Train hard but recover easy makes you a fitter cyclist

Getting your recovery wrong and you could be wasting your time training hard....

To train hard you have to be fresh. To be fresh you need to recover properly. Proper active recovery is an important part of this process.

Most people get this one wrong. On your recovery days it's important that you ride at a heart rate that provides you with an active recovery.

Not raising the heart rate above 74% can take a blow to the egos of some cyclists.

I speed limit my riders, providing them with the following guideline: “Ride no faster than the guys riding by you in thongs”.

While I’m not meaning this literally it’s important to remember that to be able to ride really hard on the hard days you need to ride really slow on the other days. That way you maximise your training. Get it wrong and you’ll only hope to just maintain your current fitness.

So anything above the Base Aerobic Endurance Zone (or 74% of your max Heart rate) is too fast.

Oh... and rest days are for total rest. Exercising at low intensity on your recovery days between hard days helps make your muscles more fibrous and stronger so they can resist injury better when you take your next intense workout.

Train hard but recover easy makes you a fitter cyclist.