No real question here, just a tongue in cheek warning to people to not take vacations. Went to Puerto Rico last week, which was actually quite nice (although the cycling deities mocked me because I saw a bunch of cyclists finishing the Vuelta a Puerto Rico in San Juan) . But 7 days off the bike really is rough.
I managed 3.5hrs endurance on Monday but yesterday I did 30mins endurance before bailing and today did 40mins of z2 before bailing due to lack of motivation, higher RPE. Supposed to start high volume build tomorrow and am definitely not feeling like myself yet so might have to call an audible depending on how the first couple of intervals go.
I have to vent to someone because if I tell my wife I’ll naturally get an angry reaction lol
I’m the other way. I spent 10 days off the bike. Did some hiking and some relaxing while out of the country.
Stayed in a cabin just at the trailhead for some amazing mountain bike trails but had no bike.
I planned everything out and the vacation landed as the recovery week between SSBMV1 and 2. Came back, did a few random rides to get back on schedule and into the swing of things. Felt great and had some decent gains on a ramp test at the end of the week.
I went into the vacation with lots of planning and preparation. Rode some longer and harder rides before I left and had my schedule ready for when I came back.
I didn’t worry that I wouldn’t be riding. Took it as some solid rest with a bit of activity. Knew it’s only February and I had a good plan when I got home. Helped to not worry about potentially losing fitness.
I always schedule my vacations in the off-season, when I’m supposed to be off the bike.
My wife is on to the scam though, so we’ll see how long I can keep it up. Fortunately I keep finding great places and doing most of the planning so I think I have a few more years.
Past vacations have included spring break in Sedona, thanksgiving in Moab, summer camping trips to the Tetons and RMNP. This coming April spring break is Hurricane, UT.
My wife said she wants to go somewhere warm with no biking for our next big trip. She’s thinking Hawaii. Should I tell her?
I timed my training so that a long weekend away (city break within my girl) coincided with the start of my ‘rest’ week. I even used the crappy gym bike in the hotel for a short workout.
Then inevitably got ill and yesterday was my first ride after 10 days of nothing but coughing and poor sleep.
Awful - no energy / no legs / couldn’t manage more than 2 intervals despite having dropped my FTP to account for the time off.
Stupidly me! We were away in a family holiday home in Spain in October, Feb and then again coming up in April. I was too tight to spend £300 flying the bike out there for the 3 trips, somehow not thinking I could have taken it in October and just left it to bring back in April…
To rub salt into the wound the weather both times so far has been near perfect and a trip to see the Vuelta a Murcia with Valverde & friends really hammered home what I was missing.
This is really getting into my head, tried riding z2 again today 192w (65%) my HR was in the upper 140’s, like tempo territory. And again I just cut myself off at 30mins. Seriously feels like my FTP went down 10w in a week
I felt the same way coming off my trip, did a z2 ride, it felt terrible, did a vo2 opener (cajon) and also felt terrible, and then did a ramp test, came in 10% down. Did a smattering of BS and half-assed workouts, just to get back into things did some z2 including bays to get some intensity, and then found a couple blog posts on TR that talked about what to do after a week off, and they included subbing the -1 or -2 workouts, or doing the workouts at 90-95% intensity and ramping it back up to 100% over the course of a couple workouts. I did that with my Monday workout (monadnock +4) and then got through Pettit, and smashed Budawang at 100% today.
I figure what’s going on is the legs just acclimating to a work load again, kinda like going back to work if you can make it to lunch you’re doing alright
You probably gain more from some extended time off the bike than you think. Your RPE might be higher, it’s doubtful that you’ve lost too much fitness within 9 days.
I’m saying this to make myself feel better. I’m dealing with a dying pet and a basement (my training zone) repair. I’ll get back after it when it’s right for me.
Yeah, I might have to just do some short intense efforts to get things going again, I am definitely in a funk. I had tried to see the vacation as a rest opportunity, I hadn’t taken a whole week off in a while, but I manage my load pretty well and am never overly fatigued.
It doesn’t help when the type of vacation I want to have is more riding than I do now! lol
My calendar shows me off the bike and sedentary for 16 days recently. Prior to leaving, I could usually count on doing around 200 watts at about 120-126bpm HR. Upon return I was looking at more like 145bpm. What was once sweet spot is now well above threshold, for the moment. A hill I climbed in 8 minutes is now over two minutes slower with the same RPE. Coming back to the bike is pretty ugly, I guess. I haven’t even entertained actual structured workouts because I don’t think I could finish them without a 15% FTP drop.
