Rest week?

KillerMetre

Just wondering what you guys consider a 'rest' week in the context of 3 weeks of gradually increasing intensity followed by a rest week.Compared to a hard week how does your rest week compare?

Wooliferkins

Short commutes for me at, "aah isn't the world great on a bike" pace. Almost frustratingly low levels of stuff if you're competing. You are letting your body repair an d recuperate so cometh the hour you can let it all go at the goal.

chrisw12

Serious question, why schedule a 'rest' week? Life has a habit of making us take un-scheduled 'rest' weeks.

That's my take on it.

KillerMetre

chrisw12 wrote:

Serious question, why schedule a 'rest' week? Life has a habit of making us take un-scheduled 'rest' weeks.

That's my take on it.

I'm a student so have a load of spare time the pace of daily life rarely exceeds chilled.

oldwelshman

My rest days come when the weather is crap.
I don't have a rigid schedule, I just train when I feel good and ready and just not in bad weather so if it reains, rest day, then out the next, hopefully it does not rain continious for 7 days 24 hrs but to be honest theres normally a few dry hours in every two day period even if it is at night.

Wooliferkins

It's not rest days in the OP. The 4/5 week training programme runs (ish) easy week, moderate week, hard week, v hard week, rest week. You work this backward from competitions so you have a structured plan ending in a rest week before your competition. It does work on many levels. you run your system up to a peak let it recover and then do your event. You roll it along each cycle incrementally growing with target events along the way until the biggie appears. My ex did it to get through Ironman and managed to cope with a failed Thyroid and ceoliac disease on the way. On a lower level I got round the Paris Roubiax Cyclotouriste despite being a lardy middle aged dude with a red wine penchant.

MatthewBulmer

I do take a 'rest week' about every fourth week. TBH I probably don't need a rest (I only train 6-8 hours per week.) The main purpose for me is psychological. I know that I can give it some stick for 3 weeks, and then look forward to a easier week. I usually look at my diary and try and schedule these weeks to conincide as much as possible with business trips, famility trips, etc. In terms of what training I do during the 'easier' week, I usually complete a couple of 1.5 hour L2 rides (with a bit of tempo thrown in ) and complete a FTP Test at the end of the week.

SBezza

The 4 week training block, does generally include a recovery week, not really a rest week. I think the idea is to keep the intensity up, just not the volume, so your body recovers from the previous three weeks of hard work.

Every body has different training loads, and to be honest I probably couldn't keep up with my training load if it wasn't for a recovery week every 4th week. I am on a recovery week this week, but I am still going to end up doing 9 hours +.

Infamous

SBezza wrote:

I think the idea is to keep the intensity up, just not the volume, so your body recovers from the previous three weeks of hard work.

I thought the idea was to recover as much as possible, ie do as little as possible.

SBezza

Infamous wrote:

SBezza wrote:

I think the idea is to keep the intensity up, just not the volume, so your body recovers from the previous three weeks of hard work.

I thought the idea was to recover as much as possible, ie do as little as possible.

Not really, from what I have read, and what my coach prescribes, is that you keep the intensity (well you back off a tad), but you lower the volume. Essentially you build over the three weeks, back off for the fourth, and then start building again for 3 weeks. This gives the body time to recover sufficiently without losing too much fitness. Obviously some people may need a complete rest, I guess it depends on how well you recover.

I am sure a coach would be able to comment on the actual reason behind this is.

Alex_Simmons/RST

SBezza wrote:

I am sure a coach would be able to comment on the actual reason behind this is.

There aren't any valid reasons for it. Rest and recovery should be scheduled when it's needed, not based on some arbitrary time scale.

If you really think a recovery week is needed after 2-3 weeks of training, then I'd suggest the training load in those 2-3 weeks is ill advised and you'd be better off dropping it a touch and keeping on with training at a more sustainable rate.

3 on, 1 off, is another cycling training myth.

freehub

I never really have a rest week, just a week I might only do 1 or 2 rides.

This week I'll have done 400 miles by tomoz, I've not stopped all week, I've being doing 10-15 mile sessions on the turbo each day and tomoz is gonna be hard!, so I'll take 2 days off next week.

