General training question

My magic 8-ball has always been vague on this one:

If I'm scheduled for a recovery day, and especially if I'm feeling like I need it, but I also know that I'm going to have to miss or compromise a workout in the next day or two, what's the best course?

Take the recovery, and not get the workout I'd like later in the week? Or do a hard workout knowing that it'll be compromised because I'm already fatigued, and use the upcoming day as my recovery?

Or does it really depend on exactly how tired and sore I am, and how close to my goal date (i.e. there's no fixed answer and it's either hire a coach or ask the magic 8-ball again)?

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

My magic 8-ball has always been vague on this one:

If I'm scheduled for a recovery day, and especially if I'm feeling like I need it, but I also know that I'm going to have to miss or compromise a workout in the next day or two, what's the best course?

Take the recovery, and not get the workout I'd like later in the week? Or do a hard workout knowing that it'll be compromised because I'm already fatigued, and use the upcoming day as my recovery?

Or does it really depend on exactly how tired and sore I am, and how close to my goal date (i.e. there's no fixed answer and it's either hire a coach or ask the magic 8-ball again)?

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I tend to alternate hard days and recovery days. For example: Sat-race, sunday club ride, monday recovery ride, tuesday intervals, wed recovery ride, thursday intervals (or off if big race coming up), Friday off (or pre-race ride if big race on sat).

Following this sort of schedule your recovery days never fall on your training days! You get both intensity and recovery scheduled into the week.

Sometimes this schedule does get messed up, and maybe that is what happened to you. If you have a race/event on a day that is normally a recovery day, what do you do the next day? Is this your dilemma? My solution for myself is to skip the training day and take recovery instead. If you had a hard race on a monday, you will not be able to do quality work on tues, so don't try, it will be a waste of time, and you won't get in either intensity or recovery . . .

In terms of peaking for an event (your goal date), I am the worst person to respond because at the last minute I added to my calender a whole bunch of really hard races the week before what was supposed to be my first and most important peak of the season! I did it because those events were going to be fun, and I was feeling good (being so close to my peak) and so thought that I could be competitive. As a result I had good finishes in all the events instead of a great finish in the race I had targeted. . . So, better to taper a little bit before your event. To taper take an easy week where you still train, but half your training volume. To half your training volume, you can do fewer days of intensity, or train the same number of days, just halving the amount of time each day that you are doing high intensity work.

Thank you for starting this thread, I have had the same question as I work to build my mileage base and endurance for October.

I definitely wouldn't do the hard workout on a recovery day if fatigued. You can become injured. I would do the recovery day... then on the days when you think you will miss a workout, try to squeeze in at least a 30 minute workout. I have a treadmill at home, so on those awful busy days, rather than skip, I look for 20-30 mins on the treadmill.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Or does it really depend on exactly how tired and sore I am

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This is it for me. If I have a day coming up where i know there will be no way to squeeze in any time at all (which can happen when you have 3 little kids and a career), I will do the workout on the recovery day IF I am feeling up to pushing myself. If i'm feeling super sore and fatigued enough to dread it and WANTING the recovery day, I'll take a rest and miss 2 workouts for the week.