Recovery time after long spins

Lumen

I'm currently commuting on the bike during the week (15km each way) and doing one long spin at the weekend. I wouldn't consider myself "bike fit" quite yet, but I'm getting there.

On Saturday I did about 100km up to Sally Gap and back, which felt fine, apart from the usual mild back pain towards the end. This morning I cycled to work and whilst on the bike I felt fine, going up and down the stairs at work my legs feel heavy and weak.

I can commute by train when necessary, so can afford to arrange my bike commuting for best training benefit, but I don't know how to judge the optimum recovery time.

Will I get maximum improvement by staying off the bike until I feel "fully recovered" (which could take two or three rest days), or just give myself one day off and cycle it off?

I'm not very good at recovery rides, as I tend to just power away at full tilt whenever I'm cycling solo.

AstraMonti

I asked the same question few months ago. What i did and worked for me was commute by bicycle monday to thursday, friday by luas, saturday long spin, and sunday rest.

I took it hard 3 weeks ago doing 30kms per day and both weekend days, and now my knee is injured and i can't ride the bike for a few weeks

So an advice from a newbie, take it easy!

tunney

IMHO learn to train properly.
Spanking it every time you ride is not a good idea.
Recovery after a long ride assuming correct refuelling should be minimal.

Lumen

tunney wrote: »

IMHO learn to train properly.
Spanking it every time you ride is not a good idea.
Recovery after a long ride assuming correct refuelling should be minimal.

Thanks. I'm getting a powertap shortly, which should help me to pace my efforts a bit better.

Do you have an opinion on this book, or other suggested resources?

tunney

Lumen wrote: »

Thanks. I'm getting a powertap shortly, which should help me to pace my efforts a bit better.

Do you have an opinion on this book, or other suggested resources?

Great book - I have it and use it alot.

scottreynolds

You don't need a power meter to judge your commutes at all. I do pretty much exactly the same as you except I have long rides and some more intervals during the week. Training is about both intensity and duration.

You need to judge the rides that you doing and use a HRM or something else, perhaps speed, to judge your efforts. I train in heart rate zones (I can't justify a power meter). There's several website that let you clarify your zones etc etc.

As was mentioned above you don't need to go flat out everytime its counter productive. You need to ride easier some days harder others. I'd suggest something like this (although I'm not an expert)

M - Rest Ride. Slow meander into work.
T - Medium Effort
W - Hard Effort
T - Medium Effort
F - Rest Ride - Take it easy
S - Long Ride.
S - Either take it off, or a slow ride.

As this start to get easier add some more harder rides. You can ride Saturdays effort hard or easy. For you body theres a big difference between hard and easy in terms of your recovery required. e.g. My Saturday ride this week I rode easy for 4.5 hours so recovery was minimal. Whereas on Wednesday I rode for 6 hours at a tougher pace and need more recovery time.

Every 4 weeks I have a easier week where M,T,T,F rides are all easy pace. The experts call this periodisation /periodization.

My 2 cents.

Actually there's more. What you eat when you finish os very very important as well. You need a good intake of healthy carbs, pasta etc and some protein like chicken. Alcohol will only slow down the recovery process but will make you feel better

blorg

@Lumen- I would suspect a Powertap might be a bit more than you need right at the moment, they are after all quite expensive. I am considering one myself but that is only as I have started racing and am looking at slightly more structured training... You can use heart rate to a large extent to pace yourself in my non-racing experience. What are your goals? Having said that I will never stand between a man and his gadgets.

jimshady101

My brother(Jer) and I run sports supplements company called High Performance Nutrition. My brother is ranked 2nd in the country over 60m indoor and 100m outdoor.

One of the best Post-Workout items to be taking is L-Glutamine. Research has shown that supplementing 5-15 grams of L-Glutamine per day can decrease muscle soreness, decrease recovery time and boost the body's immune system.
Not sure about cyclists but many of Ireland's top athletes and sprinters swear by L-Glutamine.

Could be something to look into.

Caroline_ie

jimshady101 wrote: »

Research has shown that supplementing 5-15 grams of L-Glutamine per day *can* decrease muscle soreness, decrease recovery time and boost the body's immune system.

So does having a nice indian take away and beer ... it CAN help you recover faster :pac:


Sorry ...

Ryaner

One thing to consider is over training. Surprised no one mentioned it but it is something which can silently creep up on you if you don't let things recover properly. It can be picked up easily enough if you have records of your resting heart rate. If not it can feel like a mild flu that just won't go away.

Lumen

blorg wrote: »

@Lumen- I would suspect a Powertap might be a bit more than you need right at the moment...What are your goals?

To beat you up a big hill, when you're trying. :pac:

More seriously, I'd like to get fast enough to race and not completely embarass myself, ideally by next summer. I am a long way from this right now (I guesstimate that I need to double or triple my sustained power output, if that's even possible) but I need a specific goal, and it seems as good as any.

