How many days off after a big ride?



lanierb

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Aug 12, 2004
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On Sunday I did about 375 TSS on a very hilly ride at high intensity. I think in the past I would normally have taken two days off after such a ride, but I'm curious what others think.

Should I take another day off or jump on the trainer tonight? My CTL is running about 70-75 right now.
 
It really depends,
how much work you did leading up to sunday, were you fresh?
how you feel both before you get on on the trainer today and during your warm up and also if you have any other hard or long training sessions planned at anytime during the week.
If your tracking TSS then l assume you have a set amount of work you like to complete each week, just don't get stuck in in the mindset that you need to train everyday to improve or maintain your fitness,
My theory is why train today when tommorows session will be so much better and the TSS you generate will be of greater quality.

I have had a few races this year with similar TSS and they were on a sunday too :D
but l was well rested before them so l took monday off both times and went out tuesday for 2hr sessions of SST/L4 and was able too absolutely smash it.
Some people like recovery rides the day after a hard day or 2 but they don't make my training any better/worse so it's an individual thing.
 
Zero days off.
Jump on the trainer for 30mins or so and get your blood flowing to flush out the by-products of that huge ride the previous day...
 
tonyzackery said:
Zero days off.
Jump on the trainer for 30mins or so and get your blood flowing to flush out the by-products of that huge ride the previous day...

Ruthless!
 
I was rested Sunday, but I'm still feeling it a bit today. The real tradeoff is that I can do two crappy workouts, one today and one tomorrow, or take today off and do a good workout tomorrow. Not sure which is better from a training point of view.
 
Personally, I much prefer (and it's been more effective for me) 'active recovery' rather than sitting on the couch...
 
Active recovery is the way to do it. Like drinking a beer when you have a hangover. Gets you ready to the next party.
 
Alright you guys made me feel like a wuss so I went for it -- did about 50 mins of easyish tempo on the trainer. It seemed to go okay and I feel better today.
 
lanierb said:
On Sunday I did about 375 TSS on a very hilly ride at high intensity. I think in the past I would normally have taken two days off after such a ride, but I'm curious what others think.

Should I take another day off or jump on the trainer tonight? My CTL is running about 70-75 right now.

I'd go out for a ride starting off nice and relaxed and slowly going a bit harder throughout the ride taking things by 'feel'. Most of the time you can get rid of the 'dead' feeling your legs seem to suffer from by going out for a 30 minute ride and progressively going slightly faster.

As for 'big ride' - that's a general statement. The distance isn't always the deciding factor - the pace is. If you did 100 miles at a hard pace then it may be a couple of days before you feel upto another hard effort. If you did 200 miles at a brisk, but not overly hard pace, then you could be good to go the following day...
 
swampy1970 said:
As for 'big ride' - that's a general statement. The distance isn't always the deciding factor - the pace is. If you did 100 miles at a hard pace then it may be a couple of days before you feel upto another hard effort. If you did 200 miles at a brisk, but not overly hard pace, then you could be good to go the following day...
The OP stated a 375 TSS ride. That's a pretty big ride in most anybody's book.

Dave
 
cwdzoot said:
Active recovery is the way to do it. Like drinking a beer when you have a hangover. Gets you ready to the next party.

That's crazy. It takes at least 3 beers.
 
dkrenik said:
The OP stated a 375 TSS ride. That's a pretty big ride in most anybody's book.

Dave

It is, but like I said, I believe that a longer duration ride to rack up the 'score' will leave you less fatigued than a shorter, hard ride would.

I did the Alta Alpina Challenge this year - 198 miles, 21,000ft of climbing and 8 rather sizable mountain passes all over 8,000ft... and racked up a TSS up near 400 for the ride. Even after driving home ~200miles the same night and getting up early the next day I was still out on the bike and feeling pretty good. Snoozy... but not to bad in the legs department.

By comparison I did a very hard two hour training session a few weeks before that - 2 hours at ~320watts and a TSS of half the above ride but the day after the legs were rather tender.
 
swampy1970 said:
It is, but like I said, I believe that a longer duration ride to rack up the 'score' will leave you less fatigued than a shorter, hard ride would.
So that's what you meant.

Not sure I agree. That's what TSS is about. If I did 375 TSS in 7 hours or 4 hours (not likely) it would leave me equally fatigued.

"Different courses for different horses"

Dave
 
swampy1970 said:
It is, but like I said, I believe that a longer duration ride to rack up the 'score' will leave you less fatigued than a shorter, hard ride would.

Of course it's just an approximation so it might not get it entirely right, but taking into account duration and intensity is kind of the point of using TSS. That said my ride was of the "shorter" harder variety.

I did 50 mins on the trainer Tues night and 90 mins last night and all seems well so I think riding was the right decision even though I didn't feel all that great.
 
swampy1970 said:
It is, but like I said, I believe that a longer duration ride to rack up the 'score' will leave you less fatigued than a shorter, hard ride would.

I did the Alta Alpina Challenge this year - 198 miles, 21,000ft of climbing and 8 rather sizable mountain passes all over 8,000ft... and racked up a TSS up near 400 for the ride. Even after driving home ~200miles the same night and getting up early the next day I was still out on the bike and feeling pretty good. Snoozy... but not to bad in the legs department.

By comparison I did a very hard two hour training session a few weeks before that - 2 hours at ~320watts and a TSS of half the above ride but the day after the legs were rather tender.

How did you get 400 TSS? I am worried my FTP is far too low at the moment, but I believe I got over 600 for most of my doubles this year. My NP was about 0.75-0.8 (215-230 watts), and my riding time was generally about 11 hours. My fastest double was Mt. Tam in 12:37 (200 miles and ~15,000 feet), with about 45 minutes off the bike.

You must be riding easier and faster to get 400, no?

BTW, definitely a recovery ride or two after one of those efforts for me ...
 
After a big ride, it is good to make sure you drink alot fluids and eat good recovery foods immediately after. The next day, you should do a 60min easy spin - either outside on flat road or on the trainer/rollers. Keep cadence around 90-95 and smooth. No surging or stuff over 120bpm. You can do another long ride the following day - depends on how you feel. Recovery is the key.

Daniel Carruthers