I think I know the answer to this, but curious. Sometimes life doesn’t quite match up to my Trainerroad schedule (tough to believe, I know) and I find myself with additional time during a TR Rest week. I’m on a Medium Volume Plan. Would it be “wrong” to get additional easy Z1/Z2 work in during the rest week? Would there be any benefit to it from a training standpoint, or is it preferable to just kick back and take the rest week as rest?
Definitely not wrong, as long as you feel recovered and ready to hit the intensity again by the end of the week you can add as much endurance volume as you want. I usually add volume so that the rest week TSS is 50-70% of my last full volume week.
3 Likes
Mentally, I think of rest week as lowering my fatigue so that I can complete the upcoming 3-week block. In other words, in rest week, I look forward to what I have to do, not back at what I’ve already done.
Depending on your training history, you may know that TR over- prescribes recovery. For me, TR lowers my TSS that week to a greater extent than I need.
If you don’t really know how much TSS reduction you need, a good place to start is looking at your TSS for the week before your recovery week. Assuming you were following your plan for that week, TSS during the recovery week may be 50-60% of that previous week. For me, TR’s recovery weeks are below this range, so I do some extra work.
1 Like
Gotcha. My TSS last week was 464, and currently, I’m only going to be at 200 this week.
Meh. Do a Zwift race or a 10 minute climb or something on Saturday or Sunday.
All Z2 and no intensity makes Jack a dull boy.
2 Likes
RECOVERY WEEKS ARE MEANT FOR RECOVERY!
RECOVERY WEEKS ARE MEANT FOR RECOVERY!
RECOVERY WEEKS ARE MEANT FOR RECOVERY!
A good 90% of the time we look at athletes who suffer from burnout, they skipped their recovery weeks!!!
You will not make any notable gains by adding work to your RECOVERY weeks!!!
As you already said, just kick back and relax. The whole point of these recovery periods is to absorb the training you just did from the previous 3 weeks while resting up and getting physically and mentally prepared for the next 3 weeks of training.
And one more time for the folks in the back…
RECOVERY WEEKS ARE MEANT FOR RECOVERY!
4 Likes
Last recovery week I only got on the bike once, I was ok with that. This recovery week I’m trying a little more to get easy hour in a few times. I’m on day 4 and ready to get back at it. These weeks matter
The best recovery week is when you have nothing else going on, and the worst is when you have to work a ton or have a million family obligations, travel, etc. Rest hard and hit the next training block harder.
1 Like
Recovery weeks are meant for recovery, but context matters. How tired are you heading into the week matters on how much recovery you need? Who decided 7 days is the ideal time to recover? Maybe you only need 4 or 5 days.
For me, I almost never need a full week. I will add some zone later in the week and then even some light workouts on the weekend in order to prep for the upcoming block.
1 Like
Anyone who tells me I can’t do more Z1/2 riding can just go to hell. I’m ignoring all future advice from them.
2 Likes