This is a place to discuss the dizzying highs and devastating lows of rest weeks.
I am in the middle of one right now.
One new item of devilry that i have noticed: I find that often during rest weeks, I feel more “on edge” than normal. More stressed.
I was wondering if maybe this is because the stress hormones are still there and remain to be fully cleared out, but i’m also NOT getting the endorphins that i’m used to getting from hard exercise.
So i’m assuming this means things are working? Maybe it means i need some CBD oil or more yoga
I know what you mean. On rest weeks i get very restless and feel like I should be doing something. I tend to try and do a few more Yoga sessions and that helps.
yeah it’s just rough. I feel MORE tired than when i’m training rather than less, and as people have described, also restless. Not to mention that it’s finally nice out and yet i don’t get to go ride.
And I’m a long-term HRV tracker, and my HRV actually gets worse during rest weeks rather than better, even though i know there’s no way there’s any real “detraining” after just four or five days.
haha yeah me too! My highest days are after things like nine hammers or the trick.
I’ve decided i’m using it for long-term, aggregate trends, and then, only in conjunction with and alongside resting HR and subjective factors. Day to day it does not correlate well with readiness.
My main “tell” for when i’m overdoing it and need a rest is, i start to not be able to sleep well despite being very tired.
I’m not a proponent of CBD oil as studies have shown they vary a lot in what they actually contain and most don’t contain what they say they do!
In some ways the body is able to come off edge and feel tired, most people I coach find the rest weeks they feel more tired but once the next block comes along they feel better.
Both fatigue and rest almost have a delayed reaction so being a bit tired at the start of the rest week is fine as long as you feel good again come the build weeks
I have been looking at a few of the training plans and notice that rest weeks frequently end with a weekend of 1 hour endurance rides each day. What is the physiologic purpose of these rides? I understand the purpose of the short recovery rides during the week and I certainly feel better when I do a short recovery ride rather than take the day off, but it seems like a one hour endurance ride is longer than necessary for recovery and shorter than necessary to get any physiologic adaptation. I have a couple more sprint triathlons coming up and a century in about 12 weeks with a crazy few months at work/life so I have to be flexible with the training plan and adapt on the fly.
One big benefit of a nice one hour ride outdoors though, good for the head. Psychology essentially underpins everything in an athlete. If the head isn’t in it, then even the physiological peak of humanity aren’t going to perform well or even make it to the start. The purpose of a ride might just be for fun and it still has an important part to play in the Training plan
