Are You Really Recovered?

Judging recovery is essential to making sure you benefit fully from your training. Dr Tom Daly investigates how to assess whether you’re really ready for that next session.

Most cyclists are aware that recovery is important because fitness improves as the body mends and adapts in response to training stimuli. Equally, most of us know that inadequate recovery (and its bedfellow, overtraining) risks burnout, reduced performance, illness or injury. But how do you judge whether you’re recovering fully from each session to make the optimum gains?

Any coach will tell you that it is often difficult to get riders to take recovery seriously. Riders prefer to focus on pushing themselves hard. Talk in the bunch typically centres on riding hours and miles accumulated, or boasting rights afforded by latest power, speed and heart rate figures. Effort and training load are easy to quantify, whereas recovery is less easily assessed and less exciting.

Recovery can be affected by many variables. It’s not all about training; work or family stresses can release hormones that compromise performance. More recovery is needed as we increase intensity in preparation for key goals. Similarly, athletes who are short on time have to compensate with higher intensity, making the load/recovery balance even more important. And bear in mind, we recover more slowly as we age.

As a 62-year-old racer competing in national and world age-group track championships, and as a coach working mainly with older riders (http://mccm. iwsi.ie), I am keenly aware of the importance of knowing when it’s time to rest and, once refreshed, when the body is ready for those hard sessions that really count. Masters athletes are often more keenly attuned to judging recovery and can be a useful source of insight and guidance.