January 30, 2025 • 19 mins
OVERVIEW
What you rest for is what you're investing in. Group rides, interval days, training races, goal races... you can't be completely fresh and rested for all of them, but when should you train through an event versus tapering for it? Should you rest for a few days before big weekend group rides or treat them like any other training day? Scheduling rest and recovery is as important as scheduling aerobic endurance work or high intensity intervals. Coach Adam Pulford teaches you how to know the differences between using a short rest to freshen up, a structured taper to maximize performance, or a long rest to deload between training phases.
TOPICS COVERED
- Intro
- How to "freshen up" your legs for important training sessions
- When to train on tired legs
- Resting before a new training phase
- What "coming in fresh" looks like
- Building recovery into your annual training plan
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HOST
Adam Pulford has been a CTS Coach for nearly two decades and holds a B.S. in Exercise Physiology. He's participated in and coached hundreds of athletes for endurance events all around the world.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
From the team at CTS.
This is the Time Crunch Cyclistpodcast, our show dedicated to
answering your trainingquestions and providing
actionable advice to help youimprove your performance even if
you're strapped for time.
I'm your host, Coach AdamPulford, and I'm one of the over
50 professional coaches whomake up the team at CTS.
In each episode, I draw on ourteam's collective knowledge,
(00:30):
other coaches and experts in thefield to provide you with the
practical ways to get the mostout of your training and
ultimately become the bestcyclist that you can be.
Now on to our show.
Now on to our show.
Welcome back, Time Crunch fans.
I'm your host, Coach AdamPulford.
(00:53):
Many of you are still riding thewave of energy from the new
year, training well andhopefully sleeping well and
finding your groove for 2025.
If not, you'll get there soon,I'm sure of it.
Keep listening to this podcastfor tips and you know what?
If you want to pick the brainsof a CTS coach, know that you
have consultation options whereyou can schedule with a coach,
(01:16):
get advice specific to you andthen you apply it to your
training.
Head over to train rightcom and, uh, learn more about that.
I'll also link to itspecifically in our show notes
on the podcast today.
Any listener can also writeinto the show here and ask any
training related questions thatthey want.
I'm getting many of thosecoming in each week now and most
(01:38):
are focused on you know whatintervals, uh, are our best to
do?
You know what intervals are ourbest to do?
How much more should they do?
And, yep, good old zone two.
I love it, and more of thoseQ&As will be coming out soon.
(02:00):
But between all of thosequestions and listening to
athletes I ride with andathletes that I coach and work
with, I felt the need to do ashort podcast on maybe the
number one tip to have a greatyear of high performance
training and racing.
That tip is to learn how to getyourself fresh and ready for
the days that you want to havegood legs, versus just training
through it because the programsays so.
(02:20):
My main point is when you'regoing into a big race, a big
ride or a big block of trainingthat's going to stress you more
than you're used to, You'rebetter off freshening up versus
training through it for somefuture fitness outcome.
More specifically, anytime thatyou want the most out of
(02:42):
yourself, being more fresh, ifnot fully recovered, is a better
approach versus being tired ortraining through something to
keep the training effect flowing.
So let's unpack what this meansand hopefully just a few short
talking points.
So, first and foremost, whenyou want the best performance at
(03:03):
some event, go in fresh.
This means for training camps,races, big days on the bike, etc
.
Now, this may seem obvious, butmany get it wrong, Whether it's
their own insecurities or lackof awareness on how training
works.
I see so many athletes trainingpretty hard leading up to these
(03:24):
big days and they show up withstale legs or not having as good
of a day as they may beexpected or wanted.
And when things don't go theirway, they often say well, I'm
training through it.
Okay, Fair enough.
Uh, time and place for that,and we'll explore it more here
in just a little bit.
But maybe let's have a reminderof how training actually works.
(03:46):
Stress plus rest equalsadaptation.
