Personally I do most rides at recovery effort and keep one real easy “intensity day.” Something to keep the legs going like 30-30s (i.e. sleeping beauty -4) or a short tempo.
This thread is timely because some buddies who coach distance runners in high school and college had a chat going a week or so on this exact topic. They have defined seasons, races and are peaking for one specific race… not to mention are coaching athletes who are 23 and younger and are competing at a high level… so youth and genetics are likely at play here. And of course it’s not cycling, so there’s that.
Here’s what they said:
Coach 1:
“I’m experimenting 3:1 this year. We cut volume about 10-15% and keep up intensity. We do doubles 3x per week & during the recovery week we drop a morning run and shorten their regular training runs. We keep intensity up. I have found it is just takes too long to build back to where we were.”
Coach 2:
“We run 7 days a week with morning doubles. We drop all morning runs & take a day off that week. We keep up intensity but do a shorter, less intense workout. 4 weeks on, one week off.”
Coach 3:
“We look at the schedule & plan backwards from the goal race. There’s usually 1-2 mid-season races we gear up for. We don’t have a structured formula for recovery weeks but build them around the race schedule. During a recovery week which is after a key race, we drop the next interval workout and do a recovery run or take the day off then we are back at it. Track season is only 10-12 weeks so if we took regular recovery weeks we wouldn’t get the training we need to be in peak shape when we need it.
I thought it was interesting to see the similarities and differences across different endurance sports. I’ll have to ask the swimming coach next!