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| *Vultures Knob>>>Cycling |
What is the best way to recover while still maintaining a decent pace while road cycling? |
any answers would be great I gotta give Scott Braden props for his answer. It's as sarcastic as what I was thinking when I read the question. HAH!! But, to actually answer the question, MR was right with 'reducing power'. The big question is how to do that while keeping a decent pace? You need to know your own physiology, and understand how your body responds to what effort. Most of the time you're looking to recover after an anaerobic effort, like a mad dash up a hill or a sprint. If you're with a group, sit in the draft and pick a gear that gives you a relatively low cadence, in the 70 to 80 rpm range while being able to stay with the group. If you're riding alone, you'll HAVE to slow down, but pick a gear that puts your cadence in the 80 to 90 rpm range and allows you to slow your breathing. The speed and gear are both subject to your level of fitness and exhaustion. The only answer to improve your fitness is to keep training. But as for nutrition you want to keep hydrated and fueled. You don't need to stuff yourself, but if you start to feel hungry or thirsty, it's too late. Again, knowing your physiology is the key, and the only way to learn that is to keep riding and trying different fuels until you find one that works. I am assuming you mean for your muscles to recover. 1. Hydrate properly -- 20 ounces of water per hour. 2. Eat some quick carbs such as energy bars or (my favorite) Jelly Belly Sports Beans. 3. Try electrolyte gels such as Power Par Gel. Carbs are your fuel, electrolytes are the spark. Well that's the $64,000 question. Essentially, you must reduce your power output to recover. Reduced power means a slower pace. If you're riding alone you can't suck wheel... so it only leaves better conditioning. Better conditioning allows faster recovery. Seriously, best you can do with this paradox is to learn what your AT is. At somewhere less than that should allow you to recover. Highly conditioned riders can recover at just a few % less effort. If your conditioning is poor you may have to almost coast to recover and nothing but training will help that. With me, if I'm riding close to my AT for say a 20 mile ride and hit a hill I put myself over my AT. At that point I must slow to recover. Being in fairly good condition this means I back off maybe 10% for a minute or so, as I feel I'm back below my AT I push a little harder again. When riding hard I try to catch a little breath on any downhill. I don't coast by any means but let off the gas a little. As stated above, hydration, food and electrolytes are all important. Research suggests most folks can absorb around 24-30 ounces of liquid and roughly 200 calories per hour during exercise. Taking in significantly more or less is not helpful and highly likely to lead to lots of problems. As well, to recover, you must be exercising at a level of exertion below your lactate threshold (the point where your muscles begin to burn and your breathing becomes deep and labored.) Exercise physiologists disagree about what is really going on in your body when exerting above your lactate threshold, but one thing is certain: at some point, you must slow down and recover. I've always found continued pedaling to be best during recovery periods. Simply stopping pedaling after a period of hard exertion sometimes causes my legs to cramp. Even though I may not be putting much pressure on the pedals, I keep the legs moving. Most exercise folks believe this continued motion will help clear by-products of anaerobic exercise and speed oxygen to the muscles. Furthermore, it will help you maintain the pace you hope for. Hope this helps. Water Electrolytes food (carbohydrates) more smart training If you are cycling with friends, have them break the wind. If you climbing mountains, periodically go from being on the saddle to standing. Reduce your aerodynamic drag with different hand positions, or aero bars. Sit in. Suck wind. It's the _only way_. catch someone and draft them |
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