Difference between a rest day and an easy day

[devinci]

I agree with the above general guidelines, although I dont believe in precise numbers to define a recovery ride.

Thing is most people screw these up big time, thinking they are recovering because they only do 60min at an easy pace. most of the time that pace is not slow enough to real recovery time and simply moving blood arround.

For me there is a difference between an easy ride and a recovery ride. Easy means you will still spike the power here and there and just ride along not paying attention to your intensity. Think about that 2h varied terrain ride with a buddy where you chat and just ride. On the other hand, a recovery ride will have me look at the powermeter display to avoid spiking power on bumps and head wind and maintain a low intensity throughout the ride.

Think it's more a mental thing then a real training benefit. Enjoying the weather and just riding along the bike path as something refreshing to it and I like it. But for the benefits of my training, I will take days OFF completely to allow adaptations to occur. I usually log between 15 and 25h of training a week when not racing and this typically involves at least a days OFF completely every 10 days or so.

People working out on a 15-25h / week training schedule riding 7 days out of 7 for months on end are just fooling themselves thinking they are pros while they are not.