What that means is, if you dotraining and then you rest
adequately from it, you willform an adaptation, which is
usually you are more fresh forkey days of training and to get
training stress okay, you'llhave a higher dose of training
(04:11):
from volume, intensity or somecombination of the two, and we
call that training, stress ontraining peaks, that TSS score.
That that's really what we'retalking about, or trying to
quantify.
If you get in more training,stress, then rest, you will get
more adaptation.
That adaptation is faster,stronger, more endurance, more
(04:31):
resilience, and these areeverything we're in the pursuit
of as endurance athletes.
So if you are more fresh,you'll get in more training,
stress, more training effect andyou'll get more adaptations.
Now, fresh is key forperformance and I don't think
anyone listening here wouldargue with me on that overall
(04:54):
advice.
But how many of you listeninghave had a race where you just
imploded or failed because, orsuffered completely when you
didn't have to, overloaded, orfailed because, or suffered
completely when you didn't haveto because you did too much the
week of leading into the racebecause you were feeling so good
?
Yeah, I have raised my handlike not not that many months
(05:16):
ago, even you know it was.
It was terrible.
Okay, Because I was feeling sogood leading up to it, I was
having fun and training, so Ijust overdid it right,
Overcooked myself, and then Isuffered for it the day of that
race.
Many of us keep grinding awaythinking that even five days out
from whatever event, will allthat training that we do will
(05:39):
help us on the weekend, and itwon't.
It only adds to our overallfatigue, especially if we're
going hard.
Now you don't have to stoptraining, that's not what I'm
saying.
But a reduction of trainingload can help us freshen up,
going into a big day where wewant good legs or high
performance or a great result.
(06:00):
Now I'm not advocating for afull-on taper mode for the
Saturday group ride, butlearning how to bring yourself
in fresh to the day where youwant it, when you want it is
what I'm advocating for.
This is a huge skill as anathlete and a big part of the
(06:22):
art of coaching.
So how do you freshen up forsomething?
First, get your sleep dialed.
I always say if you're sleepingwell, you can do anything well.
So this advice is reallyeveryday advice, but in this
case it's definitely three tofour days out advice.
Sleep is king if you want to befresh, Now for something bigger
(06:47):
than we're used to.
So if we're going to freshen upfor something bigger than we're
used to, beyond the local group,beyond the 90 minute with
interval sessions that we domidweek, I'm talking about a
long weekend training camp withfriends or teammates or
something like that a big three,four day block.
Or maybe it is your first biglong ride of the year with
(07:07):
friends.
That's maybe five or six hoursif you're trying to deepen the
long ride and you have that time.
What this means for most of usis reducing training volume and
load for only about three orfour days.
Leading into something that bigis what you need to do to
freshen up.
For example, four days out, youtake a rest day, so you take
(07:29):
one rest day and then two tothree days leading in.
All you're doing is riding easyendurance miles where you
reduce your total volume persession by 15 to 25% of your
normal ride.
Translation on that is ifyou're used to doing 90 minute
training sessions, just whittleit down to around 60 minutes and
keep it to zone two for thislittle two to three day time
(07:51):
window leading up to the daywhere you want to have good legs
.
Simple, effective, Learn how youget fresh.
So it's not a taper.
Okay, it's not a full-onrecovery week either per se, but
a short block of time thatallows your muscles time to
recover, regenerate muscleglycogen and let your central
(08:13):
system charge back up.
Briefly, Finally, when you'retrying to freshen up for
something bigger than you'reused to.
You're better off missing atraining session or two of that
harder training in exchange forthe bigger effect that you'll
get from the weekend or thatlong ride or the camp, whatever
we're trying to get fresh for.
(08:33):
So just keep that in mind.
You're essentially exchangingsome of that training effect of
the pre-big day for the big dayitself.
I hope that makes sense.
Now let's talk about somethingthat you're used to.
That's challenging, but maybewe don't have to freshen up as
(08:56):
much.
Okay, the local group ride, theSaturday group ride, is a great
example of this.
