# When to take it easy or rest?



## teddysaur (Dec 30, 2004)

Hi,
Lately I have been listening to my body more and noting down some of the feedbacks. I need some guidance as to when to take it easy or rest so that my body can take its time to adapt for better performance. Even though I hate to miss the training schedule but I hate even more to get sick.

1. Coughing (although not sick but coughing when exerting hard)
2. Tiredness (I felt during certain week I always felt tired and need to sleep during the day even though I had 8hrs of rest the night before)
3. Sudden surge of Hunger (During certain week, I had more craving than usual)

Are the feedback telling me something?


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## saird (Aug 19, 2008)

_Overreaching lasts from a few days to 2 weeks and is associated with fatigue, reduction of maximum performance capacity, and a brief interval of decreased personal performance. Recovery is achieved with a reduction in training or a few extra days of rest.

Overtraining (overtraining syndrome, staleness, systemic overtraining) is the result of many weeks of exceeding the athlete’s physiologic limits and can result in weeks or months of diminished performance - symptoms normally resolve in 6-12 weeks but may continue much longer or recur if athletes return to hard training too soon. It involves mood disturbances, muscle soreness/stiffness, and changes in blood chemistry values, hormone levels, and nocturnal urinary catecholamine excretion._

http://www.cptips.com/ovrtrng.htm


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## merlinluvr (Feb 6, 2010)

teddysaur said:


> Hi,
> Lately I have been listening to my body more and noting down some of the feedbacks. I need some guidance as to when to take it easy or rest so that my body can take its time to adapt for better performance. Even though I hate to miss the training schedule but I hate even more to get sick.
> 
> 1. Coughing (although not sick but coughing when exerting hard)
> ...


For me anyway, the coughing at exertion is always a sign of dehydration. That or the red tide we get down here about once a year.....under hydrating is bad on any level and will drag you down quickly.


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## Wookiebiker (Sep 5, 2005)

It's as important to pay attention to your performance on the bike as it is to what your body is telling you.

For instance...Last year I did a very hard 73 mile ride the day before a 20 mile TT. My legs felt like toast and my HR during the race was 10 BPM lower than normal. However, I turned a personal best on the course by 1 minute. So even though I was tired, I was still able to perform well.

However, if your feeling tired and your performance is going downhill fast...you need to take an easy week on the bike. Don't stop riding all together, but take a week off of intervals or reduce the volume of your training in 1/2 for a week.

Many times you will have a day or two where you just don't feel great and you can work through those...but if it persists then you need to take an easy week. So track your performance as well as how you feel. When both are in decline, take a break.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

I raced 2 crits last Saturday, both of them I was desperately hanging on to the back of the pack the whole way. Sunday I rode 4 hours plus, hard, in the wind. Was absolutely thrashed as you might expect.

For the Tuesday night crit, I had no enthusiasm, was tired as soon as I got on the bike, couldn't get to feeling warmed up, etc. Was only able to sit in for about 20 minutes before getting dropped (in a race I usually contest the final sprint). 

So, yeah, I was pretty tired. But the interesting thing - when I uploaded my power file, I had set pb's for every duration under 5 minutes, as well as 20 and 30 mins. 

Was I over-reached? Definitely - to me the big marker is lack of enthusiasm. Yours may vary. But, I was still able to put out a PB performance. Now I'm taking 3 days completely off (biztrip) and will see how I feel for the Saturday morning hammerfest.


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## RLinNH (Apr 23, 2002)

Creakyknees said:


> I raced 2 crits last Saturday, both of them I was desperately hanging on to the back of the pack the whole way. Sunday I rode 4 hours plus, hard, in the wind. Was absolutely thrashed as you might expect.
> 
> For the Tuesday night crit, I had no enthusiasm, was tired as soon as I got on the bike, couldn't get to feeling warmed up, etc. Was only able to sit in for about 20 minutes before getting dropped (in a race I usually contest the final sprint).
> 
> ...




Gotta ask. PB='s Personal Best?


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## Crack Monkey (Apr 19, 2007)

This time of year, the coughing is annoying, but often only indicates high pollen levels (depends on region and your own tolerance to allergens).


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## teddysaur (Dec 30, 2004)

Thanks guys. I should not be worried about the symptoms I am facing now and should be able to ride and let my body adapt


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## slegros (Sep 22, 2009)

I found this article very interesting in terms of striking a balance. A few points I found particularly interesting:

-3days a week of high intensity training is optimal
-There is no difference in training 6 days a week or training 2 days a week providing that the intensity levels are the same between the 2 programs.
-There is no difference training 3 days on/ 4days off versus training 1on/1off.

http://www.cptips.com/trnoptn.htm


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## JimT (Jul 18, 2007)

That is a pretty good article, I need to study that a bit. I just hate at my level of fitness almost any ride I take is "high intensity"


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## MaddSkillz (Mar 13, 2007)

Yeah, I raced on Sunday, did high-intensity hills last night and there is a practice crit tonight and then the hammer-fest group ride tomorrow night. I'm gonna skip tonights practice crit. My legs are toast right now and I think 4 days in a row of high-intensity riding may not be the best for me. Because I sure as heck am going tomorrow night... So I think I need a day off to recover at least a little bit.


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## heathb (Nov 1, 2008)

I listen to my body more and more now that I'm 36. I can't do what I did only just a few years ago. It's meant more rest/easy/short days and not near as many 100 mile training rides. 

Years ago when I was doing about 450-500 miles per week the guy that would smoke me everytime at all my races was only doing 1 hour a day and one 100 mile ride a week. 

So if you're tired rest, you don't get stronger when you're legs are trashed and if you ain't getting stronger then what's the point?


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## Doctor Who (Feb 22, 2005)

It seems like everyone I race/ride with has been coughing lots lately -- probably just due to lousy air and allergies.

If you're feeling *tired*, take some days off the bike completely. It does wonders. Do some core workouts or go for a long walk or two to get the blood flowing, but don't bother with riding.


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## vontress (Jul 19, 2009)

This is great advise. I'm new to riding and just did a double century. I trained like crazy and got sick right before the ride. Friends told me same advise as in this thread. I didn't listen. Thought I just needed to get in better shape. I barely finished the ride. Way behind what I had expected in time. It's been 2 weeks and I am still off. Mood swings, tired, all mentioned above. From now on, my body is my guide. At least partly, at 50, my body tells me stay in bed and take it easy every day. Thanks for great advise.


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