rest days...

TheGreatGatsby

...are poo. but whats the deal - do you eat to refuel after a long week riding and to prepare for the long ride the next day or do you starve yourself and eat less than you would if you were to ride?

Gats

Alex_Simmons/RST

... are essential if performance is to be sustained and improved.

As is correct fueling. I see some that simply don't eat enough and don't rest/recover enough and could go much better by fueling properly and having the right amount of recovery.

Sometimes your chronic fatigue level can be so high that you mask your real performance potential.

Jeff Jones

If you're hungry on a rest day, you should eat. Your body will use the food to help you recover and make you stronger for the next block of training.

Cajun

These sites should help:
http://www.cptips.com/recvry.htm
http://www.ultracycling.com/nutrition/nutrition.html
http://www.cptips.com/snacks.htm

The Importance of Rest
Pro: Wolfram Lindner (former East German cycling coach, now mentoring the German pro team called Team Coast).

“Olaf Ludwig (top East German amateur who went on to a stellar pro career) rode
26,000 miles during the 12 months before his Olympic road race victory. When you
train as intensely as we did, you have to rest just as hard.
“ We went to Mexico for six weeks of altitude training. When we got back, my
boss in East Germany looked at all the rest days and said we could have saved money
by only staying four weeks. He didn’t understand the need for rest.”

Pro riders and coaches have said it many ways in the tips recorded in this book: Rest and
recovery are as essential as work.
Hard training is only half the equation. Without rest to allow the body to recover and get
stronger, those tough workouts are only so much wasted sweat.
If you’re not getting better despite your dedication to training, you’re probably a victim of
insufficient rest. Make sure to follow these rules for recovery:
• Take at least one day per week completely off the bike.
• Most riders improve maximally if they train hard 3 days per week and ride slow and
easy 3 days.
• Some (not many) riders can get away with 4 hard days per week. But it’s dangerous to
maintain this schedule for more than a month.
• As you get older, you recover more slowly. Riders over 45 or 50 often do best by riding
hard only twice a week and taking two days off the bike.
• Don’t try to be superhuman. You’ll improve faster—and have more fun—if you’re
rested and eager for hard training, group rides, or races.

TIP! During training, work on your shortcomings but don’t forget your strong points. As
coach Wolfram Lindner puts it, “We work extensively on riders’ strengths and also try to
improve their weaknesses. But never spend so much time on your weaknesses that you
lose your strengths.
“For instance, we had a great sprinter who suffered with the fourth group on climbs. He
worked all winter on climbing. When racing began he could climb with the third group.
But he could no longer sprint well.”

CAUTION! Overtraining is a constant threat when you’re in a regular training program.
Here’s an interesting warning sign from Dr. Massimo Testa:
“Sweat that smells like ammonia is a signal that you’re overtrained, glycogen-depleted,
and destroying muscle cells as you ride. It indicates catabolism and means you aren’t
respecting your need for rest.”
When you shower after a ride, be aware of the odor as the first spray of water hits your
body. If you catch a whiff of ammonia, take an easy week. Be sure you’re eating enough
carbohydrate to fuel your training.

nolf

I eat just as much on a rest day- but take the time to make sure it's all good quality and try and catch up on fruit and veg (and beer....) that I don't have time for while training.

I like to have 1 rest day a week and 1 recovery ride a week- but even on the rest days I like to spend 20 minutes stretching. It helps my legs recover and means I feel like I'm doing something productive.

So eat loads but take the time you may not have on training days to make it good quality food

Mike Willcox

One of the best indicators of training stress load is your resting HR. As long as you are sensible about building up your training rather than going too hard or go for too long rides too quickly then you should be able to train many days on the trot. If you take your RHR every morning then together with an honest evaluation of how you feel you won't go far wrong.

On a rest day then a gentle ride of about an hour or so (particularly if the weather is good) can be more beneficial than doing nothing at all.