Importance of Recovery Week and how to know if you are actually recovering!

Cycling Training
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As you all know, recovery weeks are important and are, in fact, a part of training. Here’s why:

  • They can help prevent overtraining, which can lead to fatigue, injury, and burnout.
  • Recovery weeks give the body time to repair and adapt to the stress of training, which can improve performance over the long term.
  • They can also help cyclists maintain motivation and enthusiasm for training by breaking up the monotony of regular training cycles.
  • Recovery weeks can be customized to individual needs and goals, and may involve reduced volume, intensity, or both.
  • Skipping recovery weeks can result in diminished gains and increased risk of injury, illness, or mental exhaustion.

You all have had several recovery weeks by now. But this week, I’d like to focus on one aspect of the recovery week: how to tell if you are actually recovering as expected?

Here are the signs to look for to know:

  • A decrease in soreness and fatigue

  • Resting heart rate back to your normal (lowest average)

  • Increased HRV (heart rate variability)

  • Feeling mentally fresh and motivated for training at the end of the recovery week

  • Increased energy

Factors contributing to the above are:

  • reduced training load
  • good sleep
  • proper nutrition and hydration

Please comment below on how you are feeling this week!

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I wasn’t sure if this was a post to reflect on or answer then I read again!

I found some magnesium last night and ordered some to take as my legs were so tired during the WO on Thursday. I did errands on my commuter and they felt better but not 100%

I am not mentally refreshed either. I’ve had some college housing issues and I’m stressed about it so I think that is impacting things.

I think my HVR and resting HR are ok. I’m not sure what my brash should look like over time on the Oura.

Am I looking forward to next week? I guess.

I also feel like with this thigh/quad issue I am in a mentally negative mood about my fitness.
TMI so sorry.

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Feeling ok. I haven’t had the second workout of recovery week is really hard and sloggy for a long time but I did this week, which, while it didn’t feel good, is a good thing. I expected to feel really good for today’s workout and enjoyed the blue and green zones but all the rest felt really hard. I was not tempted to go beyond the two prescribed hours!

I’m pretty sure most of it is mental. The weather this week has been cold (30s to low 40s), windy, rainy, and sometimes snowy so mentally I am tired, but it has nothing to do with cycling. I need warmth and sunshine and my garden and this long, colder than normal spring is really bringing me down at this point. Tomorrow is going to be dry and in the low 40s and I will be working outside moving a shrub, planting a new tree, and thinning the raspberry patch and giving the canes to neighbors. This will go a long way to help me feel over all more energetic. I do believe there are some sunny days in the 50s ahead so I keep telling myself to hold on, everything will be ok.

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I also just came out of a recovery week. On the bike I felt tired and sore all week, even with the “easy” intervals. On the other hand, my sleep has been amazing. My HRV, resting HR and overall readiness is excellent all week and overall energy is good. The muscle soreness is being caused by a change in my strength program- I went from 3 sets of every exercise to 4 sets each, so it’s an increase in volume- and I didn’t lower the weight from the previous 3 set range, so I suspect also an increase in intensity. I know once I get over this hump, the soreness will go down.

Thanks for sharing @Stefanie and @Gossimrr.

@Stefanie you commute to work every morning, right? Do you wear sunglasses? Is the sun already out when you leave to go to work? If yes to both- try using non-tinted glasses or no glasses at all so that you can get sun rays in your retina first thing in the AM. That does wonders to mood and hormonal regulation, even on very cloudy days. And when you do yard work, also spend a bit of time without sunglasses- on a sunny day, you only need 5 or so minutes of naked eye exposure. On cloudy days 15-20 min.

@Gossimrr an injury can suck all the energy and fun out of cycling. It took my husband 3 years to finally find solution to his back problem (even though now he got himself a brand new injury in the leg :cry:). Keep at it… I think one of the most difficult things about injuries is that it sends us down so many rabbit holes and even what seems to me mystical paths of figuring out what could be causing it. All of a sudden, everything seems to be a potential “offender”. It’s not easy!

