Take a Recovery Day to come into Form
Now that racing has begun or is about to begin its time to go fast. You've lifted weights this winter, suffered through the horrible winter to put in your base miles, watched Tour de France re-runs in the basement on your trainer, and you've done countless intervals in Zone 5. What's next? How about a rest day!
Huh? No really, seriously, what's next? Well, cycling fans I'll let you in on a little secret. Its what professional cyclists around the globe are doing. Taking it easy. Yup, recovery days. With the spring classics around the corner, and the NRC calendar heating up here in the States, pros on both sides of the pond are parking their bikes and hitting the couch. It takes discipline, it takes willpower, and it takes confidence in your training plan to park it on the couch for a day or two. But taking some well earned recovery days is a perfect way to come into your form for these all important races.
Wait a minute! You haven't read about Lance's epic day on the couch just days prior to the '02 Amstel Gold on his website? Its not glamorous to write about resting in your online diary and its also not a good idea to make your secret weapon public information. But rest assured everybody benefits from a rest day. I betcha' right now Museeuw and his Quickstep teammates are all horizontal on the couch fresh off a massage daydreaming of La Primavera Rosa.
In all sincerity, a few well timed recovery days can make or break your early season race campaign. But in my opinion there is so much more to a recovery day than not riding your bike. For instance try these recovery tricks on your next recovery day:
Plan ahead and schedule in a massage, a steam at the gym, or another relaxing activity
Rent a DVD or video and park it on the couch for a couple of hours with your feet up
Sleep in or try to get in an afternoon nap. Ideally, do both
Focus on another area of your training like your nutrition: cook yourself a great meal or better yet have someone cook it for you
Take care of all those things in life you put on hold in order to train
Catch up on your web surfing especially on PezCyclingNews
Take time to nurture and develop the relationships that are important to you whether it be your spouse, child, or friend. Bike racing is too hard without support!
If you are still "crazy about the bike" try giving your second home some T.L.C. Wash it, Clean it, lube it, or take it to your friendly bike shop. Whatever you can do to ensure that your machine is good to go on race day
Things not to do on your recovery day (we've all been guilty of these) :
Work late to catch up from those days you left on time to go out a train
Take the city limit street sprint
Tag along with your buddies on "that climb"
Shall we go on? You probably got the picture
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