Now, this is more in line withjust train through it, where you
don't need three or four daysbut maybe take that day before
and go easy or take itcompletely off.
Because what we're trying to do, if that group ride is hard for
you, if you normally maybe getdropped or if it's just like
you're on the couch for the restof the day after you do it, you
(09:18):
want to show it fresh so youdon't get blown out, so that you
don't just suffer like a dogthrough it.
Okay, Now and again this seemslike common sense, but hey,
people are asking about this,right.
So my advice here is go easythe day before, and that may get
a good night's sleep, betternight's sleep, the time or the
(09:40):
day before that.
And really what you're, whatyou're doing is learning how to
freshen yourself up so that youyou're ready to rip on the day
where you want to.
That's the art here.
Now, I do this with the majorityof my athletes and I find it
usually far more effective than,say, intervals the day before
and doing the group ride ontired legs.
(10:01):
Now, there's a time and placefor it, like I've said before,
but not all that often.
However, since I've been sayingthere's a time and place for it
, let's talk about the times andplaces.
So here's a couple examples ofwhen you would want to do
training on tired legs.
First one is during an intervalblock itself.
(10:23):
So an interval block typically,what I mean when I say that is
two to three days of back toback to back intervals or some
sort of specific intensity oroverload of progression.
So you know, come in fresh, hitit hard on day one, day two,
you're probably going to befatigued.
Day three, You'll be fatigued,but I'll tell the athlete to
(10:43):
keep pushing, keep overloading.
That's, that's training.
Okay, so there's a good exampleof training on tired legs.
Second example is during thetraining camp itself.
Okay, Date, you know.
Say it's a four day trainingcamp, day two, three and four.
You're going to be sizzled,You're going to be cooked, but
keep going, keep doing the miles, get the training done.
(11:04):
Train on tired legs.
And then maybe another examplethat resonates for most of us
here is uh, you did this Sundaylong ride after a Saturday hard
group ride.
But what we'll talk about in afew minutes is all about how you
come into these days that arereally key if you're going to be
training on tired legs.
(11:24):
So more on that here in aminute.
So another example of when youwant to come in fresh is when
you're starting a new trainingphase.
Don't get me wrong.
The whole point of training isto get tired through exercise,
Then you rest, Then you getbetter.
Remember, stress plus restequals adaptation.
So you'll be doing some ofthese training sessions where
(11:47):
you're not 100%, and that's allpart of the endurance ball game,
not a hundred percent, andthat's all part of the endurance
ball game If you're movingalong in your base building
season.
For many of us that could behappening right now and maybe
you didn't get in all the exactworkouts in at the right time or
in total.
But your program calls forstarting on a higher intensity
(12:09):
or maybe like a threshold phaseof training soon.
My advice is take an easy weekbefore starting the new phase so
that you're more fresh andready rather than stale and
tired.
So if you're going on that basebuilding you're like you know
what I've got this time I'm justI'm going to sneak in these few
workouts and then just startthat next phase right away.
(12:30):
I'd advise against that.
Take a full recovery week, Okay, and so an example of a full
recovery week here would beMonday and Friday is rest day.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdayare easy endurance rides,
anything from 45 to 75 minutes.
Again, I would say whateveryour normal duration is, reduce
(12:51):
that by 15 to 25% and that'sgoing to be good for the midweek
ride sessions.
And then finally, on theweekend, do your normal volume.
I'd say watch the intensity,Don't go hog wild.
Throw in a few sprints and getready for the next block of
training Again, so that you'refresh, you're ready to rip,
ready to go Physically as wellas cognitively.
(13:15):
You'll get more out of atraining phase when you enter
into it more fresh and in aready state.
What do I mean by being in aready state, or being fresh, for
that matter?
You want to tune in.
You ask yourself some questions.
Okay, Tune into your mood andemotion.
How eager are you to train?
Are you excited to do intervals?
How's your energy in themorning?
(13:36):
How's your energy throughoutthe day?
For the number nerds out thereUh, what is your TSB, Whoa,
Training stress balance?
