Recovery Day

Just before we head into the mountains tomorrow (Bastille Day – France’s big holiday) there is a rest day. While you might think that’s a time to rest up in the hotel room for the riders or sit around doing press conferences, they actually head out on for some time on their bikes. Different riders approach this day differently, but the general idea behind training is to prevent the body from stiffening up and heading into full recovery mode, making the next few days even harder.

 

Whats the best recovery?

One of the best recovery tools for training is in fact …training, or at least a recovery ride. Recovery rides rank higher than massage, compression tights, ice baths, hot/cold showers, those fancy mechanical compression enclosures for your legs and so on. In fact nutrition and recovery rides are by far the best two tools in the recovery tool box.

 

What do the pros do?

Riders vary with what they actually do from short 90 minute easy spins (L1 zone) or maybe a little longer and include some tempo riding (L2 zone), or even a little bit of climbing to prepare for tomorrow (some L2 and L3 hills). All these rides will most likely be below lactate threshold or FTP with the goal of getting blood flowing through the working muscles to remove waste products and help repair any damage.

 

Video highlights and live coverage links

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