squatchy

So the weather here in Colorado has been snowy and cold for quite a while now and my training is way behind for a tour I'm riding in 5 weeks. I have been riding lots (for me anyway) on the weekends.

My legs are shot all the time and it takes me a long time to recover, and then not totally. I'm a new rider (first year) and I'm 53 years old. Fat and out of shape.

Here's what I did the last end of last week.

Thursday I rode 24 miles with 2400 ft climbing. Friday I rode 18 miles with 1000 ft climing (hard and fast). Saturday I rode 84 miles First 60 in three hours (fast for me) and then slower with GF the last 24,,,same 24 as on Thursday. Sunday I rode 65 miles,,,long and slow with GF with lots of climbing.

It's now Thursday morninig and I'm still pretty tired.

How long would it take you guys to recover? To make it a little easier lets do this>>>>

How long would it take to ride a century and how long would it take you to recover?

I think I am way slow at recovering!!

Gjc985

id say go out for a short spin to loosen up the legs. I would think they're just tight based on the load you put on them over three days

alexaschwanden

Try resting for a day or two.

canam73

Everybody will be a bit different on this, especially when starting out. Even for experienced cyclists some training plans recommend at least 36 hours between any hard efforts and some purposely put 2 in a row. You just have to experiment a bit and find what works for you.

I recommend something like no more than 2 hard days in a row followed by at least one easy day and one rest day and then repeat. Say big rides on Sat & Sun, recovery ride Monday, off Tuesday, hard ride Wednesday, mid-tempo Thursday, off Friday and then start it over. Try that pattern for a couple weeks and then adjust as needed.

Machka 

The answer is ... it depends.

When I've been riding regularly over the past few years, a century or 200K or 300K isn't too difficult, and I generally recover about 2-3 days later. So if I ride it on a Saturday, I'm feeling all right by Tuesday. When I was younger and in the best shape of my life, I felt fine on the Monday, or sometimes the Sunday ... I have done back-to-back centuries and longer rides just fine.

However, if I haven't been exercising much and I kind of throw myself into it (like I have been doing lately), it's tough. I'm finding it's taking me to the middle of the week to recover.

squatchy

One reason I'm riding three big days in a row is because I'm doing a 3 day tour in five weeks with a boat load of miles/climbing so I'm kinda wanting to replicate the Death Ride in riding in the first weekend of June. I'm really feeling like I'm WAY behind on where my training should be for this tour. This will be by far my toughest ride.

coasting 

i'm slow. a century would take me 6 to 7 hours total time. That does include the relaxing lunch and beer, followed by a snooze while the food digests.

recovery is a couple of days. I can do another decent ride.

canam73

That being the case you should map out a plan that builds you to that point, with an easy taper the final week. I would try one more week of higher volume but mostly low and medium intensity rides. Then do a 3 week block with increasing intensity and finish with a recovery week. Make sure to schedule a rest day and some easy days during your build weeks, too, because it's on these days that your body actually adapts and gets stronger.

coasting 

overthinking. just go out and ride. enjoy.

merlinextraligh

Having a base of miles makes it easier. I'm your age, and after the 4 days you list, i'd take a day off, or a day for a recovery ride, then be back at it. How much training you can handle depends on what your already trained to handle.

Assuming you have the time to ride, I don't think you're advancing your training by taking 3 days off. I'd try to ride more days.

You also can improve your fitness and endurance, by adding some shorter intensity work.

You could try a schedule like this. Saturday, and Sunday 3-4 hours endurance paced each day. Monday off. Tuesday and Thursday, 90 minutes with intervals. Wednesday moderate paced 1 hour. Friday very easy spin for 30 minutes.

On the interval days, longer "steady state" intervals are going to serve your purpose best. Do 2 intervals just about as fast as you can maintain. Start at 10 minutes each, with 5 minutes in between, and work up to 20 minutes each.

Every 4th week, take a rest week where you skip the intervals, substituting reovery rides for the two interval days, and cut your weekend time to 2 hours each day.

If the schedule I've outlined is too aggressive, I'd decrease the volume (i.e. shorten one or both weekend days) before I skipped more days.

