How do I know if I'm cycling too much?
What are the most common signs that you are cycling too much?
How to avoid cycling too much?
How important are days off? How many days a week should cyclists take off?
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You love cycling so much that you follow a training plan, listen to your cycling instructor, and you put a lot of time and effort into enjoying the ride. While cycling does pay off in many ways, there are times when you have to admit that you do have an excess of cycling.
Cycling too much puts you at risk of injury and fatigue, and can seriously affect your cycling performance. Although every cyclist's training load looks different, there are some useful ways to determine if you are riding too much.
We spoke to bike instructors to identify these signs of overtraining and offer some tips for lightening the amount of training to make way for a better ride.
How do I know if I'm cycling too much?
Take another look at how your training is going. If you experience leg fatigue, brain fog, altered appetite, poor sleep quality, or constant soreness, these could be signs of overtraining, explains ACE Certified personal trainer and Cat 1 cyclist Marissa Axell.
"If you do too much of the same thing, your body becomes stagnant and you don't actually get any faster or stronger," Axel said. She recommends gathering and monitoring all the information you have about your performance: your heart rate, perceived force rate (RPE), your pace during your workout, and even the recovery time you take.
If you notice a change in metrics a few weeks into your training program - your heart rate is higher or lower than normal, your rest days don't make you feel energized, or your RPE doesn't quite match your typical pace - then you may be cycling too much.
Axel also recommends consulting a cycling instructor to find out how you feel and get expert advice on how your training program best fits your needs. An outside perspective helps determine if you're riding too much.
What are the most common signs that you are cycling too much?
1. Your legs are sore
It's normal to feel sore after a hard workout, but you shouldn't feel so sore that it interferes with training and normal recovery. Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) may be a normal reaction after training, but should subside within 48 to 72 hours. If you are still sore for more than three days, it may indicate that you are overtraining.
"Try taking the stairs. If your legs don't feel comfortable, you're training too much." "Axel said.
2. Your heart rate is irregular
Axell says it's a good idea to check your heart rate variability (HRV) regularly. Your HRV is a measure of the time between each heartbeat and can tell you about the health of your autonomic nervous system. "When you train, your HRV goes down, but after a day of recovery, it should start to go back up," Axell explains.
HRV is a personalized metric, but the goal is to keep it at a level that works for you. Most wearable devices record HRV, so keep an eye on what your watch shows. Usually, if this number is low for you, it may indicate a lot of stress, which may indicate that you are not recovering enough and that you need to train less.
In addition, Axell explained, if your resting heart rate rises five to 10 beats per minute when you wake up in the morning and this continues for many days in a row, it could also be a sign that you're not fully recovered and riding too much.
3. You just don't feel good
Axel says emotions are the most important way to track training. "Feeling irritable, frustrated, apathetic, or anxious are all signs that you're riding too much," she explains.
To check your mood, try taking a minute when you just wake up or go to bed and ask yourself how you feel. Alternatively, try to start exercising for about 10 to 20 minutes a day, and if you feel more motivated to continue exercising after that time, continue. If that time period passes and you feel frustrated, tired, or unmotivated, you may be training more than you can handle.
Research backs this up: A study published in 2022 in the journal Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation examined five recreational road cyclists over a six-week period and collected data on their heart rate variability levels, mood, and perceived motor rate (RPE). The researchers found that the higher the intensity of the day's training, the cyclists tended to be in a lower mood the next morning. So if you're feeling particularly grumpy, you may be riding too hard.
4. You don't sleep well
Axel explains that when you're constantly training hard, you're more likely to develop overtraining syndrome, which changes your sleep patterns.
A study published in the BMJ Open Exercise and Sports Medicine in 2019 confirms this. The researchers examined the effects of overtraining syndrome in 51 participants (14 athletes with overtraining syndrome, 25 healthy athletes, and 12 healthy but inactive people). The researchers found that poor sleep quality was one of the predictors of overtraining syndrome, along with insufficient calorie, protein or carbohydrate intake and excessive cognitive effort. The researchers also say that overtraining can lead to poor physical condition.
