Due to work and other personal events, I sometimes need to skip a planned training plan on my calendar. How "“bad” is this in reality to my progression to miss a workout every 2-3 weeks? It’s not that I want to skip, it’s mostly due to lack of sleep after getting home late from work. Should I skip the planned ride and do a recovery workout, or just do the workout and stop when I feel like I can’t go on any longer?
Every few weeks isn’t a biggie – sometimes, life gets in the way.
If you’re skipping due to lack of sleep, it’s probably the right choice – grinding through workouts while already tired/fatigued can be a quick path to burnout.
If you’re too exhausted to do the workout, skipping it sounds like the move. If you have enough in you to do a recovery spin, I’d say keep it on the shorter side if you still want to get on the bike. If you have to take a day totally off for some extra rest, then that’s what you’ve gotta do to make sure the rest of your training stays on-track.
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An occasional recovery day is not bad. Your body will be better prepared for the next workout.
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Depending on your level of fatigue you might consider rearranging the ride schedule for the week. For example, if you’re riding 2 intensity days and one endurance day move the schedule so you skip the endurance after the night of poor sleep (assuming the two intensity rides are a priority). Do the two intensity workouts on days you feel good.
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If you need the sleep, and it can be hard to tell, hit the sack early. If you skip the workout but stay up late anyway, then you’ve neither had the covert nor had the training.
If you don’t need the sleep, then do what you can. A completed 30 min recovery ride will usually feel better than an hour vo2 cut short to 20mins.