get this also, i think it is from doing to much & going to hard. I have switched the way i train I i havent felt like that in 2 years. I have been doing intervals on rollers (L4-L5) for 2 years straight, without any time off in the winter & without any of these symptoms plus I am always stoked to train. I train M-W-F & long tempo ride on saturday, thats it, T-THu-Sun i am totally off the bike, Im almost always recovered for the following days workout & mentally ready to go.


I think there is a difference between our legs feeling slow because we took off several days and our legs feeling tired & dead because we're not recovered/rested, this sounds like your situation.

What i would ask is how did you feel the following day after either:
1) you bagged the ride & went home or
2) you pushed on that day anyway.

You might have to experiment to see what works better.