MH817

I've been out of town quite a bit with work over the past two weeks, and my training has been abysmal. I was averaging about 6 days a week on the bike (with one of those being a recovery) since the end of May. For the past two weeks I've only ridden about 3-4 times. I was due for a recovery week anyway, and I was starting to get mentally fatigued as well - so maybe this is a good thing.

However, I have a race next weekend that I've been gunning for most of the year. I'm resuming my normal training plan today and will be able to get 4 pretty solid workouts in before tapering for the race next Sunday. Have I completely screwed myself, or should I be able to maintain my fitness with the small layoff?

carpediemracing 

Without more info it's hard to say. If you'd put in a huge block of training just before your trip then it's possible that after a few days riding you'll actually be stronger than you were when you left. My winter used to involve some hard training for 2 months, culminating in a huge week or two that ended in late January or early February. Then I'd spend pretty much 3 weeks barely training due to other commitments, with my first race the first Sunday in March. I'd be feeling super good that Sunday.

On the other hand if you were doing the same thing over and over then you'll be very fresh but in terms of fitness I couldn't tell you. I've had some of my best races in my lift after 9-10 days off the bike (and typically 1 ride in the previous 20 days) mid-season, i.e. no big training block and a totally unexpected break from training.

Recovery lets you rebuild. Go for an easy ride first - my feet/legs usually swell up pretty badly if I take even a few days off the bike so I do an easy ride to shrink them down. Then do whatever you do, with the second day before your race an easy/rest day and a moderate ride the day before the race.

Better educated training/fitness people please pipe up.

tetonrider

it REALLY helps if you can get on a bike for even 10-15 minutes of easy pedaling, to maintain neuromuscular firing patterns. that can keep you slightly more in a neutral mode rather than detraining.

if you are COMPLETELY off the bike, you are recovering the first few days then DEtraining.

shovelhd

It really depends on your level of fitness before the break and where you were in the base/build/taper cycle. If you timed it right, you should be in race shape in a few days.

jsutkeepspining

this is what i've been told, and generally try to do.

Grumpy McTrumpy

a friend of mine sometimes drives a truck all week and then goes to races on weekends


and wins.

mattm

you will be fine.

clones2

Agreed. With you current training workload... Dropping to just a few days of training could actually get you really strong with some fresh legs. Post with how it goes.

Tyrell

Grammatical gold star for using "lose" instead of "loose" in this context.

Andy Somnifac 

I was off the bike for 3 weeks traveling this summer, and when I got back on, my fitness level was very loose.

merlinextraligh

Hay is already in the barn for next weekend. Other than some short intense efforts to keep you sharp, nothing much you do in the next 10 days is going to change results next Sunday (other than trying to make up for lost time and burying yourself, which could have a negative effect.)

The training you're doing this week is for down the road.

spectastic

for me, if I ride hard for several days, I can notice the difference within a week. On the other hand, if I'm off the bike for a week, that effect is pretty obvious too.

someone said that riding less days is better than training 6 days/week? what's a good number of days to aim for? I was thinking biking to and from work (45 miles) Tuesdays and Thursdays, with some intervals mixed in there, along with a hard group ride at the end of the day (about 25-30 miles), and rest M/W/F, and then train again during the weekend. Is that too much for one day? Or should I ride to work Monday/Wednesday, and spread it out a little?