Rest Days?

[Catrin]

I would like to know how other women approach rest days, especially older women. If I had my way about it I would ride almost every day it wasn't raining, but I've reluctantly come to accept that is just too much unless I want to go from one over-use injury to the next. I do have some events I want to ride in this year, as well as increasing my mtb skills. I do, however, have to be more intentional about the combination of riding and rest days.

Last week I rode 105 miles, more than I did the entire rainy month of April (the week before last I rode an entire 22 miles because I'd tweaked my hamstring and IT band or Sartorius). Not the best way to build my base but it felt pretty good most of the week. I took a day off the bike between the rides...until Friday that is Weekends don't count Monday my legs were pure toast so I took it off, last night I hit the gym to give my legs something different today, and tomorrow I've a tandem ride planned (as stoker) so took tonight off so I will have fresh legs tomorrow. I will likely ride Thursday through Saturday anyway so riding tonight wasn't a great idea.

I am not trying to over-think this, at least I hope not, but I do need to develop a stronger routine regarding rest and riding days or I will revert to old habits. It would be helpful to know how other women approach this. It is a fine line between proper rest and training to improve and a little bird told me we need a bit more recovery time at 50+...

[maillotpois]

I'm under 50, and ride a lot longer distances than you do, but I have found rest days - and even rest months, where I'm riding less, but still riding - to be absolutely critical to both performance and sanity. It is logical: you break down muscle tissue while training, and recovery is the time when it heals itself and the muscle gets stronger.

Unlike when I was running, the only sort of overuse injury I have had cycling I will simply refer to as "a@@ thetans" wherein my sit bones develop an almost funny bone like response to pressure. Those developed twice, both after lots of sustained training and long rides. I backed off a bit, and they left of their own accord.

[ny biker]

Well I have never wanted to ride my bike every day. But my general approach to exercise is to do something 4-5 days per week, depending on my schedule, the weather, etc., and alternate difficult workouts with easier ones.

In general, my schedule is:

Monday: weight training
Tuesday: walk for an hour or day off
Wednesday: hilly bike ride, 60-90 minutes
Thursday: weight training
Friday: walk for an hour or day off
Saturday or Sunday: long bike ride
Other weekend day: run errands, get stuff done, etc, maybe go for a walk.

Years ago I used to go to the gym 5-6 days per week, but even then I would alternate difficult days with easy ones and always have at least one day off.

So I would say that if you want to ride your bike that much, plan ahead to make some of the rides easy.

I generally know at the beginning of each week what my activities will be on each day, with allowances for switching things up if the weather is bad on certain days (and for days like today, when I cancelled my hilly ride due to a combination of sleep deprivation, a stressful day at work leaving my brain mushy and a huge rainstorm that left the roads full of big puddles). Since you've already had a problem because you worked out for 12 days in a row without realizing it until the pain kicked in, I'd say it would be helpful for you to plan out each week in advance so you don't overdo it.

[Catrin]

Good advice, both of you, and NY Biker, that is what I am trying to do, think ahead and make plans for riding/exercise/rest days. I never set out to over-do things but the week passes so quickly... I am under a lot of stress right now which does make me more prone to working out too much as exercise is my primary form of stress relief.

I really don't want to ride "every day", it just feels like that right now because the warm weather is finally settling in. I think my body would be more forgiving if I hadn't spent 49.5 of my 52 years on the couch...but things are improving. I cannot complain when I look at the things I can do now - which I once would have never thought possible.

I do try to alternate hard rides with easy rides when I ride consecutive days, but sometimes that is easier said than done. I need to be more strict with myself on this. I probably would have taken an easy spin tonight if my quads weren't sore from the gym last night, so am kind of proud of myself that I took it off Speaking of which, time to stretch now.

[SadieKate]

I'm currently still in winter running mode (yeah, I know I said I was retiring from running 2 years ago but I'm supporting a friend who couldn't run with me for my bucket list half last year). Whatever, long story, I won't switch to riding mode for another couple weeks.

Monday - run about an hour, try to find some hills, keep it mixed up with both terrain and intensity.
Tuesday - strength
Wednesday - run with the LRS group because they'll push me out of my comfort zone
Thursday - spin in the morning and strength train with the same coach in the afternoon
Friday - OFF, completely, seriously OFF!
Saturday - long run
Sunday - strength train and then go fishing (which for us could mean a lot of hiking)

I can't think of anything I want to do every day that wouldn't cause mental and physical burnout. Oh, and I'm 52 . . . chronologically.

