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Recovery time question


Randomguy

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22 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

How much time do you need?

I had a couple of 30-mile rides this weekend.  I took yesterday off, and still feel like I rode a couple of centuries.  I am debating whether to ride a really short 45 minutes of easy spinning or just can the idea of riding today, too.

Are you training?  If you are feeling fatigued from the previous rides take a break for a couple of days.

My riding tends to be sporadic in that ill ride lots while work, family & health permits knowing that any of the three will take me out for periods of time. I generally don’t ride back to back days when I’m riding a lot and it works for me.

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At 66 years old, I can do everything that I did at 33. However it takes twice as long to do and to recover. A day off usually does wonders for me after a hard effort or a lot of back-to-back efforts.

Avoid NSAID pain relievers as they slow down recovery. Make sure that you are hydrated. Also make sure to consume carbs and protein within an hour after hard or long efforts  

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1 hour ago, donkpow said:

Yeah. The idea is to encourage restorative blood flow to the muscles. Don't break down any muscles today.

Yeah, I know, I just needed to hear it.

Anywhere else, it would just be easy to go out and get an easy spin in.  Here, it is kind of a death-defying stress test.  No matter where you go, you are guaranteed at least one full panic stop from unaware people thinking they are they only person in Manhattan, just behaving as erratically as hell.  If you go through that, you want to generally make the ride count.

It did feel good to get the spin in, though.

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Did you ever do multi-day rides? A week or more? The whole theory of the rest days gets thrown out the window when you ride every day.

If you are not prepared the first day will suck, the second day will suck, by the third day you will be getting into the groove. By the end of the first week you got this.

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1 hour ago, Longjohn said:

Did you ever do multi-day rides? A week or more? The whole theory of the rest days gets thrown out the window when you ride every day.

If you are not prepared the first day will suck, the second day will suck, by the third day you will be getting into the groove. By the end of the first week you got this.

I read a Bob Roll book once.  He said that back in the day, the way you prepared to ride a TdF is that you ride 100 miles a day for 30 days straight, then take 3 days off and you are ready.

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15 hours ago, Randomguy said:

It did feel good to get the spin in, though.

So you took a spin?  Good on you.

I don't think you are in "recovery" mode, but rather "adapting" mode.  30 mile rides can be "intense" or "mellow", so depending where on the scale your rides fell, you may simply be feeling the impact of saddle time, not physical exertion.

When are you going to join us on Strava????

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2 minutes ago, F_in Ray Of Sunshine said:

24/7 RECOVERY SERVICE CAR BREAK DOWN, RECOVERY, TRANSPORTATION ...

I always wondered if owning a tow truck or one of those flat beds was a good business for someone to be in.  Spend $50k or whatever and just be on-call & be your own boss. Meet weird or interesting folks. Charge them big $$$. 

Or is it all dominated by the mob?

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13 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

I don't think you are in "recovery" mode, but rather "adapting" mode.  30 mile rides can be "intense" or "mellow", so depending where on the scale your rides fell, you may simply be feeling the impact of saddle time, not physical exertion.

All very true.  The rides were intense for different reasons.  Friday's was a time trial to beat the rain, which I was unsuccessful.  I was actually wet and cold, and called a friend to get me for the last leg of it because it got dark while stormy and late and I couldn't see the road.  I was just worn out on Sunday and rode in the heat of the day.  I didn't ride hard, seemingly, but my legs were super tight and rubbery at the same time afterword.  There seemed to be a lot of climbing, but that is all relative until I hook up a computer.

I figure you are right about the adaptation stage, it has been almost 4 weeks on the bike after 4 years off.  I have a long way to go, but it is good to make progress or miles at this point.  I need to ride after work tonight, but the weather might not cooperate.

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17 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

I always wondered if owning a tow truck or one of those flat beds was a good business for someone to be in.  Spend $50k or whatever and just be on-call & be your own boss. Meet weird or interesting folks. Charge them big $$$. 

Or is it all dominated by the mob?

I think the truck in the picture is the repo man. A whole nuther ball game. There is money in that too but not a job for most people.

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21 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

I think the truck in the picture is the repo man. A whole nuther ball game. There is money in that too but not a job for most people.

I knew a guy who was a repo man. He did it well into his 70s. His son was a few years younger than me. He said they kept trying to convince home to retire. He had cancer and was blind in 1 eye, but he did it until the cancer killed him. He said he just lived the adrenaline rush

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1 minute ago, Razors Edge said:

I think he also lacks lights still. I think riding in the rain, on roads, without lights is a mistake.  Better a baby than a corpse.