It's the uh, the form um number.
When you open up Training Peaksapp on your phone, it's a
little yellow number.
Okay, Is it going from negativeto positive, or is it at least
(13:57):
going from more negative to lessnegative?
Okay, Because that shows us howyou're adapting to your
training.
Are you becoming more fresh?
Mathematically?
This is all hinged and based onTSS points.
And for those who are confusedabout numbers or don't like the
numbers, no need.
Ask yourself some of thoseother qualitative questions and
(14:18):
you'll start to learn how you'refresh and when you're ready.
And all of these signs areindicators of freshening up, so
that you can increase yourreadiness to train.
If you have improved motivation, increased mood and you're
excited to train, it's, it canbe as simple as that.
Finally, my last piece of adviceis this when you want your best
(14:41):
plan, build recovery into theprogram itself.
One way to stay ahead of allthis fresh versus tired or when
do I train through versus restup questioning is to simply have
a good plan that's built withrecovery periods.
Do this well and you'll knowwhen and why you're pushing and
when to let up.
(15:01):
How I do this with my athletesis I get the race schedule okay
and I get it mostly set byJanuary or so if we have race
dates, and I put those races intraining peaks.
I work with the athlete toprioritize the races from A, B
and C, maybe even lessercategories, but in general, A
priority races are the toppriority.
(15:24):
This is when you want to be atyour best for the year.
B priority races are the mediumpriority when you want to do
well but you don't need to beyour best.
And finally, C priority racesare the medium priority when you
want to do well but you don'tneed to be your best.
And finally, C priority racesare the lowest priority.
These are training races andevents where you want the
training effect from.
Maybe you have to show up, buta bunch of friends are going and
(15:47):
you're just doing it for funand getting some fitness.
And what you want to do is, nowthat you have your races in
there, you have them prioritized, put in taper blocks leading
into the A and B races and thenput in recovery blocks after
those races as well, the highpriority events in big training
blocks.
So, and you do this you put inthe recovery so that you can
recover from the big stresses.
(16:09):
Finally, put in a mid-seasonbreak Of about a week Maybe two
weeks for some Of off the bikeand then for one week and then
one week of just easy enduranceriding Before you build back up.
That's a good mid-season breakFor most of us.
Finally, put in that yeartransition phase, which can be
(16:31):
another two week block, Like themid season block, or maybe a
little bit longer If you, ifyou're a high volume athlete, um
, taking a month of of Dtraining is completely
appropriate.
From there you work backward toplan your training phases and to
know when you're doingintensity, why you're doing it,
no way knowing when to push andwhen to let up.
(16:51):
So quote unquote trainingthrough something has its time
and place, such as those seapride erases normal training
sessions like I described, andmaybe the local group ride.
But if the thing that you'redoing is bigger than you're used
to or if you just want reallygood legs on a given day, my
(17:12):
advice is to go in a bit morefresh than tired and you'll get
way more out of it.
You'll get more training effect, You'll get more of the fun
factor effect and you'll learnhow you actually freshen up.
And learning this lesson oflearning how you as an
individual freshens up for agood day on the bike, that's
(17:33):
worth its weight in gold.
So, when in doubt, go in morefresh for better success.
Finally, to take this thinghome, I'll say this Anyone can
train themselves into the groundand then complain about it on
race day.
It takes skill, patience andart to freshen up and have a
(17:54):
good day on the bike when youwant it.
So, and finally, I hope thatsome of the advice I provided
today helps you along yourjourney of figuring out how to
freshen up for those good keydays and just how to train right
.
That's it.
That's our show for today.
Remember, this podcast is foryou, our listeners.
So if you have any questionsfor me or the team at CTS, head
(18:17):
over to train rightcom backslashpodcast, click on, ask a
training question and submityour questions there.
We'll do our best to answer iton future episodes.
Thanks again, and don't forgetto come back next week for more
actionable training advice.