[malkin]

Tossing in a play ride every now and then works for me.

Casual, ride around the neighborhood. Stop at garage sales, chat up the neighbors, stop for a beer, check out the clearance table at the store, see if there are any local (non)events happening...stuff like that. Maybe don't even look like a real cyclist.

[Wahine]

Somebody may have already posted something very similar and I apologize for being repetitive but I haven't had much time lately and couldn't read through all the posts.

The masters athletes that I coach (over 40 yrs) generally get 2 rest days a week and I periodize their schedules such that they do 2 harder weeks and then have a recovery week where time training or mileage goes down to about half of what they did on their hardest week.

Rest days don't have to be total rest days but they need to be easy effort activities, like a very light 30 to 45 min recovery ride or yoga.

I hope that helps.

[shootingstar]

Every year during spring, summer and fall, I do go through several wks. of cycling every day.

Now my distances are shorter...because workplace is closer and I'm not cycling longer distances after work for fun this year as often, compared to a few years ago. Part of it is due to the city where I live now and also what I feel like doing.
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When I was 51 yrs., I was cycling daily spring, summer, fall, each 30-40 km. daily within a 2- 2.5 hr. period when I was unemployed and looking for work ...off-bike.

Then weekends during that same time period (I was unemployed for 18 months), on weekends, each day ride was 40-60 km. I did go through several periods of cycling daily for 14-20 consecutive days. Then a rest day of no cycling or under 15 km. I did rack up alot of mileage with 2-3 bike touring trips for a few days..up to 7,000 km. for 1 yr.
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When I started off cycling at 32 yrs. for 14 yrs. onward, I was work commuting-cycling minimum of 30 km daily with some evenings of extra 10-20 km. for fun/fitness. Then weekends, going on longer distances for a ride somewhere.
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So now I noticed at 53 yrs., because I'm not cycling as long distances daily, I just found out this past holiday weekend, I cycled on Sat. only 32 km. Sun. 49 km. Mon. 65 km......I was glad by Mon. to do only 12 km. But I haven't been off the bike for the past 3.5 wks. It has been cycling....even a short distance. It's not hard for me, because we don't have a car.

But because now I'm doing much shorter distances daily, I want to remain cycling daily during spring, summer and fall, and get pissed off if occasionally I'm not cycling on a particular day due to super windy & rainy day. I get really impatient just walking to some place for half an hr.! Does that make sense? We've discussed this before in TE forums about the body getting hooked on cycling.

It doesn't hurt to take a rest day regardless of one's age. But for myself, the secret to consecutive cycling and not feeling overly burnt out, is to build in some days of much shorter and relaxed distances...for fun/utilitarian cycling where one's attention is focused on the errand, etc., not the cycling itself. It's psychological tricking for me and one naturally builds/maintains some level of cycling fitness.

[nuliajuk]

I'm mainly a swimmer, so what I find is that swimming is a good recovery from leg-oriented land sports like cycling, and leg-oriented land sports are good recovery from the upper body work of swimming. I don't do breast stroke at all because whip kick hurts my knees, so alternating swim days with running/cycling days allows me to exercise at least 6 days a week without being overly tired.
I'm 53 and post-menopausal. In some ways being done with periods is a good thing - I'm able to exercise much more consistently than when I had to deal with the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle and the fatigue that went with it. On the other hand, recovery takes longer as I age, so I have to be careful not to overdo it in any one session. Short sessions more often are better for me than long killer sessions just two or three times a week.

[Jiffer]

When I'm in full on riding and training mode (which I'm not right now), I generally try to do two "hard" rides a week. One long ride and one shorter speed workout. In between those I might do a moderate paced ride, a recovery ride (depending on just how hard I rode) or take a day off. You really need to listen to your body to figure out what is best for you. Recovery rides are really important. When you do something like a century, or anything that is especially hard on your body, going out and spinning your legs the next day will help your legs recover much better than doing nothing at all . . . or riding too hard . . . and you'll be stronger for the next ride.

Before a big event, don't do too much the week before. And after the event, give your body some recovery as well.

Sometimes taking a week or two off all together after some serious training can really be beneficial to your body and your riding.