What happens when you stop riding for 5 days? The detraining timeline is important to understand, as is knowing how to maintain fitness when you can't train like usual. I cover both these topics in this episode.
We all worry about time off the bike. The effort it takes to get fit and stay fit seems like nothing compared to get fit again. There is a lot of urban myths when it comes to the what, how and when of losing fitness.
So today I’m trying to clear it up for you. It may give you some peace of mind the next time you decide to take time off mid-season, or if you’re forced off the bike involuntarily either through injury, family or work commitments.
Technically the name of this is detraining. Sounds a bit funny considering it’s a technical term for doing nothing. But it links into the idea that you are a full-time athlete, semi-pro or not. We are on 24/7. Every decision we make affects your riding. Food, sleep etc etc. So looking at a year like this, it makes perfect sense to think about any time off the bike as detraining.Having planned detraining is an important part of your yearly schedule, and yes that plays a part in resetting for a new season. But it also works when talking about the unplanned 3 day, 5 day 10 day periods when we can’t train. Or even longer 2 week, 4 week etc.It’s also related to tapering, but that’s a discussion for another day. I’ll file that one under. Form = Fitness + Freshness.Detraining is defined as the partial or complete loss of anatomical, physiological and performance adaptations induced by training, as a consequence of training reduction or cessation. It’s also not solely limited to physical abilities, but also affects technical skills.
I have gone through a lot of studies to come up with a guide to what happens during detraining. Noting the major changes usually in terms of percentage loss. There are a couple of things to keep in mind here. The studies do not agree, like most scientific studies there is a discrepancy between their reported findings. I have either taken a range or average approach. Also, these ranges apply to individuals. It’s hard to give you a concrete number since we are all so different.
Using the numbers as a guide would be a good way to benchmark your actual results if you could ever get them tested.
I’m not sure if you can get a clear picture out of all that. Overall though, it’s not as bad as I certainly thought.Yes you will get zapped of your vo2max goodness if you’re are super fit, but most other elements will stick around for at least 4 weeks. You’re not losing strength for 4 weeks, which also means that you should be maintaining some sort of strength work before your peak. But depending on what you are doing, there are ways to maintain fitness over short periods of time, even if you don’t have access to a bike. The bottom line is that if you can maintain some type of fitness over the time periods when you are less able to train, you will be able to maintain fitness.
Depending on why you aren’t training will depend on how to maintain fitness. I will just stick to some basic guidelines.
There is not a lot of information out there regarding volume of training because it’s more widely accepted that intensity is the key. It’s claimed that fitness losses can be minimised if you can keep the intensity of your training going, even if you have to drastically cut the volume.
If you go on a holiday in a base or build phase of your training than a few weeks of fewer hours is fine so long as you do high-intensity short rides to compensate.
At this point, it’s not about getting fitter through, but you shouldn’t lose much fitness. It also might leave you refreshed for another bout of hard training for more gains.
Here is an important point though. Decreasing volume is fine, but you should take care not to decrease training frequency by more than 20 to 30 percent. So if you normally train 6 days a week, you’re better off riding 4 short sharp rides per week or 5 to 3.
Running is also another option, as are other winter sports in the off-season. The closer that your cross-training activity simulates cycling, the more slowly you will lose your cycling fitness. Running three times per week for around 20 minutes to one hour—through in some harder efforts to push your HR and breathing levels up. Will keep your body ticking over.
In conclusion:
How about a 14-year difference in detraining? Mujika I. The cycling physiology of Miguel Indurain 14 years after retirement. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance 7: 397-400, 2012. So if you’re listening to this and you’re thinking about getting on the bike again. It will hurt at first but overall it may not be as bad as you think.
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Health@Google: Deskbound by Kelly Starrett
