I’m a 50-year-old woman who loves training and getting better on the bike. It can be discouraging at times when I compare myself to everyone else, but I try to focus on my process goals. I didn’t do this as a kid but just started a few years ago.
I went on a cruise and couldn’t do my workouts during that time. I came back today and just bonked an anaerobic workout. I’m off again next week for a family reunion. These are the only times I’ll be gone, but wow- I struggled. The next workout trainerrode has me on is a VO2 Max workout. My next race is July 18th. It’s just a 4.5 mile race with 614 ft ascent.
Question- is it normal to loose that much fitness? Is it normal to have a VO2 Max workout coming back?
How long have you been off? It is normal and expected to loose some fitness after break. You should get back pretty fast. Blood volume and enzymes are lost fast, vo2 max too. Glycogen stores drop if you don’t eat enough like when you train. Body adapts constant and your body adapted to new short reality, which was taking a break. I have had it few times, like always after holidays first 2-3 workers feel harder and it’s get better after that. Nothing to worry about. About the workout assignments I am not sure. Take it easier if you feel fatigued.
Did you have any endurance rides scheduled in the week? As long as I hit my planned rides during the week, I never hesitate to move days around in a way that it makes the most sense to me. After a longer break, I’d likely want my first day back to be an easier endurance ride.
Someone else who knows much more than me will be along shortly to advise on the fitness element but like the poster above I always schedule in an easy endurance ride immediately after a holiday and give myself a short ramp-up to the hard sessions.
Not particularly for any scientific reason but simply because for me the thought of doing a Vo2 max session straight after a week of smashing beers every day (well, in my case anyway) is just too much to bear.
For what its worth in my own experience I would definitely find a Vo2 max session slightly harder after a 10-14 days off but probably only a little bit. I wouldn’t expect to fail but I would probably be bracing myself to suffer pretty bad (though arguably they should all be like that I suppose so its all relative).
I don’t think it’s super uncommon to struggle with intensity after returning from time off. “Vacations” aren’t always as restorative as we think, and it can be tough to switch your body from work mode to chill mode and back again.
I’d keep sticking with your workouts, and as others have already said, if you need to move things around a bit, or even replace a hard workout with something a little easier to get the wheels moving again, by all means do that.
Hey! A couple other things to consider - which you might already know. I’m 48 - also didn’t compete in my younger years. Something I’ve noticed helps a lot is fuelling more - especially during rides. I used to under-fuel so I was a lot lighter weight, but not as strong. Also as ladies, hormones can majorly factor into the ability to complete rides. If I’m going to struggle with a hard workout it’s always in luteal phase. Also more fuelling required during that time and recovery can take 2x longer! I’ve also noticed my body can struggle to get back into the pain cave zone after rest weeks. A lot is mental — at least for me. I just let it go and keep going. There are so many ebbs and flows in training, but I’m learning it’s the overall consistency that counts. You’ve got this
When I come back from travel I prefer to do a sweet spot workout to ease in to training, even if it gives me a VO2 max - just swap it out. I personally notice the loss in anaerobic fitness after 1.5-2 weeks.
Same occured in my program; 10 days off, nor riding and the initial session was a VO2 max (the original session planned for that day prior to my break). Everyone here is suggesting an easy ramp, which makes sense. Why does TrainerRoad not appear to take holiday/vacation impacts into account?
