Anyone got a handle on this?

This weeks been a right off with illness, with one thing and another can’t see me putting in a decent ride till a week on thurs. Then got a hectic work week the week after. Will basically have been 3 weeks of minimal/inconsistent effort. Then have three weeks till next race.

Guessing going to loose a lot of fitness, not sure whether going for a few quick jogs will mitigate against this loss?

There’s a good article about it here:

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/fitness/training/detraining-the-truth-about-losing-fitness-22330

I’ve seen a figure of two weeks before you begin to lose any significant fitness. Presumably this assumes that you have a solid level of fitness and haven’t been over training.

I can’t remember exactly but I think from my Uni course that you lose half of your fitness after 3 weeks of not training although it doesn’t take as long to get back as when you originally built up.

I’ll just keep quiet… (link posted above).

Thanks for the link notmyrealname and jimdubleyou (I saw before you edited :lol:)

Been training hard up till now, and in fact did hardest training week in a while last week (in fact I’m partially blaming a long base/tempo ride in torrential rain for my current sickness), so sounds like if I can squeeze in a few ‘top up’ sessions of high end efforts I’ll be ok.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/losing

Vs

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/loosing?s=t

Well that’s me depressed.

By the end of this week i’ll be 2 weeks of inactivity after smashing my shoulder up, with a few weeks before I can probably hold on properly to ride again.

Balls.

I might just start riding anyway. I feel fat already.

You can speed up the process quite easily with beer and pie

Been training hard up till now, and in fact did hardest training week in a while last week (in fact I’m partially blaming a long base/tempo ride in torrential rain for my current sickness), so sounds like if I can squeeze in a few ‘top up’ sessions of high end efforts I’ll be ok.

Speaking from experience, I’ve been off the bike for a couple of weeks after a bout of suspected food poisoning. Before this I was going well and getting the miles in with a view towards 24/12 in a few weeks time.
The first time I’ve been back on the bike in a fortnight was this week. Did an hour session on the turbo yesterday which felt bloody hard.
Went out on the mtb today and I felt great, no noticeable drop in fitness or anything like that.

Obviously that’s not the case for everyone but it was the case for me.

It’s a lot longer than you think. Two weeks is a race taper (provided you have a little activity at the race intensity).

I lost three months last year and came back relatively quickly with nothing more than a few club rides and gentle commutes.

from personal experience it depends a lot where you were before, and how much you’ve been doing previously.

I had two weeks enforced off the bike a month ago, came back no loss of fitness but really well rested to hit training hard again – saw really quick progress in a short time after.

Turbo/ interval sessions can be useful – assuming your not stuck in some crappy hotel (with no gym) somewhere for work!

Currently in week 3 of at least 4 of being completely sedentary with leg injury (having been hit by a car 🙁 ).

I had 3 weeks off in November- December last year in far nicer circumstances (travelling and diving in Thailand), right in middle of my first CX season.

By the time of my next race in late December I was finishing in the same positions I was before the holiday, in the same series and around the same regular racers. So my personal experience was that whatever I lost (with a big base built) it came back quickly.

It’ll be good recovery, I raced after 2 weeks in the states with work doing no activity and eating shit and drinking lots of beer.

Had my best ever result. It can be good to have some time off with other stuff.

A rule of thumb is you lose it in the same time as you took to gain it…If you’ve been training for years then 3 weeks is ok if you started a month ago you’re going to notice it.

Interesting topic as I’m on an enforced week off due to cold/bug/thing. Have been in a good groove for 3-4 months. That’s a long time for me as I ALWAYS get a bug or injury or mechanical (or life just gets in the way) every couple of months.

I rarely drink beer though these days (usually shorts at the weekend), so I feel less weighty after a time out. And I sometimes convince myself an enforced break is as good as a recovery period.

Am still itching to get out but know I must wait until Sat at the earliest.

Really useful article that, thanks for posting! 🙂

I’ve had some of my best results in long events after three weeks of inactivity. Not illness or forced through fatigue though – just proper rest. Don’t under-estimate the benefits of rest!

This is good, reducing my lack of exercise anxiety 😳 😆