I think 4 days hard, followed by 3 or more days rest, is part of your problem, i.e. weekend warrior syndrome.

Campag4life

Don't think there is a rote answer OP but after yesterday's hard ride this early in the season, I need a day off the bike.
If you feel tired which I do today...a good tired tho....rest is important.
What makes you stronger? When you break your body down, it grows stronger provided you allow it to aka rest.

berner

The whole training and recovery process is very technical these days and the more you know about it the more successful you will be. Try this book to begin learning. https://www.humankinetics.com/product...ycling-past-50

CrankAndYank

Depends on your DNA. Build a time machine and select your parents more carefully this time.

Clipped_in

Nice post!

dalava

I normally need 2 days to recover (no riding or zone 1/2 ride only) after a century or a hard ride.

DataJunkie

I'm usually fine the day after a long ride but you aren't me and vice versa.
If it is a particularly difficult race where I went all in for a fair amount of time that may take a day or two.
I have been riding for a while and have spent an extensive amount of time working on recovery methods.

10 Wheels

First You need to get in Shape for Long Rides.

Take shorter rides till you get in better shape.

I have done 5 centurys in five days. 71 y/o here.

ricohman

I'm a 1000 years old.
It takes me at least 2 days to recover from an intense effort or race. But I just ride easy on those days.
And those are the days when idiots doddle around me while I ride like a granny. Go figure.

Campag4life

Very very impressive.

pdedes

I sometimes ride the trainer with recovery in mind on the morning with subsequent hard rides in the afternoon / evening.

Campag4life

+1
Words to train by OP.

carpediemracing 

To recover you're really asking your body to rebuild stuff that broke down during those hard rides. As pointed out before you don't get stronger by riding more, you get stronger when you recover. You don't do bench presses 24x7 and get stronger and stronger - in fact you'll get weaker and weaker. However if you do a bunch of bench presses, rest (and recover), then you should be able to bench press a bit more next time.

To recover you need to give your body the material it needs to recover. That's rest and nutrients. "Nutrients" doesn't necessarily mean a strict diet, it means you need to give your body the proteins, the minerals, the carbohydrates it needs to refuel and replenish.

In the days before I ride I'll make sure I'm eating a bit more carb rich. Just before, and I mean like 15 minutes before, if I haven't had time to eat properly then I'll have simple sugars (i.e. a Coke and a bar/gel etc). If I'm not eating carbs in the day or so before I ride then I'm going to feel weak when I do ride, regardless of any Cokes etc. If I don't eat enough protein I'm going to feel sore/tired for longer than necessary. If I don't eat enough calories I feel weak/fatigued in general.

Actual dieticians/nutritionists feel free to pipe up.

Will Goes Boing

Listen to your body. I recently had my 2nd experience in true over training and I can tell you that once your body has had enough, no amount of mental fortitude can push you through. You hear that word being thrown around a lot, but the truth is that it takes a lot to reach the point of over training.

Last week I did 5 hard rides with 1 intense leg workout at the gym thrown in there. When I went for a ride on the weekend I felt like my legs had nothing left in them. I was struggling to ride on the flats with almost zero wind. At that point I just turned around and went back home. Two days later and my legs still had this dull disconnected feeling in my muscles.

The key is to take as long as you need to recover, and to not try to do too much too soon. Also drinking plenty of water and eating a healthy diet with enough protein will help with recovery.

Beneficial Ear

I've done a handful of 100+ mile rides over the past few weeks and gone right back out the next day for another long ride and typically none of these are "easy" rides. How is very simple - stretch after the ride, stretch again later... keep well fed/hydrated during the ride and eat smart directly after the ride (and in general). No stretching = soreness... a really bad bonk the day before = tired/drained... not eating smart = lack of general endurance/tired/drained... this is personal observations but ya can't go wrong with stretching/eating right/drinking plenty of water.

stilltooslow

The older you are, the longer it takes to recover. Believe me, as a 57 y/o life long roadie, my body tells the hard truth.

I try to take a rest day after no more than 5 days on and very rarely 6, and I'll always have an easy day somewhere near the middle. And as others mentioned, you'll find that you can go longer and rest less once your conditioning improves. Just try to get a nice mileage base for now and everything will progress in time.