I would have to start training to even do a recovery ride. And I would have to own a cyclometer, HRM, and the unavoidable watt meter. And all that would tell me what I already don’t want to know. Ignorance is bliss until some teenager on a mountain bike gets by you and at that point you better not have a watt meter on your bike. Still, we have to train and we should do it scientifically, like @Teocalli here.
Yours in Cycling, Gianni
I have a problem with Recovery Rides. I understand them but I still have a problem with them. Let me try to explain.
First (and to all experts here – forgive me for a simplistic view of this) let me level the ground by clarifying the concept by using the 5 Training Zones model. In this model the Maximum Heart Rate Reserve (MHRR) is based on the value derived from the difference between your Maximum Heart Rate and your relaxed Resting Heart Rate. So for a subject of say 50 (not me) we have:
Age = 50
Resting HR = 48
Max HR = 174 (note there may be different opinions on this depending on where you look it up and whether you have actually had it measured scientifically)
Which gives:
The 5 Zone model then becomes defined by:
A buddy once equated these to the following for those who do not use a Heart Rate Monitor.
The basic concept behind a Recovery Ride being that when training or post a significant event (cycling-wise that is) you should plan in complete rides in Zone 2 within your training diary.
Simple enough? So what’s my problem? Well, if you ask anyone who knows me well whether or not I am a competitive soul they would probably fall over laughing. If I go out on a solo ride and see another rider up ahead I have to try to catch them. If I get caught then, after giving the rider due kudos, I have to try to hold position on them. Not wheelsucking but give them a respectful space and try to hold their pace. If I’m out on my vintage steed it’s a target to pass riders on modern rigs – almost like adding a badge on the top tube for each carbon rig notched off.
As I think someone else noted elsewhere, if I simply get blown away I just assume they have not gone, or are not going, as far as I am. Somehow it never seems to cross my mind that they may be 30-40 years (or more) younger than me and darned well should be going faster.
So you may now be getting the drift of why I have a problem with Recovery Rides. How can one simply cruise along and let people breeze past without feeling that they have notched you up as a slower rider – particularly if I am out on my carbon fantastic? However hard I try it simply does not seem to happen. I set out with the intention of a nice quiet ride and somehow still end up trying to attain warp speed and/or hammer up the steepest climbs on the route at max bore. A Recovery Ride just does not seem to fit in my psyche.
However, finally I think I may have come up with a solution. I’m going to have a jersey made with the following on the back:
| RECOVERY RIDE PLEASE PASS |
Then again my condition may be so bad that my psyche may latch onto this in the wrong way. What would be the effect of someone breezing past you with the above on their back? Hmmm…
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Mild dyslexia #38 and #74
If a rider passes you on the day, don't take it personally.
Ditch the computer, especially the HRM, so add #72.
Rule #18 says "don't suffer kit confusion", or, "don't dress like a cunt". That sign is something a COTHO would wear.
@Teocalli
I think that was a training ride for @ChrisO. Love that photo even though that jacket puffs up and makes me look even fatter than I am.
Here's one for all of you who actually know how to train: I've put my name down to ride for the club in a two day race (a TT and two road stages) on 7 June. The calibre is going to be fairly high. As of Wednesday though I'll be on Gardening Leave until 2 June. How would you set about training?
@roadslave I don't use a HRM as it will probably just tell me "you should not be doing that at your age". Blissful ignorance.
@Chris if no one else comes back I have a book somewhere that I think has some training schedules. I'll dig it out.
@frank
This is how I wanted to say it.....
@geoffrey
Word, I sometimes go out just for the fun of it, plod along to a coffee shop along the lanes, admiring the scenery and wildlife. Makes me feel like I am on permanent school summer holiday, ah the nostalgia!
Excellent article and subject.
@Yee Sorry to say this but that's the wrongest post I've seen since the last time someone included Lampre Man. At some point, depending on your original state of fitness, you will plateau and wonder why your riding is not improving you any more. As for the idea that Cervelos are some benchmark of nice bikes, well...
Frank put it beautifully that training is about discipline, but he didn't say why.
When you train your body and muscles are learning to do things, whether that's endurance, climbing, sprinting or whatever. Recovery rides - and rest days - are revision for your body. Physiologically it is when your muscles adapt to the training - they simply don't do it as effectively in training periods.
I found it incredibly hard to do real recovery rides when I started training "properly". I complained to my coach he wasn't working me hard enough but eventually I realised I rode harder and felt better at the times I needed to if I did them as they were supposed to be done. Which is also why I always do them with my power meter - they are so light I can accidentally exceed the threshold. As was said above, they may be easy rides but they aren't easy to do.
@Chris
Well done - sounds tough. What category?
Your timing is perfect - basically you have four weeks, as you need to leave the fifth and final week to ease back and taper so you need to start building up from now.
I'd say forget the TT as a training objective - unless you are aiming for an overall GC place. You're in control there so you can set your own pace and do it the way a climber or sprinter would in the Tours.
What you need to do is focus on the up and down of bunch riding. some exercises my coach has given me were:
Under/Overs: Under means 90% of threshold, Over means 110%. 1 min Over, 4 min Under, 1 min Over, 2 min Under, 2 min Over. Have 10 mins easy riding in between. Do two sets Week 1, then three sets Weeks 2 and 3.
40-20s: 40 seconds at very hard pace - 125% of threshold - then 20 seconds easy. For ten minutes. Two blocks. Rest for 10 mins in between. If you can, increase to 12 mins in weeks two and or three.
Catch Ups: go out with a group. Every 10 mins freewheel for 30 seconds, then catch them. In week two and three increase to 40 and 50 seconds, but at 15 minute intervals. Ride easy in the group in between.
Each session should have a gradual 20 min warmup and 10-15 min warm down.
The other session to do is just a steady endurance ride @ 75-80%. 70 mins Week 1 then 80 and 90.
Start the week, say Sunday with Catch Ups then light recovery ride for 60 mins Monday. Rest day Tuesday. Weds do the Endurance. Thurs Under/Overs. Friday Recovery. Rest day Saturday.
Week Two swap the 40-20s for the Under/Overs.
Week Three do Under/Overs instead of Endurance. That should be your hardest week. If you can, make the Friday Recovery an Endurance ride.
Week Four do Catch ups on Sunday then go back to Endurance riding on Weds and Thursday. Keep therecovery and rest days.
In the final week on Sunday do a 50 min ride at 80% and every 10 mins do 30 secs at 120%. Rest Monday. Tuesday same but for 40 mins. rest Weds. Thursday easy Recovery ride. Friday 50 mins including warmup and do two 5 min blocks at 90% with 10 mins rest in between. Start carb loading from Thursday and eat as much as you can after the first two stages - you need carbs and protein with 20-30mins of getting off the bike so a drink like CNP Recover is ideal.
you've got my email haven't you - feel free to ping me any questions.
@ChrisO Wot he said ! @Chris, I assume , dangerous I know , that you already ride a bit , so what you need most is to do high intensity intervals , the hardest part of racing is the attacks and climbs that must be countered when already on the rivet , try and simulate what will happen in the parcours you will face , when climbing go hard and then attack the top , your competitors will do this to you on race day , finish your ride with an all out race to the 'line' , absolutely smash it for the last five minutes when you are most tired , this is how the road race will end.
As for the TT , do whatever you can to your bike and kit to look as Pro as you can , so you can go as fast as possible , good luck.
@ChrisO Thanks, those posts deserve permanent +1s. Hope the 3-day race is going well.