Recovery?

So the biggest thing i've been doing with this heart rate device has involved recovery. Keeping the heart rate below 100 or 105 on the way to work. It is actually pretty hard to do. I'll usually focus on getting these super easy rides/days after getting in as hard of a ride to and from as possible or after a race. More or less avoiding any medium rides... Stephen has found a reasonable study looking at recovery. I'm actually not really surprised by his findings.

That said, jumping from a race, into a car just to get out and stand on concrete for 5 hours probably isn't the best way to recover.

Oh well... Like with the food, the only reason to recover quickly is if you need to perform at your best as soon as possible.

There is absolutely (i believe) no reason to pack the recovery drink and foods in post peak activity if you aren't looking to repeat it right away. Racing on Sunday but not until the following week? Why bother packing on the extra food/calories. Don't starve yourself but no need to treat every hard training ride or every race like the saturday of a Verge weekend.

Same with recovery too... these studies focus on improving performance quickly. If you tried to study activity and intensity and recovery methods with compression, cold, active, you pick the recovery matrix and look at peak output with a week between, how different will they be? Problem is, if there is an improvement between times, can that be attributed to recovery or just adaptation to stress irrespective of recovery.

The human system is too complex to have any good and clear answers. But this study that Stephen talks about seems to actually help at least point cyclists into a decent direction as far as recovery info goes. And really, is it anything new? No, not really.

Enjoy the riding, even the wicked slow steerage way, walking the bike speeds.

heddwch
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