Recovery Rides

Why? What? And How?

Simonb wrote:

> Why? What? And How?
>
>

Um, taking a stab at this one..

Why: it helps the body recover from a hard ride (or two) faster than not
cycling at all.
What: a very easy ride, slow, no hills, short duration (but of course,
how easy/slow etc varies depending on how fit you are and just how hard
you've been pushing it)
How: by not riding outside, I find, but just gently spinning along on
my turbo - I just *can't* ride slow or gently enough when I'm out on the
roads, or for a short enough time :-)

--


Velvet

Simonb wrote:

> Why? What? And How?

Quite. Don't these people ride to work? Apathetic bloody planet...

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:

> Simonb wrote:
>
>
>>Why? What? And How?
>
>
> Quite. Don't these people ride to work? Apathetic bloody planet...
>
> Guy

Feh ;-) I *couldn't* ride to work, unfortunatley!

--


Velvet

Guy:
> Quite. Don't these people ride to work? Apathetic bloody planet...

Yes, OK then, I'll start riding my bike up the spiral staircase to my office
in the loft.

Actually, come October I'm starting a six-month temporary contract which
means commuting to London. It's a bit far to ride all the way there and back
every day - about 70 miles (I'd happily do it but I just wouldn't have
time) - but I shall be eschewing public transport and riding between
mainline station and workplace. I also intend to ride to the next station
down the line in the morning, rather than my home station, and/or get off
one or two stops early on the way home. It should add up to about 20 miles a
day, and I'm very much looking forward to it.

To answer Simonb's question: it's a ride at very low intensity for a short
duration. It helps you recover after an arduous training session/race
quicker than just passive resting - by using your muscles, even lightly,
you'll get the blood flowing to them. In terms of training zones (if you use
a heart rate monitor), a recovery ride will be off the bottom of the scale.

d.

James Hodson wrote:

> On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 10:55:22 GMT, Velvet <velvet@not.a.valid.domain>
> wrote:
>
>
>>How: by not riding outside, I find, but just gently spinning along on
>>my turbo - I just *can't* ride slow or gently enough when I'm out on the
>>roads, or for a short enough time :-)
>
>
> Hi Velvet
>
> I rarely ride hard enough to warrant any sort of recovery but when I
> do I force myself to remain in low gear.
>
> At other times, when I'm actually try to do some work, I usually end
> up riding in on of those lower gears anyway. It's called lack of
> fitness, I believe. :-(
>
> James

You might be surprised :-)

I'm following a vague (ok, not that vague) plan at the moment for
training for the London to Camby bike ride this sunday. While a lot of
it feels very hard (given most of it is done on a turbo trainer), much
of that is actually no harder than what I do when out cycling - but
without the distraction of fields/trees/tarmac to look at etc, it's a
lot more noticeable.

I definitely feel it though - whereas I used to ride that hard maybe
once a fortnight, doing it 3-4 days of the week to that same (or close
to) intensity has been taking a toll and I definitely see a downhill
starting if I don't then take it easy occasionally (as said plan
prescribes) on a 'recovery' ride.

No, none of it is training like you'd be doing for a good performance in
a TT etc, but it seems that for proper performance cyclists they spend a
lot more time than I have working on just the basic stuff - whereas I
don't ride at all in the winters LOL - so they are a lot further along
into the pushing it REALLY hard stage than I am.

I just can't resist ramping up the gears and speed when I'm out on a
nice stretch of road. My bike's so nice to whoosh along on fast, I just
can't help it for the grin factor :-) Hills see me back in bottom gear
pretty much at the limit of my capabilities - hardly a recovery ride -
and there's no way of avoiding hills from anywhere starting at my front
door, hence doing much of it on the turbo ;-)

Keep at it, it really does improve, and I've seen VAST improvements in a
much shorter time since a) doing a long ride every fortnight and every
week if I can, b) getting stuck into cycling 4-5 days a week on top of
that, c) using those additional 4-5 days to work on both strength and
cadence improvement as well as just time in saddle work.