Don't forget to come back nextweek for more actionable
training advice.
Thanks for joining us on theTime Crunch Cyclist podcast.
We hope you enjoyed the show.
If you want even moreactionable training advice, head
(18:45):
over to trainrightcom backslashnewsletter and subscribe to our
free weekly publication.
Each week you'll get in-depthtraining content that goes
beyond what we cover here on thepodcast.
That'll help you take yourtraining to the next level.
That's all for now.
Until next time, train hard,train smart, train right.
From the team at CTS.
This is the Time Crunch Cyclistpodcast, our show dedicated to
answering your trainingquestions and providing
actionable advice to help youimprove your performance even if
you're strapped for time.
I'm your host, Coach AdamPulford, and I'm one of the over
50 professional coaches whomake up the team at CTS.
In each episode, I draw on ourteam's collective knowledge,
(00:30):
other coaches and experts in thefield to provide you with the
practical ways to get the mostout of your training and
ultimately become the bestcyclist that you can be.
Now on to our show.
Now on to our show.
Welcome back, Time Crunch fans.
I'm your host, Coach AdamPulford.
(00:53):
Many of you are still riding thewave of energy from the new
year, training well andhopefully sleeping well and
finding your groove for 2025.
If not, you'll get there soon,I'm sure of it.
Keep listening to this podcastfor tips and you know what?
If you want to pick the brainsof a CTS coach, know that you
have consultation options whereyou can schedule with a coach,
(01:16):
get advice specific to you andthen you apply it to your
training.
Head over to train rightcom and, uh, learn more about that.
I'll also link to itspecifically in our show notes
on the podcast today.
Any listener can also writeinto the show here and ask any
training related questions thatthey want.
I'm getting many of thosecoming in each week now and most
(01:38):
are focused on you know whatintervals, uh, are our best to
do?
You know what intervals are ourbest to do?
How much more should they do?
And, yep, good old zone two.
I love it, and more of thoseQ&As will be coming out soon.
(02:00):
But between all of thosequestions and listening to
athletes I ride with andathletes that I coach and work
with, I felt the need to do ashort podcast on maybe the
number one tip to have a greatyear of high performance
training and racing.
That tip is to learn how to getyourself fresh and ready for
the days that you want to havegood legs, versus just training
through it because the programsays so.
(02:20):
My main point is when you'regoing into a big race, a big
ride or a big block of trainingthat's going to stress you more
than you're used to, You'rebetter off freshening up versus
training through it for somefuture fitness outcome.
More specifically, anytime thatyou want the most out of
(02:42):
yourself, being more fresh, ifnot fully recovered, is a better
approach versus being tired ortraining through something to
keep the training effect flowing.
So let's unpack what this meansand hopefully just a few short
talking points.
So, first and foremost, whenyou want the best performance at
(03:03):
some event, go in fresh.
This means for training camps,races, big days on the bike, etc
.
Now, this may seem obvious, butmany get it wrong, Whether it's
their own insecurities or lackof awareness on how training
works.
I see so many athletes trainingpretty hard leading up to these
(03:24):
big days and they show up withstale legs or not having as good
of a day as they may beexpected or wanted.
And when things don't go theirway, they often say well, I'm
training through it.
Okay, Fair enough.
Uh, time and place for that,and we'll explore it more here
in just a little bit.
But maybe let's have a reminderof how training actually works.
(03:46):
Stress plus rest equalsadaptation.
What that means is, if you dotraining and then you rest
adequately from it, you willform an adaptation, which is
usually you are more fresh forkey days of training and to get
training stress okay, you'llhave a higher dose of training
(04:11):
from volume, intensity or somecombination of the two, and we
call that training, stress ontraining peaks, that TSS score.
That that's really what we'retalking about, or trying to
quantify.
If you get in more training,stress, then rest, you will get
more adaptation.
That adaptation is faster,stronger, more endurance, more
(04:31):
resilience, and these areeverything we're in the pursuit
of as endurance athletes.
