EPOisDope

I've never really understood this, but almost without exception, if I'm fatigued from a training block and then either take a day off the following or do a recovery ride (30-40 minutes in zone 1), I will feel much worse the day afterwards than if I did another day at Zone 3 (tempo) or above. My legs don't actually hurt more - they just feel completely "flat", similar to what you feel if trying to ride when you have a cold / flu. If, instead of that recovery day, I did Zone 3 or above instead, my legs will still feel as though they needed recovery, but they won't feel nearly as flat and I'll be able to put out much more power. If I have a race on Saturday and am fatigued on Thursday, using Friday as a recovery day will end in disaster on Saturday, whereas doing at least high zone 2 / low zone 3, if not more, means that I'll at least be competitive. Once I start down the road of recovery days, it will take at LEAST 3 or 4 recovery days before my legs feel normal again - often more. It seems like most riders experience the opposite, where the day after an easy day means that they will be stronger - not sure why the opposite is true for me. Once a body begins to recover, does it need to 100% FULLY recover before applying any kind of training load again? Ironically, longer races are where I usually excel, so I would have thought that my ability to recover would be better than most, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I swear that the most mentally taxing part of any structured training plan are the dreaded recovery days.

Thanks,
Dave