The subject line sums up this tip perfectly. Essentially, make your easy days easy so that you can make your hard days very hard. By avoiding the big ring on your easy ride days, keeping power caps, and staying below certain HR’s or paces on your easy run days, you will be able to go faster and push harder your big training days. This will do a lot more to make you faster than slogging along, always putting in big volume, but doing a lot of it sub-optimally. The relative weekly workload may feel easier, but the benefits of resting properly will make big difference when you ask your body to suffer later in the week.
This is a pretty easy thing to keep in mind, but it’s very hard to do. Sometimes you may find yourself with lots of energy and pizazz (or just over-caffeinated) on your easy days, making it very easy to overdo it and compromising the workouts later in the week. If Monday is your day off, then make sure you take the day off and don’t use it to make up for missed workouts from the previous week. If Thursday or Friday is typically an easy ride day, well, keep it that way so that you can hammer out a few extra watts for the weekend intervals. Be diligent about training easy when you’re supposed to, and the you’ll reap the rewards from your harder efforts.
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OMG. So simple. No guilt on the easy days. I like it.
I've made the overtraining mistake in the past and it always ends in tears…well if not tears, possibly a short turn injury or fatigue.
It's hard to force yourself to rest sometimes and fight the urge to workout but the importance of allowing the body to rest cannot be underestimated.
Great post!