So if you are more fresh,you'll get in more training,
stress, more training effect andyou'll get more adaptations.
Now, fresh is key forperformance and I don't think
anyone listening here wouldargue with me on that overall
(04:54):
advice.
But how many of you listeninghave had a race where you just
imploded or failed because, orsuffered completely when you
didn't have to, overloaded, orfailed because, or suffered
completely when you didn't haveto because you did too much the
week of leading into the racebecause you were feeling so good
?
Yeah, I have raised my handlike not not that many months
(05:16):
ago, even you know it was.
It was terrible.
Okay, Because I was feeling sogood leading up to it, I was
having fun and training, so Ijust overdid it right,
Overcooked myself, and then Isuffered for it the day of that
race.
Many of us keep grinding awaythinking that even five days out
from whatever event, will allthat training that we do will
(05:39):
help us on the weekend, and itwon't.
It only adds to our overallfatigue, especially if we're
going hard.
Now you don't have to stoptraining, that's not what I'm
saying.
But a reduction of trainingload can help us freshen up,
going into a big day where wewant good legs or high
performance or a great result.
(06:00):
Now I'm not advocating for afull-on taper mode for the
Saturday group ride, butlearning how to bring yourself
in fresh to the day where youwant it, when you want it is
what I'm advocating for.
This is a huge skill as anathlete and a big part of the
(06:22):
art of coaching.
So how do you freshen up forsomething?
First, get your sleep dialed.
I always say if you're sleepingwell, you can do anything well.
So this advice is reallyeveryday advice, but in this
case it's definitely three tofour days out advice.
Sleep is king if you want to befresh, Now for something bigger
(06:47):
than we're used to.
So if we're going to freshen upfor something bigger than we're
used to, beyond the local group,beyond the 90 minute with
interval sessions that we domidweek, I'm talking about a
long weekend training camp withfriends or teammates or
something like that a big three,four day block.
Or maybe it is your first biglong ride of the year with
(07:07):
friends.
That's maybe five or six hoursif you're trying to deepen the
long ride and you have that time.
What this means for most of usis reducing training volume and
load for only about three orfour days.
Leading into something that bigis what you need to do to
freshen up.
For example, four days out, youtake a rest day, so you take
(07:29):
one rest day and then two tothree days leading in.
All you're doing is riding easyendurance miles where you
reduce your total volume persession by 15 to 25% of your
normal ride.
Translation on that is ifyou're used to doing 90 minute
training sessions, just whittleit down to around 60 minutes and
keep it to zone two for thislittle two to three day time
(07:51):
window leading up to the daywhere you want to have good legs
.
Simple, effective, Learn how youget fresh.
So it's not a taper.
Okay, it's not a full-onrecovery week either per se, but
a short block of time thatallows your muscles time to
recover, regenerate muscleglycogen and let your central
(08:13):
system charge back up.
Briefly, Finally, when you'retrying to freshen up for
something bigger than you'reused to.
You're better off missing atraining session or two of that
harder training in exchange forthe bigger effect that you'll
get from the weekend or thatlong ride or the camp, whatever
we're trying to get fresh for.
(08:33):
So just keep that in mind.
You're essentially exchangingsome of that training effect of
the pre-big day for the big dayitself.
I hope that makes sense.
Now let's talk about somethingthat you're used to.
That's challenging, but maybewe don't have to freshen up as
(08:56):
much.
Okay, the local group ride, theSaturday group ride, is a great
example of this.
Now, this is more in line withjust train through it, where you
don't need three or four daysbut maybe take that day before
and go easy or take itcompletely off.
Because what we're trying to do, if that group ride is hard for
you, if you normally maybe getdropped or if it's just like
you're on the couch for the restof the day after you do it, you
(09:18):
want to show it fresh so youdon't get blown out, so that you
don't just suffer like a dogthrough it.
Okay, Now and again this seemslike common sense, but hey,
people are asking about this,right.