I think I started cycling again this year around the end of april, and
did a 10 mile and a 25 mile-ish, but didn't really do much till I had a
car again (bizarre but true) at the end of may, at which point the
fortnightly rides started. I think it was mid-june that I decided I was
really going to do the Lon2camby ride and started on a structured
training plan for it, took a week, week and a half to actually get into
the habit of getting on the bike nearly every day, but now it's habit
it's easy to stick to. I used to manage about 10-11mph on the flattish
stretches (not average over the whole ride) when I first started in apr.
That rose to managing about 12mph on the flattish stuff (again, not
average over the ride) once I'd done a one of the sunday afternoon rides
with the local CTC club - they ride MUCH faster than me, but were slow
to help me stay with them, but it meant I was pushing myself a lot
harder/faster than I'd normally manage to. Couple more of those and I
was up to 14-15mph, and having to be told to slow the pace so I had
stuff left to cope with the hills on a 45-miler ;-) Sunday just gone,
we spent quite a bit of the time on the flatter bits doing 16-17mph -
really quite amazing. Hills are still slow, painful, long, and often
involve walking. But the improvements on the flat - WOW! I'm relishing
pushing much bigger gears in my middle chainring - if I can keep this
improvement up, I may yet find a use for the big ring on the flat!

And I was convinced I'd never manage more than about 11mph on the bike
unless a downhill was involved... little did I know what even this
overweight unfit body was capable of with a little work!

--


Velvet

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 10:55:22 GMT, Velvet <velvet@not.a.valid.domain>
wrote:

>How: by not riding outside, I find, but just gently spinning along on
>my turbo - I just *can't* ride slow or gently enough when I'm out on the
>roads, or for a short enough time :-)

Hi Velvet

I rarely ride hard enough to warrant any sort of recovery but when I
do I force myself to remain in low gear.

At other times, when I'm actually try to do some work, I usually end
up riding in on of those lower gears anyway. It's called lack of
fitness, I believe. :-(

James

James Hodson wrote:

> On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 11:02:08 GMT, Velvet <velvet@not.a.valid.domain>
> wrote:
>
>
>>You might be surprised :-)
>>
>
> [SNIP]
>
> I wouldn't be that surprised, Velvet. Sadly, as far as cycling fitness
> goes - or any other form of fitness, come to think of it - your're
> preaching to the converted but since lapsed - a cycling agnostic, I
> guess.
>
> Like you (I think), I regularly used to ride somewhere between ten and
> 30+ miles several times each week, and I felt a darn sight better for
> it. In those days a ride of 70-100 miles, ridden reasonably slowly,
> wasn't too much of a problem. I appreciate that weight isn't the be
> all and end all of fitness but at that time I weighed between 11.25
> and 11.75 stones. I am now over a stone heavier. And, Velvet, I can
> assure it ain't all muscle!
>
> I tend to do things to extremes whether it be fitness kicks or
> gluttony.
>
> FWIW, I bought a new stem this morning. Although I cannot tell for
> sure that a reduction in reach of 20mm will make a difference I can
> say that my bike feels more comfortable, which is nice. (I re-trashed
> my back some time ago and my road bike's stem felt too long. So,
> here's wishing myself good luck.)
>
> I did do a pleasant 30 miler across the south downs yesterday and the
> only damage I did was to my head. Lack of hair etc.... A helmet might
> have etc ....
>
> James

Yeah... but you're not as bad as me... my weight should be around 8 and
a half stone (both for my height and my build). I currently weigh
somewhere in the same range as you used to weigh, and precious little of
it is muscle! I'm looking at a lot of weight that needs losing, that
I'm currently hefting up hills, in comparison to a bloke the same
weight, but taller, and with more muscle mass than me, even at the same
fitness level...

I changed my bars and stem several times in the quest to get a better
fit. Much nicer now. 2cm is quite a bit in my books - I think I
reduced mine by a couple of inches, maybe more, but in stages, and each
time there was a noticeable difference in feel and handling.

<g> surely with a helmet you'd just have been running the risk of a
peculiar tan pattern? ;-)

--


Velvet

Velvet:
> I definitely feel it though - whereas I used to ride that hard maybe
> once a fortnight, doing it 3-4 days of the week to that same (or close
> to) intensity has been taking a toll and I definitely see a downhill
> starting if I don't then take it easy occasionally (as said plan
> prescribes) on a 'recovery' ride.

You also need to vary your training over longer periods, eg have a few weeks
of intense training 3-4 days a week as you are doing, but then have a whole
week of low-intensity rides. It's also a good idea to reduce the intensity
of your rides in the week before the event you're training for so that you
aren't too tired when the big day comes.

> No, none of it is training like you'd be doing for a good performance in
> a TT etc, but it seems that for proper performance cyclists they spend a
> lot more time than I have working on just the basic stuff

You shouldn't think of training as just hard, intense riding such as racing
cyclists do. Any training regime will be adapted to the individual's goal -
if your goal is, eg, to ride a 100 mile randonnee in 8 hours, your training
obviously won't be as intense or spread over as long a period as a pro
training for the Tour de France, but your schedule might follow a similar basic shape,
with periods of Preparation (gradually building up time spent in the
saddle), Recovery and Overload (high intensity training to build up strength
and stamina). Even what you call working on the 'basic stuff' needs to be
approached sensibly so you don't wear yourself out with too much 'Overload'
training.

