Even though today was a day off the bike away from training, it was far from a rest day.
by Alison Powers, ALP Cycles Coaching
In February ALP Coach, Alison Powers, announced that she had signed up for SBT GRVL, a 141-mile race with 100 miles on dirt/gravel roads in Steamboat, Colorado. With race day approaching, she’s been blogging every day leading up to the race. She blogs about the specifics of her training, her preparation, headspace, etc. All the things that lead up to race day that not everyone gets to see or understand.
15 days to go - Saturday, August 3rd
There are days when a rest day and a day off are completely different things. Yesterday was a good example of just because you have the day off the bike (or away from training) doesn’t mean you had a rest day.
The day started with going to a Memorial service in Boulder with standing room only (I was late…). Then straight to Littleton for the Littleton Crit. ALP Cycles Racing was racing both the Cat 3/4/5 and the Pro 1/2 race later in the evening and I was the coach/director. I did get to pre-ride the course a bit (~30min total), but the combination of being in the sun, on my feet, standing, walking, and staying up late (didn’t get home until 10:30 pm), had me tired and my legs aching worse than had I had a bike ride today.
Even though today was a day off the bike and away from training, it was far from a rest day. It’s important for athletes to learn that a rest day is a rest day. The harder you rest on a day off the bike, the better your training will be after the rest day. Days like I had today, are neither a training day nor a rest day, they are kind of a lost day (but they do happen and we have to be ok with days like today).
On the coaching side of things, however, it was a great day. The team raced really well and each rider learned something and achieved a personal goal and a team goal. This kind of day, on a personal level, is really rewarding.