I have recently made a few changes that have positively impacted my sleep, recovery and HRV:

  • I stopped consuming caffeine past 11 AM
  • I started meditating every night (10 min) before bed
  • I stopped taking CBD

After these changes, my readiness score has been in the 90s every day, and sleep score between 85-90 every day.

The meditation has been helping tremendously with stress and it was after about 3 weeks of meditation that I realized I no longer needed CBD.

Last but not least: feel free to adjust recovery week as needed! Only you know whether you are recovering/feeling better. So if you need to take more days off, shorten rides a little, and skip some of the workouts, don’t be afraid to do so!

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@Coach_Theia thank you for the feedback. Yes, I have been t down the rabbit holes and I’m getting impatient and blame myself for letting this go on for so long and not addressing it.
I feel if I can just get the muscle to release it’ll be fine. It’s like the facia is too tight! I have I proved where everyday things don’t elicit pain. And most riding doesn’t, but I can’t kneel down and I can’t do child’s pose for I stance. But standing up and flexing my knee, fine. I was thinking of I quoting about dry needling perhaps.
I’m also experiencing an over active bladder. I can go for a three hour bike ride before I need to relieve myself, but during any other time it’s over active. I went to a (horrible) urologist and he basically gave me meds and told me to do kegels and sent me on my way. So I also wonder if this could be related somehow or even a pelvic floor issue.

I’m supposed to be trying this mindful protocol for the pelvic floor but I can’t seem to find the 20 minutes to meditate and be mindful! I have so much to do I feel or I need to better organize my time. I’m also feeling that it can be stress induced, the bladder issue. I have a bit of it right now.

I did reorganize my WO this week and I proud of myself for doing some rides alone outdoors. The tricky part is finding a restroom that you can fit your bike in. And with the weather getting better, I need to figure out how to include parts of the WOs in my rides.

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I do bike commute to work every morning @Coach_Theia but I am out early and until last week the sun hasn’t been over the horizon until I’m pretty much at work. Now it’s just up when I leave for work and still not bright enough to require sunglasses for now :smile:

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Take a mini break and step outside in the early AM!

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I had a lovely recovery week!
We went to Rocacorba Cycling near Girona :es:, it’s Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and her husband who own it. I went there March last year on a CHPT3 long weekend and loved it despite the weather not being so great.

There was sunshine :sunny:, lots of walking :walking_woman:, some yoga :woman_in_lotus_position:, swimming :swimming_woman:, and of course a bit of cycling :biking_woman:.

It’s a beautiful place, we hired bikes from them and rode three days, we did a loop to Girona for lunch at La Fabrica (coffee shop owned by ex pro Christian Meier - he was actually there when we were there).
The next day we rode Rocacorba, this time the weather was beautiful and I got the bonus of the view from the top. Last time I did it the cloud was low so it was cold and dank and zero view :scream:
The next day we rode a 74km loop through the volcanoes :volcano: area, absolutely beautiful!

That’s the way all recovery weeks should be :heart:
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@Coach_Theia this is something I try to do every morning- I get out for my walk in the morning most days to get my ‘sunlight’ exposure - up here at 57 degrees north I reckon it takes more than 10 minutes outdoors though to get what I need most days :scream:

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@Tracyligemagreen your recovery week is the week we all want!! So awesome that you got to spend it in Girona. I hope to ride there some day!

Good on you about the sunlight. I get it every day even if it is snowing. I just go in my back yard and walk around with the dogs when I am pressed for time.

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My recovery week turned out to be more of a recovery break. I was called out of town unexpectedly and stayed away most of the week. Usually I would feel anxious about missing out on my workouts but this time was a little different. I just told myself it would be ok and not to worry about it. But I think the break was just what I needed as I couldn’t wait to get back on the bike again this week. My nutrition is still a work in progress but now that I’m tracking my food I’m making a few adjustments so it will be interesting to see how those changes impact my riding.