So my advice here is go easythe day before, and that may get
a good night's sleep, betternight's sleep, the time or the
(09:40):
day before that.
And really what you're, whatyou're doing is learning how to
freshen yourself up so that youyou're ready to rip on the day
where you want to.
That's the art here.
Now, I do this with the majorityof my athletes and I find it
usually far more effective than,say, intervals the day before
and doing the group ride ontired legs.
(10:01):
Now, there's a time and placefor it, like I've said before,
but not all that often.
However, since I've been sayingthere's a time and place for it
, let's talk about the times andplaces.
So here's a couple examples ofwhen you would want to do
training on tired legs.
First one is during an intervalblock itself.
(10:23):
So an interval block typically,what I mean when I say that is
two to three days of back toback to back intervals or some
sort of specific intensity oroverload of progression.
So you know, come in fresh, hitit hard on day one, day two,
you're probably going to befatigued.
Day three, You'll be fatigued,but I'll tell the athlete to
(10:43):
keep pushing, keep overloading.
That's, that's training.
Okay, so there's a good exampleof training on tired legs.
Second example is during thetraining camp itself.
Okay, Date, you know.
Say it's a four day trainingcamp, day two, three and four.
You're going to be sizzled,You're going to be cooked, but
keep going, keep doing the miles, get the training done.
(11:04):
Train on tired legs.
And then maybe another examplethat resonates for most of us
here is uh, you did this Sundaylong ride after a Saturday hard
group ride.
But what we'll talk about in afew minutes is all about how you
come into these days that arereally key if you're going to be
training on tired legs.
(11:24):
So more on that here in aminute.
So another example of when youwant to come in fresh is when
you're starting a new trainingphase.
Don't get me wrong.
The whole point of training isto get tired through exercise,
Then you rest, Then you getbetter.
Remember, stress plus restequals adaptation.
So you'll be doing some ofthese training sessions where
(11:47):
you're not 100%, and that's allpart of the endurance ball game,
not a hundred percent, andthat's all part of the endurance
ball game If you're movingalong in your base building
season.
For many of us that could behappening right now and maybe
you didn't get in all the exactworkouts in at the right time or
in total.
But your program calls forstarting on a higher intensity
(12:09):
or maybe like a threshold phaseof training soon.
My advice is take an easy weekbefore starting the new phase so
that you're more fresh andready rather than stale and
tired.
So if you're going on that basebuilding you're like you know
what I've got this time I'm justI'm going to sneak in these few
workouts and then just startthat next phase right away.
(12:30):
I'd advise against that.
Take a full recovery week, Okay, and so an example of a full
recovery week here would beMonday and Friday is rest day.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdayare easy endurance rides,
anything from 45 to 75 minutes.
Again, I would say whateveryour normal duration is, reduce
(12:51):
that by 15 to 25% and that'sgoing to be good for the midweek
ride sessions.
And then finally, on theweekend, do your normal volume.
I'd say watch the intensity,Don't go hog wild.
Throw in a few sprints and getready for the next block of
training Again, so that you'refresh, you're ready to rip,
ready to go Physically as wellas cognitively.
(13:15):
You'll get more out of atraining phase when you enter
into it more fresh and in aready state.
What do I mean by being in aready state, or being fresh, for
that matter?
You want to tune in.
You ask yourself some questions.
Okay, Tune into your mood andemotion.
How eager are you to train?
Are you excited to do intervals?
How's your energy in themorning?
(13:36):
How's your energy throughoutthe day?
For the number nerds out thereUh, what is your TSB, Whoa,
Training stress balance?
It's the uh, the form um number.
When you open up Training Peaksapp on your phone, it's a
little yellow number.
Okay, Is it going from negativeto positive, or is it at least
(13:57):
going from more negative to lessnegative?
Okay, Because that shows us howyou're adapting to your
training.
Are you becoming more fresh?
Mathematically?
This is all hinged and based onTSS points.
And for those who are confusedabout numbers or don't like the
numbers, no need.