You're not helping.

I'm holding him down for you to kick and you get all serious and logical and shit?

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Just now, Longjohn said:

I can’t even imagine riding in NYC unless it’s on the five boroughs bike tour.

I think the newer cycling lanes probably help a lot.  When I rode the 5 boros ride, it was a clusterf%$# of bad cycling. Thousands and thousands of awful cyclists.  But, still fun but not enough to do again.

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17 hours ago, Randomguy said:

How much time do you need?

I had a couple of 30-mile rides this weekend.  I took yesterday off, and still feel like I rode a couple of centuries.  I am debating whether to ride a really short 45 minutes of easy spinning or just can the idea of riding today, too.

You went years without a bike didn't you?  30 miles is a long way if you out of practice.  

My recommendation is to ride but take it easy.  Do the 45 minutes of easy spinning.  You don't want to get in the habit sitting around again. 

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14 minutes ago, Mr. Grumpy said:

You went years without a bike didn't you?  30 miles is a long way if you out of practice.  

My recommendation is to ride but take it easy.  Do the 45 minutes of easy spinning.  You don't want to get in the habit sitting around again. 

My additional recommendation would be to try to find a way where riding is "fun" and not a chore or a "workout" or something you want to put off rather than look forward to.  When it is fun, you can also get a nice workout from it and you also don't notice the little aches and pains as much.

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1 minute ago, Razors Edge said:

My additional recommendation would be to try to find a way where riding is "fun" and not a chore or a "workout" or something you want to put off rather than look forward to.  When it is fun, you can also get a nice workout from it and you also don't notice the little aches and pains as much.

Beanz always rode past the beach. That would be fun. Does NYC have a beach to ride past? That sounds like it would be right up RG’s alley.

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55 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

I think he also lacks lights still. I think riding in the rain, on roads, without lights is a mistake.  Better a baby than a corpse.

This is true.  I had an old knog flashing light from decades ago on the rear, nothing on the front.  It was dark as hell and I couldn't see the road, and had lots of downhill to go on a drenched road.  This was why I started the lighting thread.

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41 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

I can’t even imagine riding in NYC unless it’s on the five boroughs bike tour.

You do NOT want to be in that kind of hell!  Spending the first 15 miles in stop and go with thousands of idiots with no bike skills and no situational awareness is the exact opposite of what actual people want to do.  I did that once, ONCE.  Never again.

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2 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

You do NOT want to be in that kind of hell!  Spending the first 15 miles in stop and go with thousands of idiots with no bike skills and no situational awareness is the exact opposite of what actual people want to do.  I did that once, ONCE.  Never again.

Yep - felt like once we got out of Central Park and headed towards the other boroughs, things became more manageable, but there were still choke points along the route and the rest area/finish area were swamped.  I did like taking the Ferry back to Manhattan, though.  And riding over the big bridge.

Still, I have a buddy who does it every few years now.  I can't figure out why.  Maybe if you skipped almost the whole Manhattan portion?

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6 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Maybe if you skipped almost the whole Manhattan portion?

I think it is a cluster anywhere along the route to varying degrees.  I got so pissed off that I told the folks I was cajoled to ride with that I was leaving and went and did my own century.  I finished the day with 109 total miles including the crap 15, and a vow to never get involved in that shit-show again.

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4 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

I think it is a cluster anywhere along the route to varying degrees.  I got so pissed off that I told the folks I was cajoled to ride with that I was leaving and went and did my own century.  I finished the day with 109 total miles including the crap 15, and a vow to never get involved in that shit-show again.

Well, darn.  For that, you could have hit Montauk!

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20 hours ago, Randomguy said:

How much time do you need?

I had a couple of 30-mile rides this weekend.  I took yesterday off, and still feel like I rode a couple of centuries.  I am debating whether to ride a really short 45 minutes of easy spinning or just can the idea of riding today, too.

There have been a number of studies of serious cyclists where they actually took a tiny piece of leg muscle tissue out each day to determine the VO2 max. dropoff if not enough time elapsed between exercises.

It turned out to depend strongly on the cyclists' diets.  Those consuming 60% or more carbs recovered much more quickly than those who didn't.  They worked out what amount of cycling allowed daily or every-two-day rides.  Unfortunately, it was in a Sports Nutrition book that I lost in the house fire in March.

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