Why do I ride so lousy after touring?

[email hidden] wrote:
:: Most years I go on tour for about a week, 60 - 100 miles/day, some
:: supported, others not. I do fine during the tour -- I'm usually in
:: the first half of the group, despite stopping often for pictures.
:: Thing is, for 1 to 2 months following the tour, I feel lethargic and
:: sluggish on most rides. I keep hearing how a tour -- or stage race
:: -- is supposed to make you so much stronger, "jump start" your
:: fitness, etc., but I have yet to experience anything like that!! Is
:: there some kind of trick I don't know about? (I know its not from a
:: calorie deficiency: I bring my own sports drink, along with the
:: food I buy on the trip; I use my own recovery drink at the end of
:: each ride; I make sure I pig out at the dinner buffets; and I
:: normally gain a few pounds during the tour.) I make sure I include
:: a "recovery week" following the tour. Any ideas on the cause? Any
:: solutions?
:: FYI, I'm 38 years old, ride 150 - 200 miles/week in season -- a mix
:: of intervals, endurance pace, and recovery rides -- or about 5,000 -
:: 7,000 miles/year, and have been doing this kind of mileage for about
:: 15 years.

Beats me. Sounds as if you're doing everything right. You spoke about
pigging out, but you didn't really talk about what exactly you eat during &
after your rides. A recovery/sporks drink ain't exactly some miracle food.
Perhaps you're pigging out too much? Or perhaps your rides are tougher than
you realize and you're not eating the optimal foods to support that
activity. You're going from 200 mile/week to about 700. A 3X increase in
activity, so perhaps you should expect to feel a little tired! 🙂 Maybe you
should taper up your miles prior to your tours so that they don't impact you
as much.

Just trying to give you some ideas. Good luck!

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In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

Most years I go on tour for about a week, 60 - 100 miles/day, some
supported, others not. I do fine during the tour -- I'm usually in the
first half of the group, despite stopping often for pictures. Thing
is, for 1 to 2 months following the tour, I feel lethargic and
sluggish on most rides. I keep hearing how a tour -- or stage race --
is supposed to make you so much stronger, "jump start" your fitness,
etc., but I have yet to experience anything like that!! Is there some
kind of trick I don't know about? (I know its not from a calorie
deficiency: I bring my own sports drink, along with the food I buy on
the trip; I use my own recovery drink at the end of each ride; I make
sure I pig out at the dinner buffets; and I normally gain a few pounds
during the tour.) I make sure I include a "recovery week" following
the tour. Any ideas on the cause? Any solutions?

_ It sounds like you're just not recovering. Try taking the whole
week off after the tour. Don't ride until you feel absolutely
restless to ride and full of energy. Your body is sending you a
message that you aren't listening to. Rest and recovery are just
as important as training hard and it sounds like you just aren't giving
yourself the chance to rest. It may be that you aren't resting
enough in general to the get most out of your training. If you've
got job and family it can be very difficult to get the rest
needed.

_ One thing you might investigate is "block" training or in
addition to hard/rest days during a training week, you have hard
and rest weeks within a larger cycle. Generally this works out
to about 3 weeks hard and one week easy.

_ Booker C. Bense

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Booker C. Bense said:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

Most years I go on tour for about a week, 60 - 100 miles/day, some
supported, others not. I do fine during the tour -- I'm usually in the
first half of the group, despite stopping often for pictures. Thing
is, for 1 to 2 months following the tour, I feel lethargic and
sluggish on most rides. I keep hearing how a tour -- or stage race --
is supposed to make you so much stronger, "jump start" your fitness,
etc., but I have yet to experience anything like that!! Is there some
kind of trick I don't know about? (I know its not from a calorie
deficiency: I bring my own sports drink, along with the food I buy on
the trip; I use my own recovery drink at the end of each ride; I make
sure I pig out at the dinner buffets; and I normally gain a few pounds
during the tour.) I make sure I include a "recovery week" following
the tour. Any ideas on the cause? Any solutions?

_ It sounds like you're just not recovering. Try taking the whole
week off after the tour. Don't ride until you feel absolutely
restless to ride and full of energy. Your body is sending you a
message that you aren't listening to. Rest and recovery are just
as important as training hard and it sounds like you just aren't giving
yourself the chance to rest. It may be that you aren't resting
enough in general to the get most out of your training. If you've
got job and family it can be very difficult to get the rest
needed.

_ One thing you might investigate is "block" training or in
addition to hard/rest days during a training week, you have hard
and rest weeks within a larger cycle. Generally this works out
to about 3 weeks hard and one week easy.

_ Booker C. Bense

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I agree that it is just taking you some time to recover. It looks like
your mileage for the tour week (I'm assuming a week) is roughly 300% of
your normal weekly mileage. That is bound to have an impact.