Are rest days really helpful?

[LewisBricktop]

Last summer there was a period of roughly 18-20 days of absoltuely gorgeous weather, so I rode every day. Some days were 3-3.5 hrs at around 18-19mph, others were around 2 hrs at 20-21 mph. I noticed that I was riding much better during the second half of this period than the first half. So for the last 17 days, I've been doing about the same thing on generally hilly terrain with 2-3 days on flatter stretches of road in semi-tt mode, and have found that my fitness has jumped remarkably from where it was before this stretch. Prior to this I had done about 1200 miles outdoors this year at around 4-5 days a week and was already making good progress, but I cant help but think that the extra riding and stress on my body has only made it stronger. Does this make sense? I haven't felt burnt out at all. Each day seems to get faster and faster. Does this make any sense? How long can I keep this up? I usually hit my best form around july/august. The races I really want to do well in come in early June and late July. Should I keep this up for another month, take a week off, and then start again for the second half of summer?

 

[Piotr]

Yes, rest days are really helpful when you're tired, not helpful when you're not. What you described is called building fitness and that's exactly how it's supposed to work. Building race fitness is a bit more involved than just riding more and more, so you may want to search this forum for L5, L6, "peaking", but there's nothing surprising about your experience. Good luck!

 

[Steve_B]

I cant help but think that the extra riding and stress on my body has only made it stronger. Does this make sense? I haven't felt burnt out at all. Each day seems to get faster and faster. Does this make any sense?

Sure. If you stress your body enough each daily to make gains and don't overdo it much each day, you may very well feel pretty good for a long time.

How long can I keep this up? I usually hit my best form around july/august. The races I really want to do well in come in early June and late July. Should I keep this up for another month, take a week off, and then start again for the second half of summer?

Keeping it going is a very individual thing. How long? I dunno but you can find out for yourself though. Peaking and tapering is very individual too but in general people start to decrease volume 2-4 weeks before important events. Myself, I generally like to cut it down to two "decent" workouts per week in the two weeks before the most important events. On the other days of those two weeks, I'm recovering and riding easy. "Decent" means a race or a similar signifigant-enough gut busting. However, the exact length of the 2-4 will depend upon what the event is and a whole host of other factors.

 

[LewisBricktop]

Keeping it going is a very individual thing. How long? I dunno but you can find out for yourself though. Peaking and tapering is very individual too but in general people start to decrease volume 2-4 weeks before important events. Myself, I generally like to cut it down to two "decent" workouts per week in the two weeks before the most important events. On the other days of those two weeks, I'm recovering and riding easy. "Decent" means a race or a similar signifigant-enough gut busting. However, the exact length of the 2-4 will depend upon what the event is and a whole host of other factors.

How long should the "decent" workouts be compared to recovery rides? Or, should that be determined by the event length? Most of my "decent" rides are around the length of a typical race for me, while most of my easier rides are 1.5x-2.5x the length of a race. The events I enter are typically 25-40 miles.

 

[Steve_B]

How long should the "decent" workouts be compared to recovery rides? Or, should that be determined by the event length? Most of my "decent" rides are around the length of a typical race for me, while most of my easier rides are 1.5x-2.5x the length of a race. The events I enter are typically 25-40 miles.

I like to think in terms of TSS but since that isn't a universal language...

An easy ride that is 50-75 miles is, while possibly not intense, still going to produce a fair amount of fatigue due to the duration. (Even though you may feel "fine", trust me, you have generated some fatigue.) I cut those rides out in that two week period. Those rides are for volume building and occur at other times of the year.

In that two-week period, I will do one hard workout/race at mid-week and another at the weekend. At other times, I'm recovering or doing "light training", nothing more intense than riding easy and the duration is for sure less than that of my typical road races. The general plan is to cut volume quite a bit and intensity (of the two "decent" workouts you do) will probably stay the same or possibly increase.

I would suggest reading up on peaking and tapering. I think Joe Friel's book explains compensation, etc. and the reason for doing it. There are other resources though.

 

[jsirabella]

I think Steve said it best as everyone is different and you just need to experiment and just listen to your body. If your body does not tell you than your performance will.

I actually have taken no days off for several months now and find it working well for me. I do have rest days but I will only do an hour at like 220 watts. On other days it varies between 90 minutes to upwards rarely of 3 hours, my average is usually about 2 hours.

Now that I want to work on continuing to push up the watts I may decide to take a day off once in a while but when I see my performance suffer I go back to an hour at 220 and see how I feel and perform the next day.

I do believe mixing it up after a certain period will perform the most adaptions over the long haul.

-js

How long should the "decent" workouts be compared to recovery rides? Or, should that be determined by the event length? Most of my "decent" rides are around the length of a typical race for me, while most of my easier rides are 1.5x-2.5x the length of a race. The events I enter are typically 25-40 miles.

 

[mikeyp123]

Everyone is different.. but my tolerance for intense training is somewhere in the 6-8 week territory. I had to learn this lesson the hard way. My last training block was 10 weeks. At week 9 and 10 I had some weekend races, my performance suffered. My legs had no go. I took a week off, and bam.. my legs are back, and better.

So personally, I'm going with a complete rest week at about 6-7 weeks, depending on my race schedule.

 

[jsirabella]

Honestly the CP software has been quite helpful with this also as I can look at the PMC chart and see how tired I should be based upon TSB but I will change up my schedule based upon what I wsih to accomplish.

Like I wanted to start to real push my numbers interval lengths longer so in my 90 minutes today I did an hour at 255 and my FTP is 260 so while I do not feel it right now, tomorrow I will go back to 1 hour at 220 and than Thrusday maybe soming pulling instead of pushing the numbers. Prior weeks I was not coming so close to my FTP and instead doing 240s T,W,TH...I think the software combined with your body and performance is the way to go.

-js

Everyone is different.. but my tolerance for intense training is somewhere in the 6-8 week territory. I had to learn this lesson the hard way. My last training block was 10 weeks. At week 9 and 10 I had some weekend races, my performance suffered. My legs had no go. I took a week off, and bam.. my legs are back, and better.

So personally, I'm going with a complete rest week at about 6-7 weeks, depending on my race schedule.

 

[BullGod]

I take one rest day at least a week, and one recovery day. Before "classics" (races of 160km+) I will sometimes take 2 rest days.

Try and take in an easy week (3/4 x light training +/- 2 hours) every 6 weeks.

Race schedule really dictates training frequency and volume. yesterday was a 2hr crit on cobblestones which totally destroyed me. Today could be no more than an easy hour recovery, and with a 160km race on saturday, there is little benefit in doing any real "training" in the coming days. Better just keep the legs warm.