Art Macfarland is a Level II USA Cycling certified coach and active racer on both the mountain and road. Art is also an accomplished multi day endurance racer having completed such events as TransRockies, BC Bike Race, Cape Epic, La Ruta de los Conquistadores, TransMexicana and Baja Epic. Over the past 10 years, Art has coached State Champions in various disciplines (Criterium, TT, and MTB) and currently coaches from Cat 1 to Cat 5 Road racers and Pro to Beginner level MTB racers.

If I ride six days a week, how many days should I make recovery rides?

Before I try to answer your question, let's define what "recovery ride" means.  To me, a recovery ride is one where you just soft pedal and keep your hear rate below 65% to get blood flow through the legs and assist in the recovery process.  This is what we call active recovery.  I'm assuming this is what you are referring to.

There are two answers to your question and you probably won't like either one, but hopefully you can understand how to incorporate active recovery rides into your training program.

1.  When you need one!!!  Everyone knows their body and when the body is tired, you must rest.  I know, this is kind of a cope out, but the best answer I can come up with without knowing exactly what your doing.

2.  It depends - and this will probably be my answer for many questions unless specifics are provided - on many variables.  Let me explain.  In order to tell you how many active recovery rides you need, I would need to know training phase, season goals, type of training/intervals being performed, level/experience, etc.  As you can see too many variables to give you a clear answer.  

For my athletes, I usually have them ride above active recovery (in the aerobic zone) with no drills at least twice per week.  Usually 3 times a week, but one day is typically a long endurance ride in the weekend so it's not really considered an "easy" day.  With one day complete rest, most cyclists do not require more rest unless you're in your 50's or older.  I do prescribe active recovery rides during a rest week (after a 3 week build) or a couple of days before a big race.  If you're doing a lot of high intensity intervals during the week you might want to add a recovery ride on Fridays before the 2 long weekend day rides.

To summarize, if you feel tired, you probably are and you should take a day off or do a short recovery ride.   A good time to do a recovery ride is a couple of days before a big race and always incorporate them into a recovery week.  If you're following a structured training program or if you have a coach, make sure active recovery days are incorporated into your plan.

Return to Ask Coach Art
Return to General
Return to Ask Coach Art Archive