Recovery between rides

[jpwkeeper]

I'm a tad perplexed, as a newbie, about Recovery and its role in starting out in cycling.

What I'm seeing are discussions about taking recovery days in between rides, but also discussions talking about riding every day.

So basically, the questions are:

1. How often do you need to recover when starting from ground zero?
2. Does recovery mean not riding, or riding lightly?
3. Does recovery target the motor muscles, cardio, or both?
4. If not cardio, could recovery be accomplished by pushing easier gears every other ride?
5. How can you tell if you need a recovery day? Can you go by the pain in the legs so many hours after the ride, or is that not a good indicator?

 

[atomicrc11]

When you first start out you will need more recovery than after you have been riding for sometime. When you first start you might be best off riding every other day and taking the others off completely. When you are more trained you can ride every day and take some recovery days by just riding easy. You'll get a feel to decide wheter you should ride lightly or take the whole day off.

 

[gruppo]

I'm a tad perplexed, as a newbie, about Recovery and its role in starting out in cycling.

What I'm seeing are discussions about taking recovery days in between rides, but also discussions talking about riding every day.

So basically, the questions are:

1. How often do you need to recover when starting from ground zero?
2. Does recovery mean not riding, or riding lightly?
3. Does recovery target the motor muscles, cardio, or both?
4. If not cardio, could recovery be accomplished by pushing easier gears every other ride?
5. How can you tell if you need a recovery day? Can you go by the pain in the legs so many hours after the ride, or is that not a good indicator?

1. You should have at least 1 recovery day per week, and perhaps more if your body suggests you are overdoing it. It all depends on how hard you ride during training.

2. Recovery normally means a easy ride that does not tax the muscles or cardio system, but a day off from riding does not hurt.

3. Yes.

4. Yes.

5. Best indicator I know of is feedback from your body, and taking your resting heart rate before getting out of bed in the morning. An noticeable increase (+15%) in RHR indicates that you need recovery.

Perhaps Richard will stop by and add his thoughts, but you can also find some good articles at http://www.cyclecoach.com/