Spunout said:If I could be the contrarian, tracking TSS and watching test outputs helps some KNOW when rest is needed, and when after that rest peak performances occur.
A rest 'week' might be 3 days off and 2 days easy before a weekend stage race. It might also be 2 weeks of unstructured training after a large accumulation of stress.
IMHO, if you don't need a recovery period (3 days, 1 week, whatever) you probably aren't training hard enough.
bikefuego said:I've noticed that some of the coaches and knowledgable riders on this forum often hint that they don't believe in prescibing rest weeks. For anyone fitting into this category, could you explain your thought process on this?
First, rest week is a concept that is not well understood. I don't think its definition, and its usefullness is described the same way from rider to rider.bikefuego said:I've noticed that some of the coaches and knowledgable riders on this forum often hint that they don't believe in prescibing rest weeks. For anyone fitting into this category, could you explain your thought process on this?
http://www.cyclingforums.com/t336722.htmlbikefuego said:I've noticed that some of the coaches and knowledgable riders on this forum often hint that they don't believe in prescibing rest weeks. For anyone fitting into this category, could you explain your thought process on this?
I tried to describe the rest week above, but I may not have laid it out in a way that was easy to see/understand, but I basically use:peterpen said:A lot depends on what you mean by 'rest week.' Did you not touch the bike at all? Only do easy, active recovery-paced rides? etc.
I currently take a rest week every 4-6 weeks. This sometimes is more of a taper, but usually consists of reduced volume (-10-15%) and easier, less-structured rides (fewer or no intervals.) I find this helps mentally as well as physically. (fwiw, I train between 12-16 hrs/week, race most weekends, and *rarely* miss workouts. I've completed >95% of scheduled workouts since November.)
Personally, I also made significant FT gains in the transition/ winter season, roughly double what I have made since the race season began in February. One simple reason may be that I am reaching my genetic ceiling and FT progress is slower. (although I'd be quite happy to make similar gains in the upcoming transition season )
bikefuego said:Does anyone out there have an opposing opinion on this? Last year (off season) was the first year that I incorporated rest weeks during base and build cycles (really 5 days of a combination of complete rest and active recovery days followed by a testing day and then another active recovery day before starting the next training week) and I saw huge gains in my FTP (55w). Soon after the race season started, I ceased my rest weeks (but had plenty of taper weeks) and my forward progression at FTP quickly slowed and eventually stopped moving forward. I may have had some improvements through the rest of the season but nothing like I did when I was doing 3 week builds followed by a rest week. I'm not sure if I should attribute this to the rest or to the fact that my training focus switched from L2-4 to L4-7. What do you guys think?
If you're planning to get the new version of WKO+, how about plugging those months into the PM chart and telling us what you CTL was doing during that time. Were you still able to maintain a rising CTL week-on-week with a 3-on / 1-off routine, or did CTL flatten out during that period?bikefuego said:I may have had some improvements through the rest of the season but nothing like I did when I was doing 3 week builds followed by a rest week.
I may do that eventually, but I still haven't purchased the new software and I'm using an older PC without internet hookup or easily transferable files (my main computer is an Apple without Virtual PC). Currently, for off-season training I'm just tracking TSS, miles, kJ and hours on a weekly bar chart so I can see an increase for 3-4 weeks followed by a rest week. I'd love to see data from anyone else who's tracking their CTL as you've described, though.frenchyge said:If you're planning to get the new version of WKO+, how about plugging those months into the PM chart and telling us what you CTL was doing during that time. Were you still able to maintain a rising CTL week-on-week with a 3-on / 1-off routine, or did CTL flatten out during that period?
bikefuego said:I may do that eventually, but I still haven't purchased the new software and I'm using an older PC without internet hookup or easily transferable files (my main computer is an Apple without Virtual PC). Currently, for off-season training I'm just tracking TSS, miles, kJ and hours on a weekly bar chart so I can see an increase for 3-4 weeks followed by a rest week. I'd love to see data from anyone else who's tracking their CTL as you've described, though.
bikefuego said:I've noticed that some of the coaches and knowledgable riders on this forum often hint that they don't believe in prescibing rest weeks. For anyone fitting into this category, could you explain your thought process on this?
fergie said:With the new performance manager in Cycling Peaks I will be able to illustrate to those how a rest week will benefit them physically.
I have always thought that the point of rest weeks (days, minutes) was to allow you to go harder the other weeks than you could with all weeks equal. - TFbeerco said:Actually, I think it will illustrate the opposite (unless you're talking about a taper from a high CTL to bump up TSB).
I think that rest weeks are something thrown in ( in pre Performance Manager days) to keep TSB from going too far negative and to keep the CTL ramp rate under control.
I also think that the top coaches who use PerfMan and still prescribe rest weeks do so more for mental reasons rather than anything physical.
With PerfMan, it's now possible for even us nitwits to see where we are and keep plogging along with no rest weeks without risk of severe over reaching.
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