Infamous

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

3 on, 1 off, is another cycling training myth.

I'm sure I've seen you saying that you use it.

hopper1

freehub wrote:

I never really have a rest week, just a week I might only do 1 or 2 rides.

This week I'll have done 400 miles by tomoz, I've not stopped all week, I've being doing 10-15 mile sessions on the turbo each day and tomoz is gonna be hard!, so I'll take 2 days off next week.

WTF does all that actually amount to saying?

You will have done 400 miles by tomorrow, so therefore you've done ??? miles so far.
You've been doing 10-15 miles on the turbo (I assume this week) so that's 60-90 miles?
Therefore tomorrow will be fecking hard, as you have to do between 310 and 340 miles :shock:
And if you've not stopped, you must be going really slow on the turbo...

I did read (in the classified 'rules') yesterday, that they frown upon text talk(txt spk), perhaps that should be encouraged in these sections, too?

jacster

Rest/recovery weeks are vital IMO. The timing of them is open to debate but regular recovery weeks allow you to RECOVER and adapt to the training you have been doing.

As Ric Stern - Alex Simmons' colleague - points out:

"Recovery is generally misunderstood, but is a crucial aspect to improved performance."

And he adds:

"...it's important to schedule a 'recovery' week every so often, say, every three or four week, whereby you reduce training volume by around 50 %."

doyler78

Well it just seems strange to me that someone can determine my response to training stress before I have even undertaken the exercise and without any prior knowledge of me, my physiology and my life in general and where cycling fits into all of that.

It's a guideline. Don't get caught up in guidelines. It helps make the process of writing books and putting up general training principles on on a website easy and of itself it will not do any harm however to suggest it is anything other than that is to completely misunderstand the relationship between training and the indidvidual. It will almost certainly be sub optimal however whether that is important or not is for the individual to decide and not for the person providing the guideline

Jaeger

I have scheduled a training plan for this year based on the "3 on, 1 off" school of thought, but things like the recent snow, colds, work etc seem to ensure rest weeks when one isnt scheduled. I'm starting to come round to the idea to ride whenever I can, knowing that something will come up to force me away from the bike for a 'recovery' week sooner or later.

freehub

hopper1 wrote:

freehub wrote:

I never really have a rest week, just a week I might only do 1 or 2 rides.

This week I'll have done 400 miles by tomoz, I've not stopped all week, I've being doing 10-15 mile sessions on the turbo each day and tomoz is gonna be hard!, so I'll take 2 days off next week.

WTF does all that actually amount to saying?

You will have done 400 miles by tomorrow, so therefore you've done ??? miles so far.
You've been doing 10-15 miles on the turbo (I assume this week) so that's 60-90 miles?
Therefore tomorrow will be fecking hard, as you have to do between 310 and 340 miles :shock:
And if you've not stopped, you must be going really slow on the turbo...

I did read (in the classified 'rules') yesterday, that they frown upon text talk(txt spk), perhaps that should be encouraged in these sections, too?

Mountain out of a mole hill?

It's simple really, I add all the miles I've done in a week which comes to that conclusion...

I was going slow on the turbo, my performance is pretty crap atm, I was only averaging around 216W on my best go with a peak of 901 and averaging 20.5mph on a 15 mile course with 3% climbs built in. I'm sure I'll improve.

Also you'll find tomorrow in text talk is not tomoz...

Pokerface

chrisw12 wrote:

Serious question, why schedule a 'rest' week? Life has a habit of making us take un-scheduled 'rest' weeks.

That's my take on it.

I'm heading into my 4th unscheduled rest week. In a row.

Infamous

You're just finding your feet though poker.

jacster

Just looking at the advice of most eminent cycling coaches...they believe a recovery week after three/four weeks of training is a good thing.
There will be some renegades but the majority concur with this train of thought.

thiscocks

freehub wrote:

hopper1 wrote:

freehub wrote:

I never really have a rest week, just a week I might only do 1 or 2 rides.

This week I'll have done 400 miles by tomoz, I've not stopped all week, I've being doing 10-15 mile sessions on the turbo each day and tomoz is gonna be hard!, so I'll take 2 days off next week.

