Something about recovery

Hey trainerroad crew, love your podcast keep it up.

Question about recovery. As a freshman college student, I find it hard to do sweetspots workouts even after days off bikes/trainer. How do I increase the efficiency of recovery?

Just sweet spot ?

Hey there!

Sweet Spot work should not leave you incapacitated for days at a time. Don’t get me wrong, they should feel tough but it shouldn’t take more than a day to recover from a Sweet Spot Workout :wink:

I would first recommend a Ramp FTP test to ensure that your FTP is set at the correct level. If your FTP is set too high, it would make Sweet Spot seem much much harder than it should be. If you have taken an FTP test recently and sweet spot workouts are still crushing you, try reducing the intensity by about 5% to see if that helps with your recovery rates.

All of that being said, I can give you a few hints to speed up your recovery between rides:

  • Hydrate. Drink lots of water on the bike, drink lots of water off the bike.
  • Proper nutrition. This is where it could be tough as a college freshmen. Aim to eat whole foods, whole grains, vegetables, unprocessed meats, unprocessed dairy, avoid processed sugars etc. And be sure that you’re getting enough carbs to fuel your workouts.
  • Minimize alchohol consumption. Alchohl is a big inhibitor of your recovery, so try to keep drinking to a minimum.
  • Foam rollers. Rolling our sore legs can help to promote blood flow to the area and speed up your recovery
  • Sleep. Sleep at least 7-8 hours a night. Your body needs this time to recover and heal itself

I hope these tips prove useful to you! Feel free to reach out if you have any more questions, I am in college myself so I might have some applicable answers for you :slight_smile:

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THIS baby, 100% this. As a college student, I bet you sacrifice this one right quick and in a hurry (I certainly did…)

I feel the impact of not getting enough sleep over every other thing out there that wrecks recovery.

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