Ask yourself some of thoseother qualitative questions and
(14:18):
you'll start to learn how you'refresh and when you're ready.
And all of these signs areindicators of freshening up, so
that you can increase yourreadiness to train.
If you have improved motivation, increased mood and you're
excited to train, it's, it canbe as simple as that.
Finally, my last piece of adviceis this when you want your best
(14:41):
plan, build recovery into theprogram itself.
One way to stay ahead of allthis fresh versus tired or when
do I train through versus restup questioning is to simply have
a good plan that's built withrecovery periods.
Do this well and you'll knowwhen and why you're pushing and
when to let up.
(15:01):
How I do this with my athletesis I get the race schedule okay
and I get it mostly set byJanuary or so if we have race
dates, and I put those races intraining peaks.
I work with the athlete toprioritize the races from A, B
and C, maybe even lessercategories, but in general, A
priority races are the toppriority.
(15:24):
This is when you want to be atyour best for the year.
B priority races are the mediumpriority when you want to do
well but you don't need to beyour best.
And finally, C priority racesare the medium priority when you
want to do well but you don'tneed to be your best.
And finally, C priority racesare the lowest priority.
These are training races andevents where you want the
training effect from.
Maybe you have to show up, buta bunch of friends are going and
(15:47):
you're just doing it for funand getting some fitness.
And what you want to do is, nowthat you have your races in
there, you have them prioritized, put in taper blocks leading
into the A and B races and thenput in recovery blocks after
those races as well, the highpriority events in big training
blocks.
So, and you do this you put inthe recovery so that you can
recover from the big stresses.
(16:09):
Finally, put in a mid-seasonbreak Of about a week Maybe two
weeks for some Of off the bikeand then for one week and then
one week of just easy enduranceriding Before you build back up.
That's a good mid-season breakFor most of us.
Finally, put in that yeartransition phase, which can be
(16:31):
another two week block, Like themid season block, or maybe a
little bit longer If you, ifyou're a high volume athlete, um
, taking a month of of Dtraining is completely
appropriate.
From there you work backward toplan your training phases and to
know when you're doingintensity, why you're doing it,
no way knowing when to push andwhen to let up.
(16:51):
So quote unquote trainingthrough something has its time
and place, such as those seapride erases normal training
sessions like I described, andmaybe the local group ride.
But if the thing that you'redoing is bigger than you're used
to or if you just want reallygood legs on a given day, my
(17:12):
advice is to go in a bit morefresh than tired and you'll get
way more out of it.
You'll get more training effect, You'll get more of the fun
factor effect and you'll learnhow you actually freshen up.
And learning this lesson oflearning how you as an
individual freshens up for agood day on the bike, that's
(17:33):
worth its weight in gold.
So, when in doubt, go in morefresh for better success.
Finally, to take this thinghome, I'll say this Anyone can
train themselves into the groundand then complain about it on
race day.
It takes skill, patience andart to freshen up and have a
(17:54):
good day on the bike when youwant it.
So, and finally, I hope thatsome of the advice I provided
today helps you along yourjourney of figuring out how to
freshen up for those good keydays and just how to train right
.
That's it.
That's our show for today.
Remember, this podcast is foryou, our listeners.
So if you have any questionsfor me or the team at CTS, head
(18:17):
over to train rightcom backslashpodcast, click on, ask a
training question and submityour questions there.
We'll do our best to answer iton future episodes.
Thanks again, and don't forgetto come back next week for more
actionable training advice.
Don't forget to come back nextweek for more actionable
training advice.
Thanks for joining us on theTime Crunch Cyclist podcast.
We hope you enjoyed the show.
If you want even moreactionable training advice, head
(18:45):
over to trainrightcom backslashnewsletter and subscribe to our
free weekly publication.
Each week you'll get in-depthtraining content that goes
beyond what we cover here on thepodcast.
That'll help you take yourtraining to the next level.
That's all for now.
Until next time, train hard,train smart, train right.
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