How easy is recovery riding???

[tinajoy]

When doing a recovery ride am I just supposed to spin without much effort or should I try to reach a certain heart rate zone????

 

[gntlmn]

When doing a recovery ride am I just supposed to spin without much effort or should I try to reach a certain heart rate zone????

It probably depends on how exhausted or sore you are. I always look at the heart rates. As to what it should be for you, perhaps someone with more general knowledge should answer this question. I know what works for me, and it's a heartrate number that I don't exceed on a recovery ride.

The better the cyclist, the more varied the workouts will be with respect to heart rates, and the better will be the recovery and improvement process. Don't ride the same intensity every day.

 

[velomanct]

When doing a recovery ride am I just supposed to spin without much effort or should I try to reach a certain heart rate zone????

you should feel like you are doing nothing on the bike. it should never feel like a workout. you should be crawling up hills, if you can't avoid them.

 

[gotendurance]

When doing a recovery ride am I just supposed to spin without much effort or should I try to reach a certain heart rate zone????

A recovery ride should be at 65-70% effort. Try also to stay in the small ring on your crank the whole ride. I don't know how old you are but I'm 32, I try to keep my HR around 130 average and no more then 150 during a recovery ride. Also you want to keep your latic acid build up to a minimum. Hope this helps!

 

[dhk]

When doing a recovery ride am I just supposed to spin without much effort or should I try to reach a certain heart rate zone????

Agree with the previous posts. Generally, from what I've read, recovery is considered 60-65% of max HR or less. When I go for a recovery day, I'll try to stay at 60%. If it's lower, that's fine also. Idea is just to spend some time spinning easily to get blood flowing without putting any load on the muscles or cardio system.

To climb the 200 ft hill coming back to my house, I have to slow to about 3 mph in 30/25 low to keep the HR below 65%.

 

[tinajoy]

Agree with the previous posts. Generally, from what I've read, recovery is considered 60-65% of max HR or less. When I go for a recovery day, I'll try to stay at 60%. If it's lower, that's fine also. Idea is just to spend some time spinning easily to get blood flowing without putting any load on the muscles or cardio system.

To climb the 200 ft hill coming back to my house, I have to slow to about 3 mph in 30/25 low to keep the HR below 65%.

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO REPLIED. YOU HELPED ME A WHOLE BUNCH!!

 

[04moto]

Well I never really knew any of this when I was younger. Recovery? What the heck was that?

At 36 I know better. AND I know to eat better.

I look at a runner's training schedule and basically do what they do. They vary thier runs in intensity and duration during the week. And get resting days.

I usually go for 2 easy rides (30-45 minutes). Then I go for 1 45 minute ride with several sprints during the ride and get my heart up to 170-180 each sprint. And I try to get in a nice 1-1.5 hour off-road ride. I usually rest for 2-3 days after a hard ride.

I am only doing about 10 miles per hour average. I use a MTB equiped with knobby tires. If you give me nice light-wieght road bike, I could probably TRIPLE my distances and times.

I like to MTB so I train on the roads too.

I am going to get a road bike soon just to see how I do.

BTW: I've only been riding for 3 months.