WTF does all that actually amount to saying?

You will have done 400 miles by tomorrow, so therefore you've done ??? miles so far.
You've been doing 10-15 miles on the turbo (I assume this week) so that's 60-90 miles?
Therefore tomorrow will be fecking hard, as you have to do between 310 and 340 miles :shock:
And if you've not stopped, you must be going really slow on the turbo...

I did read (in the classified 'rules') yesterday, that they frown upon text talk(txt spk), perhaps that should be encouraged in these sections, too?

Mountain out of a mole hill?

It's simple really, I add all the miles I've done in a week which comes to that conclusion...

I was going slow on the turbo, my performance is pretty crap atm, I was only averaging around 216W on my best go with a peak of 901 and averaging 20.5mph on a 15 mile course with 3% climbs built in. I'm sure I'll improve.

400 miles a week? You must be a full time cyclist then?

doyler78

jacster wrote:

Just looking at the advice of most eminent cycling coaches...they believe a recovery week after three/four weeks of training is a good thing.
There will be some renegades but the majority concur with this train of thought.

You make blanket statements about what coaches believe based on sound bites. This may or may not be reflective how they would deal with a client in a one to one situation where the coach factors in all the different aspects that are important in drawing up a training plan.

Let's put it this way. You are asked to give some general training advice to people about how they could go about creating their own programme. This programme will be read by a wide variety of people from very differing backgrounds, with differing amounts of time available, different physiologies, etc. What do you do? You play it safe. You build it in such a way so as to vastly reduce the risk of overtraining. That is the sensible thing to do however does that mean that for a client in a one to one situation that this is always the best approach?

Of course it isn't. Training programmes are as a varied as the people that use them. They may all have certain training principles that underpin them but that is far from saying they are all the same or should be the same.

If we took the principle of recovery and applied to the rest of the training programme we would all be doing exactly the same thing if we were riding the same races. We all know that would be ludicrous however yet there seems to be some debate as to whether we should all be doing the same recovery. Niave.

jacster

Niave,
Of course what you do in that week varies from person to person. That goes without saying.
But the general principle that most coaches subscribe to is a reduction in volume during that recovery week.
What that reduction is will depend on the individual and what has preceded that recovery week.

SBezza

Jacster is pointing out that a 3/4 week build, with backing off for one week, is quite common within the cycle coaching world. Whether you use it yourself or not is your choice.

Now what you do during those weeks, will be based on what you personally can do. If you have a good relationship with a coach, then they will be able to put together a pretty good programme based on your circumstances. Some people will get by on hardly any recovery, some people need more.

My back off week, included more hours on the bike, than a clubmate who is on a build week, he can only do 4 to 5 hours a week, but still has an easier week built into his programme. So his typical 4 to 5 week block is similar in the fact he builds for a period of weeks and then has a easier week, just like I do, but what he does during those weeks, is different to what I do. Also along with this is the races he targets, he isn't going to be great at the longer distances, because he hasn't got the time to put the mileage in.

Bronzie

With the advent of power-based training metrics like Training Stress Score, it's possible to monitor your training very accurately to avoid the possibility of overtraining, so a rest week every 4th week may not be strictly necessary provided you stay within the guidelines for TSS ramp rate (max +4-8 TSS/d/wk).

That said, I find that an easier week is mentally beneficial to me and allows me to hit the next 4 week cycle with more enthusiasm than if they just run into each other. Each to their own.

For me a rest week is pretty similar makeup to a normal week in terms of intensity, but backing off the volume by 25-50%.

jacster

I agree bronzie.
In addition to the physical rest, which allows recovery and adaption, you are giving yourself a mental rest.
It's hard to back off, but IMO, vital.

Damien_KW

I find a rest week every now and again pretty essential. Otherwise I'd never catch up on all the stuff I put off whilst training. The washing up, hoovering, doing the shopping, going to the pub, phoning my Mum...!

Seriously though, I think if you work full time and still train quite a few hours a week, rest time just gets squeezed. Easing back on the training for a week usually comes as a welcome relief!