Well - I found these hardest to build in to my training when I was new at cycling.

In 2005 every ride was a contest - could I go faster than last time? Could I make my time/average "better"?

Now I know how crucial rest days are in order to allow your body to make adjustments to the demands you have asked of it.

My week is something like this...

Sunday - gentle ride, between 30-50km long, zones 3-4

Monday - hill reps... gargh!

Tuesday - active recovery, about 20-30km in zones 1-2

Wednesday - sprint intervals, about an hour to an hour and a half which includes warming up, the sprints take me into zones 5, 5a

Thursday - active recovery, about 20-30km in zones 1-2

Friday - rest day, no riding usually unless my legs really need to move in which case about 10km on the flat in zone 1

Saturday - race day! 40 minutes of warming up in zones 1-2, just over an hour of pack racing or 40 minutes of timetrial in zones 4-5b and then 20-30 minutes cooling down again.


Of course, this is variable... for example

Today (Friday) I went for a gentle 20km ride with a work colleague at lunch time, because it is ages since we have ridden together. She knows I have a race tomorrow, so we rode to my heart-rate.

Next Monday I will commute to/from work - thats over 20km each way, but I'll ride the hills hard on the way home (we live 600' above sea level)
My rest day will be Tuesday as I am in town til 8:30pm - if its nice though, I'll bring my bike to work and go for a 20km lunch time ride.

The following week I have a Thursday time trial, so Friday will be active recovery so my legs will still work for the Satuday race.

Never feel guilty about "days off" - they are crucial in your fitness goals. Remember when we ride/race hard (whether its cycling, running, swimming/whatever... our muscles end up with tiny tears in them... we need to give them time to repair and evolve... rest days - even if they are "active recovery" days, are crucial.