Recovery ride - sprint or not?

[grahamspringett]

I've got a recovery ride scheduled for tonight and was wondering what the physiological difference is between a straight recovery zone twiddle and a ride where I sprint for 10 seconds half a dozen times. I've had that sort of thing prescribed to me by Ric Stern way back when he wore nappies and I rode a kiddies tricycle with a HRM

I also read that Greg Lemond recommends brief sprints to stimulate some hormone or other during recovery rides, and I guess he might have an idea of what he's talking about...

To sprint or not to sprint: that is the question.

I only ask because I'm watching Dr Who tonight and I have to concentrate on the plot, not on the stopwatch for sprints!!

 

[frenchyge]

During the sprints, residual lactic acid is converted into mitochondria, but ONLY if they are exactly 10 seconds in duration at exactly 125 rpm. Anything else and muscle fibers are converted into fat instead.

Fortunately, you still get the recovery either way.

 

[Piotr]

During the sprints, residual lactic acid is converted into mitochondria, but ONLY if they are exactly 10 seconds in duration at exactly 125 rpm. Anything else and muscle fibers are converted into fat instead.

Fortunately, you still get the recovery either way.

+1
I learned this the hard way. I used to think that I would lose more weight if I sprinted longer. Boy, was I wrong! I kept getting fatter and fatter. Those short Standing Starts (TM) are even worse.

 

[daveryanwyoming]

...To sprint or not to sprint: that is the question....

I'd like to hear the rationale for sprinting on rest days from Ric. Sure, sprinting doesn't create that much metabolic load and you can sprint year round without early peaking, burnout or the other stuff sometimes associated with high end work. But I still don't think that makes it restful.

Personally I rest on rest days. I sometimes throw in a couple of short sprints on other days to round out a training session without worrying about ruining the remainder of my week but if it's a rest day my only goal is to rest whether on or off the bike.

-Dave

 

[Alex Simmons]

I can't speak for Ric but rest days and recovery days are different.

A handful of very short sprints (<10-sec) on a recovery roll is not all that taxing and doesn't generally impact on one's ability to complete other workouts in the week. The problems start when the ride is not done at recovery pace (which, if you're like me, you find hard to do - riding slow sometimes seems painful).

 

[daveryanwyoming]

I can't speak for Ric but rest days and recovery days are different.

A handful of very short sprints (<10-sec) on a recovery roll is not all that taxing and doesn't generally impact on one's ability to complete other workouts in the week. The problems start when the ride is not done at recovery pace (which, if you're like me, you find hard to do - riding slow sometimes seems painful).

Gotcha, got stuck in the terminology.

Thanks,
-Dave

 

[frenchyge]

What the OP is describing sounds like little more than a couple warm up efforts to help get the HR off the low peg for the recovery ride, or possibly to provide some "flushing." I'm doubting it was suggested in order to provide a specific physiological effect.

 

[Fightin Boba]

If my CTL is 110 and I do a 40TSS ride, I'm recovering. Does composition of the 40TSS matter? Hmmm... ;-)

 

[grahamspringett]

I can't speak for Ric but rest days and recovery days are different.

A handful of very short sprints (<10-sec) on a recovery roll is not all that taxing and doesn't generally impact on one's ability to complete other workouts in the week. The problems start when the ride is not done at recovery pace (which, if you're like me, you find hard to do - riding slow sometimes seems painful).

Alex, you need to get some good Dr Who on your DVD player when you're on TB7. I get so caught up in the plot that I have to ride slow so I don't miss anything.

I've got VO2 max intervals tonight so I'll be back on my TdF DVDs. I can't concentrate on the telly when I'm chewing the stem and generally writhing in agony

I need Phil and Paul as background chatter which I can tune into and out of as necessary and a good wheel to follow through France at race pace...

As for my recovery day, I didn't do any sprints. I just whirred away for 45 minutes until all the Dr Who plot issues were resolved.

Rest days for me do not involve bikes. They involve bed.

 

[Alex Simmons]

If my CTL is 110 and I do a 40TSS ride, I'm recovering. Does composition of the 40TSS matter? Hmmm... ;-)

I think that's a reasonable question.

I would suggest that it's still possible to do a bit of damage with 40TSS, depending on what you did to garner that TSS*.

I also suggest that being at a CTL of 110 TSS/day means you have much greater capacity to absorb such workouts such that you could still "bang 'em out" the next day. Indeed, a nice pre race day leg opener workout can be highly beneficial.

Let's not forget that sometimes a recovery day with sprints might actually be a day intended to work on sprints rather than provide recovery. If you talk with any trackie, well they don't even bother to ride in between sprints. They get off their bike and wait 15-20 minutes (sometimes longer) before going again.

* I mean no-one would suggest a 5-min warm up, 20-min at FTP (or a few VO2 max efforts) and a min to cool down would be a good ride for recovery purposes.

Says moi who, with a CTL of 58, did some Team Pursuit training last night on my "rest day" clocked up 46 TSS and went out this morning to do my 2x20-min TTIs

 

[iliveonnitro]

I think that's a reasonable question.

I would suggest that it's still possible to do a bit of damage with 40TSS, depending on what you did to garner that TSS*.

I also suggest that being at a CTL of 110 TSS/day means you have much greater capacity to absorb such workouts such that you could still "bang 'em out" the next day. Indeed, a nice pre race day leg opener workout can be highly beneficial.

Let's not forget that sometimes a recovery day with sprints might actually be a day intended to work on sprints rather than provide recovery. If you talk with any trackie, well they don't even bother to ride in between sprints. They get off their bike and wait 15-20 minutes (sometimes longer) before going again.

* I mean no-one would suggest a 5-min warm up, 20-min at FTP (or a few VO2 max efforts) and a min to cool down would be a good ride for recovery purposes.

Says moi who, with a CTL of 58, did some Team Pursuit training last night on my "rest day" clocked up 46 TSS and went out this morning to do my 2x20-min TTIs

Residual fatigue from neuromuscular workouts could definitely be a problem with a 40TSS ride. For the most part, though, you'd have to try fairly hard to suffer the next day from a low TSS ride.

 

[Piotr]

Residual fatigue from neuromuscular workouts could definitely be a problem with a 40TSS ride. For the most part, though, you'd have to try fairly hard to suffer the next day from a low TSS ride.

I guess the question becomes does residual muscular fatigue add to metabolic stress?

 

[iliveonnitro]

I guess the question becomes does residual muscular fatigue add to metabolic stress?

By definition of metabolic stress, no.

I assume the question is meant to ask at what point this takes a negative effect on training (stress), which depends on far too many factors.