Lately I’ve been trying to do some recovery rides on Zwift on the days after I race. The goal is to strike a balance between training, racing, and recovering.
What’s a recovery ride? “The purpose of a recovery ride is to flush out any toxins lingering in the muscles after a hard workout, and to keep the muscles supple prior to that all-important next training session.” From The Art of the Recovery Ride
The idea is to keep it short, no sprinting, no big climbs, and a nice relaxed pace (slower than feels comfortable even) and no big gears. Maximum 60 minutes, less than half of your FTP, 1-2 perceived exertion out of 10.
See 7 ways to nail your recovery rides: “If you’re training and/or racing, true recovery rides are an essential component of your plan. When you train hard you do damage—that’s part of the plan. Your workout breaks down your muscle, empties out your fuel stores, and generally taxes your metabolism above and beyond its status quo. When you recover, your body repairs the damage so you can come back stronger and ready for more. If you skip the recovery part, you’re cheating yourself out of the maximum return on your hard work.”
What about your ego geting in the way? If you’re worried about friends seeing the ride on Strava and thinking “wow, I had no idea she was that slow” then mark the ride as a recovery ride.
Don’t ride with friends with whom you’re competitive at all. Instead either ride or solo or ride with a much slower friend, possibly a small child.
A friend was talking the other day about how Zwift makes recovery rides hard. She wished there was a recovery ride option on Zwift that disabled all the sprint segments, QOMs, and leaderboards. Another friend says she rides on Zwift but watches something else while riding. It’s a good time for catching up on favourite shows and listening to audio books.
Coach Chris Carmichael writes, “If you think you’re going to have a hard time “keeping it in check” or your ego isn’t going to let that guy just ride by without giving chase, you can do the recovery spin on the trainer (where there will be no temptations). Or don’t suit up in your full cycling kit, or you could even ride a different bike. For some of our athletes who really struggle to keep their Recovery Rides as easy as they should be, we have them ride 20-30 minutes in street clothes on a beach cruiser. Anything to keep you in a more relaxed mindset. I know it may sound like a wasted ride, but your body needs these easy spin days to recover and get stronger, trust me, after incorporating a few recovery days a week into your schedule you’ll notice a big difference in your other rides!”
Maybe I’ll change out of my Zwift team kit and put away the Tron! I like my Women’s History month kit.
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