Cycling Training: When To Work Out On Tired Legs vs. Fresh Legs vs. Full Taper (#233)
Jan 30, 2025
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Explore the art of balancing training and recovery for peak cycling performance. Discover when to push through fatigue versus when to prioritize rest. Learn about strategies for freshening up before key sessions and how to schedule structured tapers. Find out how to incorporate recovery into your annual training plan, ensuring you hit your goals feeling your best. Coach Adam Pulford shares insights from nearly two decades of experience to help you optimize your cycling journey.
19:06
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Quick takeaways
Effective training requires careful management of rest to ensure athletes arrive fresh for significant workouts or competitions.
Incorporating reduced training volume and prioritizing recovery days before important events enhances performance and overall adaptation.
Deep dives
Importance of Freshness for Performance
Entering key training sessions or races with a fresh body is crucial for optimal performance. Athletes often underestimate the importance of rest and may arrive at events feeling stale due to overtraining leading up to the event. A well-rested body can handle greater training stress, leading to improved adaptations like increased strength and endurance. Therefore, ensuring you are fresh for significant workouts or competitions is a necessary skill for athletes seeking their best results.
Strategies to Achieve Freshness Before Events
To effectively freshen up for a significant cycling event, a few days of reduced training volume are recommended. For instance, three to four days before the event, athletes should focus on easy endurance rides while cutting their training duration by 15 to 25%. Incorporating a rest day and prioritizing good sleep during this period will further enhance readiness. This approach allows for muscle recovery, glycogen replenishment, and overall system rejuvenation, ensuring peak performance on the event day.
Planning Recovery and Prioritizing Workouts
Integrating recovery periods into training plans is essential for sustained cycling performance. Athletes should prioritize races and create taper blocks leading into high-stakes events, allowing for recovery afterward to optimize training effectiveness. Additionally, regular self-assessment of energy levels and mental readiness can help athletes determine their freshness. By planning strategically, cyclists can engage more effectively in their training cycles while avoiding burnout, leading to better results and a more enjoyable training experience.
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
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.