What's the best number of days to cycle in a row

[Bordcla]

There's tons of literature available on how to periodize and structure a training plan. Try the 2-part article published in Velonews about 1.5-2 years ago. Basically, progressive overload is the name of the game. Think of putting blocks together. Could be blocks of volume days followed by a rest day. Blocks of intensity and rest, and use this to put your weeks together.

[wheelsONfire]

I had a setback this season. I kind of blew my left knee. I couldn't cycle even 3 minutes until it felt like i had something stuck inside my knee.
I started off to intense going from trainer to outdoor.
Needless to say (perhaps),.... i hate winter and i hate snow......

[mcfarton]

Sorry to hear that, you should probably seek professional help. I also hate winter and snow, but it’s coming back soon


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[NickJHP]

Depends on your age. The older you get, the longer it takes to recover from physical exertion. One of the sports scientists at the Australian Institute of Sport gave a talk to our cycling club some years back on the topic "Aging and athletic performance". One of his examples was that an 18-year-old can be put through a really hard training session, and it will take them about six hours to be fully recovered and ready for another. Hence the Olympic swimmers at the AIS have morning and afternoon training sessions. But, he said, put a 40-year-old through the same intensity training session, and they take about two days to fully recover.

[wheelsONfire]

Depends on your age. The older you get, the longer it takes to recover from physical exertion. One of the sports scientists at the Australian Institute of Sport gave a talk to our cycling club some years back on the topic "Aging and athletic performance". One of his examples was that an 18-year-old can be put through a really hard training session, and it will take them about six hours to be fully recovered and ready for another. Hence the Olympic swimmers at the AIS have morning and afternoon training sessions. But, he said, put a 40-year-old through the same intensity training session, and they take about two days to fully recover.

Well, i'm 45 now so that might explain things
Anyway, i see the recovery phase as suggested by my Garmin (using HR monitor).
Sometimes it's well over 24 hours, which seems a bit long...!?

I was told that specific knee damage i suffered from, took lots of time to heal due to very poor blood flow in tendons.
It appeared that it never was about to heal, but all of a sudden i was back on track ( i think 10-12 weeks later)

[Alumen]

Depends on your age. The older you get, the longer it takes to recover from physical exertion. One of the sports scientists at the Australian Institute of Sport gave a talk to our cycling club some years back on the topic "Aging and athletic performance". One of his examples was that an 18-year-old can be put through a really hard training session, and it will take them about six hours to be fully recovered and ready for another. Hence the Olympic swimmers at the AIS have morning and afternoon training sessions. But, he said, put a 40-year-old through the same intensity training session, and they take about two days to fully recover.

Hmm... you can't really compare sports I think.

My wife has been a professional swimmer and trained indeed twice a day, 6 days in the week and the 7th day was a race day.

My daughter (16) is a semi professional speed skater and she is not allowed by her trainer to train more then 4 times a week on the ice. And also not race every weekend.

The difference is, that with swimming your body is floating, so your heart beat zones are staying relatively low and also your joints are not under pressure. With speed skating though, this is a very static sport, so automatically your your heart beat zones are going up big time (she can't even do any recovery or endurance rides on the ice), plus there is a lot of pressure on the joints of her lower body part.

However, with cycling I think you are pretty safe. And if you train in the right heart beat zones, I think you can even do on some of the days in the week twice a training per day. But definitely you can ride every day. For mental reasons only, I would say ride 6 days a week.

[Alumen]

Depends on your age. The older you get, the longer it takes to recover from physical exertion. One of the sports scientists at the Australian Institute of Sport gave a talk to our cycling club some years back on the topic "Aging and athletic performance". One of his examples was that an 18-year-old can be put through a really hard training session, and it will take them about six hours to be fully recovered and ready for another. Hence the Olympic swimmers at the AIS have morning and afternoon training sessions. But, he said, put a 40-year-old through the same intensity training session, and they take about two days to fully recover.

Hmm... you can't really compare sports I think.

My wife has been a professional swimmer and trained indeed twice a day, 6 days in the week and the 7th day was a race day.

My daughter (16) is a semi professional speed skater and she is not allowed by her trainer to train more then 4 times a week on the ice. And also not race every weekend.

The difference is, that with swimming your body is floating, so your heart beat zones are staying relatively low and also your joints are not under pressure. With speed skating though, this is a very static sport, so automatically your heart beat zones are going up big time (she can't even do any recovery or endurance rides on the ice), plus there is a lot of pressure on the joints of her lower body part.

However, with cycling I think you are pretty safe. And if you train in the right heart beat zones, I think you can even do on some of the days in the week twice a training per day. But definitely you can ride every day. For mental reasons only, I would say ride 6 days a week.

[demoCRIT]

...
Well, i'm 45 now so that might explain things
Anyway, i see the recovery phase as suggested by my Garmin (using HR monitor).
Sometimes it's well over 24 hours, which seems a bit long...!?

im a bit younger but Garmin also shows >24h sometimes.
I was getting tired and was taking "random" days off untill i got a coach...
We figured where im with my form, ability to recover and training load.
I would suggest a consultation with a training plan and instructions on how to modify if life kicks is sometimes etc.
Get that for 2months and get back to the guy with feedback and plan for another 2. After that you are set!

[cyclenutnz]

For the married folks, I would take off my Aniversary, Mothers Day, and her birthday. Maybe a half day on Christmas but the kids are gone already.

Or marry a cyclist so she thinks that going on an MTB trip without kids is a good anniversary celebration.

I can't sleep if I don't exercise (and apparently I get a bit grumpy) so every day is best for me. Some times that's a 40min spin on the MTB if I'm fatigued - just to keep the legs moving - can't do long/hard every day.

For the athletes I coach (mostly pro Tri) we freshen up to -10 TSB or better before going into key sets to avoid overdoing it.

[KonaSS]

All the days. All of them.

[furiousferret]

I'm 47 and I ride everyday. That being said I rarely go 2 hard days in a row and I have a fairly strict active recovery protocol. Taking actual days off leaves me flatter, and I seem to perform better riding every day.

I go no more than 90 minutes and keep it under Zone 3. Usually its 60 though, 90 is pushing it.

[carbonazza]

You can try to measure your Heart Rate Variability or HRV.
It gives you an indication of your stress level, by a quick morning measurement.
There are apps you can install on your mobile.
I used the free Elite HRV for a while, but tired of putting a strap in bed, I now use the paying HRV4Training that use the flash/camera as sensor.

If your HRV is good, ride hard until it is not.
If not, ride easy to recover or don’t ride.

[g32ecs]

I think I completed 1 straight month before or have had months which I only missed 3-4 days.

My city isnt a cycling city. Going to work on a bicycle is a death wish. I also have a 9-5er, so my time is limited plus a long 7 month winter.

[JerryLook]

I’ve been riding every day for a while now. During the week, my daily rides are 20 miles before work, and around 8 miles on my lunch break. Then some longer rides on the weekend. I live in FL, so I can ride all year round.

Sometimes with family life I have to ride early in the morning, late at night, or on the trainer to get miles in.

I have a lot more energy, and feel better overall if I ride every day. Cycling is not only good exercise, it’s great for relieving stress also.