how long will my degree of fitness last?

inaperfectworld

im going to the alps on 3rd september. for pleasure and fitness i finished the carlisle to glasgow route on tuesday ,over 5 days 241 miles( some diversions). this has been the best training i've had and my thighs have developed over just these 5 days and i've never managed 66 miles in a day before.
how long will this last? i can maybe get out on monday and /or tuesday but am then away until 25th august leaving just 5 days before leaving and i understand that i should be leaving some time clear off the bike before going to allow for recovery
so basically will i lose fitness to any extent in 3 weeks?

Toks

inaperfectworld wrote:

im going to the alps on 3rd september. for pleasure and fitness i finished the carlisle to glasgow route on tuesday ,over 5 days 241 miles( some diversions). this has been the best training i've had and my thighs have developed over just these 5 days and i've never managed 66 miles in a day before.
how long will this last? i can maybe get out on monday and /or tuesday but am then away until 25th august leaving just 5 days before leaving and i understand that i should be leaving some time clear off the bike before going to allow for recovery
so basically will i lose fitness to any extent in 3 weeks?

er...I can't believe you're asking that question. Its not a question of 'will you loose fitness' its a question of how much will you loose? Without knowing your fitness base and training history its a difficult question to answer.

Bikerbaboon

is there no way of working out while away? even if you are not getting on a bike you can still train your leg strength and arobic fitness.

inaperfectworld

i'll be on holiday in germany with wife and another couple on a kind of food type trip. so fitness isn't uppermost. perhaps going for a run in the morning would be practical, but how far at what intensity? i don't normally run at all.
actually i thought i'd heard that you shouldn't exercise in the fortnight prior to going on your long tour or whatever you've been training for, so as to give time for recovery and restoration of torn muscle fibres and consolidation.

Parsnip49

inaperfectworld wrote:

i'll be on holiday in germany with wife and another couple on a kind of food type trip. so fitness isn't uppermost. perhaps going for a run in the morning would be practical, but how far at what intensity? i don't normally run at all.
actually i thought i'd heard that you shouldn't exercise in the fortnight prior to going on your long tour or whatever you've been training for, so as to give time for recovery and restoration of torn muscle fibres and consolidation.

You should taper for a big event - i.e reduce your training down to let your muscles recover fully, but not 2 weeks of inactivity.

Without knowing your running background, its hard to say how far and what intensity. Running can be a very bad idea if you have crap shoes and dont run at all - build it up slow and try to run on grass if you can. - if you injure yourself, you fooked, at least if your only unfit you can still cycle :P

If you do nothing for three weeks, you will lose fitness. Personally, ive been off my bike for about a month, so have been running loads (My joints are used to it, and i have good shoes and orthotics which work for me), got back on the bike and my power hadnt dropped off at all.