- whereas I
> don't ride at all in the winters LOL - so they are a lot further along
> into the pushing it REALLY hard stage than I am.

Except for Jan Ullrich, who spends his winters eating pies and vegging out
in front of the telly.

d.

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 11:02:08 GMT, Velvet <velvet@not.a.valid.domain>
wrote:

>You might be surprised :-)
>
[SNIP]

I wouldn't be that surprised, Velvet. Sadly, as far as cycling fitness
goes - or any other form of fitness, come to think of it - your're
preaching to the converted but since lapsed - a cycling agnostic, I
guess.

Like you (I think), I regularly used to ride somewhere between ten and
30+ miles several times each week, and I felt a darn sight better for
it. In those days a ride of 70-100 miles, ridden reasonably slowly,
wasn't too much of a problem. I appreciate that weight isn't the be
all and end all of fitness but at that time I weighed between 11.25
and 11.75 stones. I am now over a stone heavier. And, Velvet, I can
assure it ain't all muscle!

I tend to do things to extremes whether it be fitness kicks or
gluttony.

FWIW, I bought a new stem this morning. Although I cannot tell for
sure that a reduction in reach of 20mm will make a difference I can
say that my bike feels more comfortable, which is nice. (I re-trashed
my back some time ago and my road bike's stem felt too long. So,
here's wishing myself good luck.)

I did do a pleasant 30 miler across the south downs yesterday and the
only damage I did was to my head. Lack of hair etc.... A helmet might
have etc ....

James

davek wrote:

> You also need to vary your training over longer periods, eg have a
few weeks
> of intense training 3-4 days a week as you are doing, but then have a whole
> week of low-intensity rides. It's also a good idea to reduce the intensity
> of your rides in the week before the event you're training for so that you
> aren't too tired when the big day comes.
>
Indeed, I think the plan I'm following is a little confused about the
very short timescale I've demanded of it (and myself) for this, so I've
asked for a recovery week this week, even though last week was probably
it's version of a recovery week if I'm honest - simply cos it's the last
week before my 'big' ride.

> You shouldn't think of training as just hard, intense riding such as racing
> cyclists do. Any training regime will be adapted to the individual's goal -
> if your goal is, eg, to ride a 100 mile randonnee in 8 hours, your training
> obviously won't be as intense or spread over as long a period as a pro
> training for the Tour de France, but your schedule might follow a similar basic shape,
> with periods of Preparation (gradually building up time spent in the
> saddle), Recovery and Overload (high intensity training to build up strength
> and stamina). Even what you call working on the 'basic stuff' needs to be
> approached sensibly so you don't wear yourself out with too much 'Overload'
> training.

Indeed, though as I said, the timescale is too short to see this longer
cycle really - I can pick out the day to day cycle of training, and I
think as I said that last week was a recoveryish week (the one before
was a really challenging week). I'm going to be very interested to see
how it continues out the other side of 'the big ride' - I'll set another
goal to work toward that's a bit further away, take account of the 6
weeks regular stuff I've done so far, and see what it comes up with.

It's been really good because I've realised that one reason I don't
think I was making progress as fast was because the rides were long,
hard, but infrequent, so I would spend most of my time close to, at, or
just above my Anaerobic threshold, which while good is useless if the
hours haven't been put in in the lower levels to build the stamina side
- it was a bit of a case of too hard too early.

>
> - whereas I
>
>>don't ride at all in the winters LOL - so they are a lot further along
>>into the pushing it REALLY hard stage than I am.
>
>
> Except for Jan Ullrich, who spends his winters eating pies and vegging out
> in front of the telly.
>
> d.
>
>

Really? mind-boggling :-) He must carry through some baseline fitness
though... I'm sure he can't not ride at all, all winter; they're all
ultra-addicts or they'd not be doing the tour ;-)

Unlike me, who didn't get on the bike at all between about sept last
year and late april this year... who however shan't be making the same
mistake this winter, having put in the effort to improve thus far... I
am NOT going backwards!


--


Velvet

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 12:27:08 +0000 (UTC), "davek"
<david.nospam.kenning@which.nospam.net> wrote:

> - whereas I
>> don't ride at all in the winters LOL - so they are a lot further along
>> into the pushing it REALLY hard stage than I am.
>
>Except for Jan Ullrich, who spends his winters eating pies and vegging out
>in front of the telly.

Jan, as I call him, are quite possibly related.

James