[Viva Mexico!]

I did my base miles over 3 months of easy paced 30 miles and ocasional <3 hour rides.
Then i had just started (almost 2 weeks) my strenght training period, because we have races very early in the year in fact we have our first one on Sunday.
I was feeling great, during the base period i felt sluggy and slow but once i started doingintervals i felt that it really helped oyut and i was feelig preety fast and strong.
But i got sick, i was in bed for 2 days and i was out of my bike for 5 days, and i ate preety lousy those days.
When i got back on i felt tired and weak and i took it easy and after 2 days of training it seemed as i was coming back but then because of my work i had to travel and lost 4 days of training in which i ate pretty bad and i had a severe drinking session ( which affect me pretty bad cause i almost never drink).
Now i feel tired, slow and i dont fell i have power to attack.
I dont feel as my stamina has gone away, but i just dont feel fast anymore, i dont feel competitive or strong. I feel rather weak, and strong and it feels lousy when im riding.
wht should i do? Should i do another base/recovery month, or should i continue the training where i left no matter how weak i feel?

Sorry if it sounds to dumb but i just dont know which works best for a planified training program

 

[footballcat]

i would like to know this also, as i have had a month and a half off due to injury. And i still have at least 2 more weeks off. Then i have 1 month till my season starts march 4th

ohh sounds like im going to be out of shape for the first race, thats just how it looks

 

[Viva Mexico!]

It sucks cause i was so motivated for the race scheuled on sunday.. most of the guys are kind of out of shape and on group rides i was kciking ass with the top riders in my cat.... now if i do race i would just have to be in "survive" mode.
It sucks!
I aint worried about that race but i want to know where should i pick up training from
Well just to make it clearer it wasnt just 2 weeks off it was 2 weeks of being sick eating bad and not sleeping enough.

 

[BugMan]

Read Scott Saifer's answer to a similar quetion in the Fitness Q&A section of CyclingNews.com (http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?id=2006/letters01-24, "Dealing with illness").

 

[Viva Mexico!]

Read Scott Saifer's answer to a similar quetion in the Fitness Q&A section of CyclingNews.com (http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?id=2006/letters01-24, "Dealing with illness").

Thanks that really helped out!

So i`ll guess i`ll end up doing recovery rides for 2-4 weeks

 

[Eric_H]

Cautiously careful

It sucks cause i was so motivated for the race scheuled on sunday.. most of the guys are kind of out of shape and on group rides i was kciking ass with the top riders in my cat.... now if i do race i would just have to be in "survive" mode.
It sucks!
I aint worried about that race but i want to know where should i pick up training from
Well just to make it clearer it wasnt just 2 weeks off it was 2 weeks of being sick eating bad and not sleeping enough.

2 weeks is not the end of the world, nor do I think it requires a month of recovery riding. The article posted by Saifer on CN is a cut-and-paste jobby and likely was written for the elite/pro cyclist.

IMO, I would suggest you do 7-10 days of endurance/base riding before getting too carried away with any huge intensity. A good indicator is when you are able to do 3 days straight of base intensity training without feeling totally wiped on the 3rd day. Once you get to this point you are likely recovering well enough that you can start adding in intensity. Regarding the race, it is your call but if you do race plan to sit in only, no hero attacks. And if you feel that you are digging waay too deep just to sit in, then it is likely wise to "pull the pin" (abandon). Racing is great training, but you have to look at the bigger picture of the season. And if you are starting your first races in late January then you probably have a long season with lots of opportunity, so missing an early training race is not that critical (this assumes you are based in N. America somewhere).