5. Your appetite is undergoing drastic changes
Another common sign of excessive cycling is a change in appetite. It looks like the cyclist has a big increase in appetite or a big decrease in appetite. "You need to be 100 percent energized, but sometimes when you're stressed from riding too much, your hunger signals get out of whack," Axel said.
The 2019 study mentioned above also found that another symptom of overtrained people is loss of appetite or weight loss, which may be related to elevated cortisol levels.
How to avoid cycling too much?
1. Set a schedule for slow progress
Axel recommends following a training plan developed gradually over time. This involves choosing three days a week to bike or exercise, with a few days off in between, and then increasing your training time to four days a week when you're ready to do more. She explained that the best way to increase the load throughout the training program is to first increase the number of cycling days during the week, and then gradually increase the time and training pressure each day.
Kim Geist, an elite cyclist and certified coach with USA Cycling, says another universal way to avoid overtraining is to increase your training load by no more than 10% per week while maintaining intensity.
If it's easier, you can also focus on increasing your long distance riding time: Axell recommends that beginners add about 15 to 30 minutes of long distance riding per week, while more experienced riders can add 30 to 45 minutes of long distance riding per week.
2. Cross train
"Cross-training can provide different stimulation compared to repeated linear riding patterns," Geist said. "If used properly, it can also help improve riding performance without having to increase the amount of time spent on the bike." She explained that cross-training can also help strengthen and support different muscle groups compared to cycling training.
Axel adds that it can also help regulate mental fatigue and keep you fresh when training. She recommends cross-training two to three days a week, and combining each cross-training day with strength training, which includes moves like squats, hard pulls, push variants, and pull variants.
"A lot of people ride too much and neglect strength training," Axel said. So she recommends starting a cycling program that focuses on strength training. She explains that cutting back on cycling may seem counter-productive in the first place, but it can be very helpful to create a training program that you can really stick to, and it can make riding more efficient and easier.
In addition, according to research, complementary strength training can help you get stronger and improve riding efficiency.
3. Include recovery weeks
Planning your rest week in advance can help you reduce the amount of cycling you do. Every third or fourth week in your training program, Axell recommends reducing the amount of training by about 40 percent. This may seem like taking three days off instead of one or two, and only cycling 10 hours a week instead of 14.
On recovery days, focusing on low-impact activities like stretching, activity, or yoga will help activate the parasympathetic nervous system by taking advantage of your body's resting and digestive states, which reduces stress and helps you adjust to training, Axel says.
4. Allow yourself to miss workouts
It's okay to miss a workout once in a while. In addition to riding, everyone has different obligations, and life will inevitably encounter some obstacles. "Everyone, including elite cyclists, misses a workout once in a while," says Joe Friel, an elite-level coach certified by USA Cycling and author of The Cyclist Training Bible.
Friel urges cyclists not to make up for missed workouts during the week, as this can negatively affect performance. "If you miss one or two days, nothing important happens physiologically." 'he said.
How important are days off? How many days a week should cyclists take off?
Rest days are crucial to avoid cycling too much (and getting enough sleep). In general, Axell recommends that you take one or two days off per week, depending on your fitness level and needs. At the end of the recovery day, she explained, the goal is to feel ready to ride again the next day.
You'll know you've had enough rest when you wake up feeling more refreshed and eager to get in and start riding or training, Axel says. In addition, on your wearable device, your resting heart rate and HRV will return to the normal range.
Friel explained that many cyclists will use online training programs to check their training metrics to determine how well they are resting. For example, applications such as Training Peaks provide training stress balance (TSB) metrics. "If we end up with positive TSB, then the athletes are well rested. If the number is negative, it means the athlete is not getting enough rest." "He explained.
But overall, remember that rest is where the hard work you put in on your bike really pays off. If you don't have enough rest time, you won't see results.