I overreached last week. Now what?

lanierb said:

I've been riding pretty strong lately and had some vacation last week so did a bunch of hard rides in the mountains -- the last one was 400 TSS in a little over 5hrs so basically I was cranking up some long hills at above threshold over and over. I felt great up until that ride but since then I've felt like [censored]. I'm trying to keep up regular workouts but my legs are just weak right now.

So the question is what to do from here? Do I take days off? Do I scale back the workouts (I at least am forced to scale back intensity because I can't seem to maintain usual intensity)? Do I just keep up the workouts and hope my legs come back to me? I have a race a week Saturday and I would really like to be somewhat better for that. Plus, it's mentally hard feeling like [censored] on every workout.

My coach is of the mentality that if you are tired or whatever, and can't keep up the intensity of the prescribed workout, then it is better to just call the workout off and ride easy.

We all feel like [censored] sometimes. This can be because we are under the weather, have been training/racing too hard or too much, or have been inconsistent with training due to demands of work, family, travel, etc. Pushing through a slump could cause injury, overtraining, etc, and will likely not get you much (or anything) in terms of gains.

Take a few days off completely, or just ride easy, without the pressure to push yourself. Your legs will come back and probably be better for it. No need to go into your race mentally/physically depleted.

Agree with calicocat. The training books I've read all say that rest and recovery are just as important as the hard training rides, but many of us who are self-coached just don't seem to believe it (myself included).

Look at the the ten days before your race as a chance to try a real taper. Suggest you take 2-3 days totally off the bike, then a couple of easy spin days without any pushing at all. Maybe one fairly-hard session early next week, not too many miles but a tempo interval or two. Then on Friday, do a short "leg opener" ride to get you ready. Forget about TSS and your weekly mileage goals until after the race. One of the books says that if you're really tapering correctly, it will be hard to stay off the bike because your energy will be peaking. Bet you'll be surprised how well you do on race day if you go in rested rather than beat up from all the hard training miles.

Brother, ride on the person is exercise, you will more and more strong, wish you are lucky! Brother!

Thanks guys. I am sure you are right that I need some rest. Why is it so hard to stop though? Every day I think, surely I'll be better today, then I go out and attempt the planned workout only to semi-fail. Hmm. Must rest but don't want to!

The extra rest worked! I was supposed to do L5 on W and L3 on Th, then Fr off. Instead I did a recovery ride on W and took both Th and Fr off. At the beginning of Sat's L3 ride I still felt crappy and almost dialed it back to recovery again, but then my legs opened up and I felt better. Today I did a great ride and actually set a 10 min best power without even killing myself, as part of a longish ride with a bunch of hills, so I'd say I'm back. Hoping to kick butt in the race next Sat.

You really shouldn't do anything too crazy the week leading up to your next race. If you do enough to actually breakdown muscle tissue then you won't have time to recover.

You can still do a nice moderate paced ride and even pop up and down some hills, but nothing that will leave your legs achy the next day.

lanierb, what are we going to do with you? A day after you make a comeback from the edge of doom you go out on a "longish hilly ride" and set a 10 min best-power PR....less than a week to your race. Why not save the PR stuff for when it can get you results? Believe you might really surprise yourself if you go into a race rested for a change instead of right on the edge of blowing up. Have you heard the old saying "better go into a race 10% undertrained than 1% overtrained"?

I told you it would be hard to do a proper taper before the race once you started feeling better. Maybe what you need is a personal coach.....one that's not afraid to swipe your front wheel the week before a race 🙂

LOL. I definitely need a coach. I basically have no self control. 🙄 I promise to hold back this week though.