I am currently racing indoors in 2 different series, one is on Sunday (mornings) and one on Tuesday nights.
Sunday races are around 1h30/1h40 with 4 timed segments (totalling around 1h of effort around FTP, with +/- 10 min recoveries in between) while Tuesday nights are Zwift 50 min/1hr races.
Question is, what would you suggest to do on Monday to ‘clean’ a little bit legs from Sunday effort without leaving them too sore for Tuesday night? Some high cadence Z2 intervals might help? (Nothing big, just some 1-minute fast pedal with 1 min recovery)? Other ideas?
Rest of the week normally has 2 easy/recovery rides, 1 quality workout (usually on Thursdays) and Z2-Z3 endurance on Saturdays (2hrs)
Could consider easy recovery ride if you need to feel the legs turn the pedals. For me I would just want to recover as best I could to be ready for Tuesday. I may consider not riding at all and make sure I am hydrating well, eating right, avoiding alcohol, sleeping, foam rolling, etc. These e races tend to wipe me the heck out.
Yeah, in my case I have found that not riding at all leaves my legs a bit worse and 'heavy" on the second day. This is why I would like to see if there is some “leg-cleaning” routine that someone uses and thinks it’s helpful (I had mentioned some fast-pedal intervals, but it was just a possible idea, not sure if appropriate) in addition to foam rolling and stretching (light-yoga poses) which I usually do
Vdude69- recovery can be specifc to one’s Physiology and how fast they do recover. Some need recovery rides while others might need full rest day with NO activity and some can even go hard mutliple days before they need a rest. In your speicic question I would ask what have you done in the past and do you feel it is best for you? IE do you feel rested and ready to go again in betwen yoru hard sessions which Zwift racing woudl be considered. If you have not experimented with different protocols I would try complete rest and see how you feel, otherwise as laready indicated a recovery ride at 40-50% of FTP might do the trick, one option for recovery rides is to add some tempo increases at 1-2min durations, I like to do these at cadence of 85-95 and helps legs “not fall asleep” in between hard sessions. It all comes down to what works for you! The only science backed recovery protocol that I am aware of that works is sleep! Best of luck!
@Fpike The current situation of 2 races in 3 days is new for me, so I don’t really have past data to compare (I have always been racing once a week until now).
The only comparison I could use can be between 2 quality workouts, e.g. Vo2 max intervals on Tuesday and Tempo/Sweetspot on Thursday. In that case, doing something light on Wednesday seemed to help me more than total recovery. What you mention about 1-2 min tempo increases at 85-95 rpm is very close to what I had in my mind, the goal being exactly helping legs not falling asleep as you said. How many of those tempo increases would you consider, in case? I was thinking 4-5 of them (if 1 min. duration) with 1 or 2 minutes easy recovery between them, I would have them in the middle of a 45-50 min easy session @40-50% FTP as you suggest. What do you think?
I like prescribing 60 min recovery rides, no longer than 90 min ever and that is at an elite level. I am a fan of 1min tempo increase wiith cadence anywhere from 80-100 as long as power or effort stays at low tempo (75-80% FTP). My go to is 9min at zone 1 with 1min tempo, repeating 6 times.
Keep me posted on how it works. Every athlete is unique and you may or may not need more or less regarding recovery intensity. Another option is Z1/2 alternation where you ride z1 for 10min then z2 for 10min for 60min.
First impressions after 2nd race in 3 days (tonight): legs were ok when at steady effort around FTP or slightly lower, clear signals of incoming cramps (cramps avoided managing effort) when trying to push (bridging gaps, final sprint). Sunday’s race was 4 timed segments totalling 1h at FTP, the rest of the race being other 40 mins around 75% FTP average.
Yesterday I had not tried a full “protocol”, I just did 50 min of easy riding with some 1 min cadence increase, but possibly too close to each other (just 1-2 mins easy riding between each cadence increase). I will try your suggested 6x1min tempo increase cadence @75-80% FTP inside an easy ride next Monday, and come back here to report