I can spend maybe four or five hours each weekend on the bike, in addition to extended commuting and the odd long-lunchtime spin, but club (and boardsie) riding is difficult as I need to be back for midday-ish. More telemetry therefore seems a good way to make the most of solo riding opportunities.

jimshady101

Caroline_ie wrote: »

So does having a nice indian take away and beer ... it CAN help you recover faster :pac:


Sorry ...

We constantly interact with top athletes from both the Athletics and Rugby scene. We get feedback from many house-hold names on products and which they find the best for the various stages of their training.

I am simply offering helpful advice on what will help recovery.

BaBiT

Lumen wrote: »

To beat you up a big hill, when you're trying. :pac:

More seriously, I'd like to get fast enough to race and not completely embarass myself, ideally by next summer. I am a long way from this right now (I guesstimate that I need to double or triple my sustained power output, if that's even possible) but I need a specific goal, and it seems as good as any.

I can spend maybe four or five hours each weekend on the bike, in addition to extended commuting and the odd long-lunchtime spin, but club (and boardsie) riding is difficult as I need to be back for midday-ish. More telemetry therefore seems a good way to make the most of solo riding opportunities.

That was my thinking Lumen when I bought a Garmin 705...I thought because I did all my training on my own the 'race against yourself' function would be handier and a good way to progress my fitness....I've never actually used it!...I joined a club last september and it has done way more for my fitness than any gadget (still like my hrm though!)...I think (and more experienced and racing cyclists feel free to correct) that riding in a bunch demands a different level of fitness and an ability to recover that you just don't get from riding on your own...My two cents would be to keep the money from the power tap and join a club and try to make the time to get out on spins

Caroline_ie

I was only joking ... :pac: LOL i am the last person to listen to about recovery, I just stretch, eat and sleep

Lumen

jimshady101 wrote: »

One of the best Post-Workout items to be taking is L-Glutamine. Research has shown that supplementing 5-15 grams of L-Glutamine per day can decrease muscle soreness, decrease recovery time and boost the body's immune system.
Not sure about cyclists but many of Ireland's top athletes and sprinters swear by L-Glutamine.

Out of curiosity, do you have any links to double blind placebo controlled studies which demonstrate the benefits of oral L-Glutamine? I read that it needs to be taken as a suppository to have any effect, and I'm not sure that I'll ever be that serious about anything to go down (up?) that route.

ROK ON

Caroline_ie wrote: »

So does having a nice indian take away and beer ... it CAN help you recover faster :pac:


Sorry ...

I have tried this receovery method and fully endorse it:D

scottreynolds

BaBiT wrote: »

I think (and more experienced and racing cyclists feel free to correct) that riding in a bunch demands a different level of fitness and an ability to recover that you just don't get from riding on your own

I think your referrinf to the constant pace changes of group riding breaks etc. when training by yourself you simulate these scenarios by interval training. I was reading about the garmin (or cervelo) training camp and they where doing some 5 hours rides with 2x20 intervals in the middle of it. Its all fairly standard stuff.

Also... there's a good magazine from cycling weekly about getting spring fitness which I bought that looks like it had some good suggestions.

tunney

jimshady101 wrote: »

We constantly interact with top athletes from both the Athletics and Rugby scene. We get feedback from many house-hold names on products and which they find the best for the various stages of their training.

I am simply offering helpful advice on what will help recovery.

I thought it was a case of *may* with L-glutamine - I've yet to see definitive studies that back it up.

FrankGrimes

Lumen, have you tried cold showers or using a plunge pool to help with recovery? I try to get to the gym the day after a long cycle and do 3 x 1 minutes in the plunge pool and 3 minutes in the jacuzzi in between.

Nothing, and I do mean nothing, refreshes me like that does. As I don't have the discipline to do that often, I generally just end my warm post-cycle showers with 5 minutes of cold shower and point the shower head all over my legs and lower back - really does help my recovery time.

I only got home from 4hrs 15mins on the bike on Saturday at 4.45pm so had to jump in the shower and then watch the match so didn't get in my usual post cycle 1 hour kip. Had a beer in my hand within minutes and knew I wouldn't be letting up till late so when I felt a headache kicking in I took a Solpadeine as I wanted to be in good humour for the match. Not to be recommended as a usual practice at all, but it helped and I got through till last beer at 4pm with no bother!

I always get a tightness in the upper glutes/lower outside back. Discovered a great stretch for it getting out of bed one day and refined it to this: Stand on right leg; bend left leg and put left ankle resting on right knee; bend forward and bring left hand toward right ankle; move into a sitting position a bit and hold for 30 seconds. Really stretches out that area and I do it during my breaks when out for cycles and it really helps me get more comfortable on the bike.