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Hi all you wise ladies!! It’s recovery week! (Hallelujah) Other than less intense workouts, what do you do, or don’t do, differently for recovery during the week.

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Good question @bkolden! I eat less because I’m not as hungry. I relax more too, especially on Saturday. I think about other things besides cycling and sometimes I give myself permission to not do a workout or even get on the bike at all.

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Thanks @Stefanie! Hard to turn off that urgency in my brain! I definitely need to eat less this week. The scale almost went Boiiiing this morning. lol

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Recovery week

I’l’ start by saying that the mental part of recovery is extremely important- if not more important- than the physical part. Recovery week needs to be a time when there are no worries about training, no worries about progression, no worries about completing all workouts. If we follow the easier workouts for the week, but keep the mental intensity high, the recovery won’t be whole.

As @Stefanie said, don’t fel like doing a workout? don’t do it. Feel like taking an extra day off? By all means, take extra days off.

You can’t ruin your progress or your fitness by taking it easy for a week. I promise you. You could even take the whole week off once in a while.

If all that seems impossible, then it might be time to look within and seek to understand what is it about ourselves/lives that we are trying to either avoid or fulfill through intense exercise, such that, when taken away, we feel off.

As for the nutrition part, note that Stefanie said she doesn’t feel hungry, that’s why she eats less. So the food intake matches hunger. If you are hungry, eat. If you are worried about gaining weight, focus on nutrient-dense, whole foods (you can never go wrong there, I don’t think anyone ever gained weight from eating too much fruits or vegetables or protein), but don’t simply eat less or cut calories.

In my personal experience, I continue to be very hungry during recovery week, and my body doesn’t realize I am working out less until I am well within half way through recovery week. I give it what it needs. The scale is always tricky. For those of you who have been to a week-long training camp, and weighed yourself, you were probably 4-6 lbs heavier despite riding 4-5hs/day. Why? The body holds on to water, and other things within the muscles. Another example: the morning after a bike + strength day we usually weigh more, for the same reason, it’s part of the recovery process.

And the mental state (along with beliefs) can also influence hunger cues, satiation, and outcomes. Below is my favorite study to use as an example in this case. Ghrelin = hunger hormone:

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I found this really helpful @Coach_Theia !! You know better than most that I am not good about taking recovery weeks but with my state senior games coming up, I’ve been determined to follow the plan. Reading this helped me not feel guilty about taking 3 days off the bike this week, which is how many days did not have a bike activity on my plan mind you, but that’s what I tend to ignore during most recovery weeks. I wish i could say I ate less though, it’s always harder on a trip and the conference was one where there was breakfast/lunch every day and dinner one night. Now I just have to get myself back to my schedule and better eating here at home. I don’t have to travel for a week and a half at this point. I haven’t felt less hungry though.

In the end, i do feel like i am recovering this week, my oura ring agrees most of the days :laughing:

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@Coach_Theia or anyone, Do you have any articles about the neurological component of recovery week? Your comments back in August 2024 are helpful on the surface regarding the mental component but is there also a physiological neurological aspect to recovery especially after a particularly hard build? I am startled as I consider this week how my mental stressors have interfered with true recovery because I thought all I needed was a physical rest and all would reset and off we go. Now to figure out how to regulate and take a break from the mental stressors that just don’t seem to stop (work, professional responsibilities, homelife, hobbies, cycling team)

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Hi Barb- what info are you looking for in particular? outside stressors and neurological stressors all coming to play… And can interfere with a physical recovery. let me know and I can see if I have what you’re looking for

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You had mentioned neurological recovery and I guess I was wondering from a physiological perspective the pathophysiology of recovery. That info may not exist. :laughing: Just didn’t know if you had some articles. I can also look in my medical resources.

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Don’t spend a lot of time looking. Was just curious. Thanks.