|
With three years of professional coaching and training from Carmichael Training Systems (CTS), I finally understand the benefits of rest and recovery. My normal training regimine usually has one day off the bike (rest day) and one day recovery (1 hour of light spinning under 115 heart rate) which I normally do on the trainer at home.
One of our team coaches, Eddie B. (the legendary Eddie B. for those cyclists), told me at our last camp in June..."Jason you will do well in Athens if you continue to follow your training plan and rest and recover, rest and recover." Eddie B. is Polish and his words echo in my mind every day, since he has a thick accent and rolls his "r"s. I tell that to Rupert everyday on the bike in my Eddie B. Polish accent. "Rest and recover...rest and recover!"
Found out on Sunday when we arrived at camp that Eddie B. was diagnosed in late June/early July with prostate cancer and is in the middle of aggressive treatment. Our team's hearts and prayers are with him! He will not be with us in Athens.
So, for the first three days of training camp, Glenn and I actually followed the recovery ride training plan. Morning and afternoon rides in our little chain ring (yes, some of you can't believe we stayed in it for 4 hours a day for three days!). Morning rides were usually 2 - 2.5 hours and afternon rides 1 - 1.5 hours. About 3.5-4 hours of easy, recovery riding in small chain ring. To be honest, we did not even break a sweat until we got to our rooms doing our situp/crunches/pushup post-ride routine.
We started our intensity training today, on Thursday, Aug 26. Whipped it up with time trial intervals (3 x 10 minutes). Felt great to go fast and push. Nice! Heading to a race in Denver in a little bit. So, that primed the engine so to speak. We will be ready...of course.
Okay...remember the benefits of REST and RECOVER. Even for those that do not cycle! - Jason
| 
