Recovery run with Chris from Aime to Lechere – 45km
Monday 28th June 2010
We probably worked too hard on the climbs. Personally I felt strong and fresh on those short climbs – very unexpected the day after a hard race. The rule is that the day following a hard effort the workout should be at “recovery level” – a low heart rate (103 to 132 bpm in my case) so that the body continues to repair and build. This permits a better, stronger workout in a day or two. If hard training is done again before recovery is complete then the quality of the workout is low and there the only thing that happens is that you get tired. It is incredibly hard to judge those things though. I felt good climbing hard so perhaps it was the best thing to do on that day. The race was relatively short on Sunday so it wasn’t too exhausting or demanding on the muscles. Confusion comes from the fact that it is also sometimes recommended to do two very hard workouts on consecutive days – and that this also has a long term training effect – provided recovery is eventually permitted.
Les Versants du Soleil – 30km
Wednesday 30th June 2010
Had a full day of rest on Tuesday and then another moderate workout on Wednesday. Despite finding it hard to motivate myself to raise my heart rate there was some good climbing and the legs felt strong over distance. Kept the climbs short so as to recover and rest at a maximum for the big race on Saturday. Still unsure if it is 5000 or 5700m climbing – it makes a difference. Kept some training up here as fitness drops off rapidly if there is no exercise. Have noticed this year that a higher level of cycling fitness permits a relatively good performance even when the fatigue levels are still quite high – so rather than completely reduce the fatigue it seems better to raise the fitness.