Rest week metrics

Training
1

Hi all,

I have a rest week coming up. I really want the optimal amount of rest this week. Can anyone suggest what I should bring my Fitness, fatigue, and form to based on the following information?

Current fitness : 84
Current Fatigue: 104
Current form: -20

At the end of this week, having cut my volume in half (around) what should I aim to bring my fitness and fatigue to? I ask this because Im trying to plan the intensity of my rides, which I know should not be intense but how relaxing should they be during the rest week, optimally?

Thanks in advance. If the answers are nuanced, please just tell me what you would do and why.

2

I define rest as time off the bike, and recovery as reduced load.

Some say it should be half (the load) of your previous hard week. For me, the weekly target load is the same for each recovery week, and is always low intensity (Z2 HR, in a 5 zone model) but usually the same number of sessions I would normally do per week. I’ll skip a session if I feel tired, rather than trying to follow the plan to the tee.

3

Half the average load of the last 3 weeks and no harm to throw in 15 minutes intensity somewhere (which is where a ramp test comes in handy)

So if you previous 3 weeks load were 500, 520, 550 then your recovery week load would be in or around ((500+520+550)/3)/2) = 262.

As already said, limit your intensity but no harm to use recovery week test your progress.

I always take the Monday+Tuesday of a recovery week fully off the bike

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4

Thank you very much. That sounds like it is a good ballpark stress/volume/intensity suggestion. Appreciated.

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5

Thank you. So i’ll probably just take monday off, and ride 60-90 minutes with a bit of light tempo. Aiming to just level off my CTL with a very slight decline. The thing is, i’ve trained so hard the last 3 weeks averaging about 710 load per week that I want to use this time to full recover and do it all over again at a pregressively higher load.

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6

Listen to your body. The amount of rest/ recovery you need between blocks should not be dictated by a CTL number too precisely. Don’t chase that metric, chase performance :slight_smile:

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7

Agreed. I should have added that caveat myself. Classic example this week for me. Did nowhere near half the average of the combined for the last 3 weeks. Was just not feeling it

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8

Okay what language is my body speaking in? What am I listening for?

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9

Have a look at this article that takes a page out of Joe Friel’s Training Bible. Score yourself every day, until you get used to self-rating yourself. It becomes habitual and eventually you will know what to look for by just feeling okay or not.
A score >7 it’s a sign to rest.

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10

Start with the useful article posted by @Gerald and also have a look at the wellness metrics in intervals and start to complete them on a daily basis - ask your self how you feel…sleep quality, stress, fatigue, soreness, etc…

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