Fastest recovery vs best performance adapation

[Saddlesaur]

In a previous thread there was a discussion on TR workouts having short cooldowns and if longer would be better. I wondered if what is best for speeding recovery might not be best for attaining the maximum positive adaptation after a workout. Below is a link to that discussion. This morning, I entirely coincidentally came across an article discussing that very thing. I figured you guys might be interested.

'Active recovery' after exercise is supposed to improve performance—but does...

Short cool down in TrainerRoad workouts

I have been doing TrainerRoad plans since about 5 months. One thing that seemed interesting is that TR workouts have a quite short cool down, most of the VO2 Max workouts have 5 min or less cool down. Is this to keep the duration short? It seems Pro Riders are also doing a proper cool down ride after a stage or TT. Would it be beneficial to have longer cool downs if you can spare the time? Interested about your thoughts. Thank you!

[GoLongThenGoHome]

I certainly think there’s something to be said for going for a short walk after a hard session. If I’ve done something near a personal best, and then just hop off the bike and sit around, the legs can seize up. Doing a short walk after often avoids that.