Athlete question: I’m feeling ill, too tired, or just didn’t sleep well last night – how should I modify my training?
Andy is a sports and exercise scientist and answers reader questions monthly in our ‘Ask a Cycling Coach’ series. Got a question? Pop it in the comments for Andy to review.
We’ve all been there: there’s a session in the training plan, but you’re feeling a bit under the weather, your legs are aching, or, you just don’t feel in the mood to put yourself through it.
Working out when this lack of desire to do the session is something you should listen to, or something to push through, can be difficult. Doing a ride when unwell could result in more time off the bike in the short term, but if the hesitation is merely a lack of motivation, you might just need a little boost to get out the door.
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How do coaches work out the best course of action?
It starts with a tickly throat…
The most common reason for riders wanting to know if they should train or not is because they feel the onset of illness. There are several considerations at this point.
Firstly, if it is viral, then the recommendation is not to ride at all.
Training through a virus can have longer-term health implications, and there will be very little gained from riding when fighting off a virus. Additionally, any form of training stress makes it more difficult for your body to fight off illness, so you will recover faster if you rest up properly. It’s frustrating, but time off in the short term reduces time off in the long run.
If the illness is mild (symptoms above the chest, no aches and chills, doesn’t come with excessive fatigue, and no raised temperature), then it can be alright to do shorter, steadier sessions. I generally recommend riding indoors in this scenario as it means session intensity can be more controlled and exposure to cold air is reduced. It also means if you feel ‘off’ as the ride progresses, you can call an end to it instantly rather than needing to get home.
So, you crashed your bike…
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Injuries are another consideration.
If you’ve had a crash, then the best case scenario is that there’s a bit of bruising and road rash. Ignoring the impact this can have on sleep, tissue repair increases your daily metabolic cost significantly. This means you’ll use more energy at rest, so you’ll need to consider how your overall energy levels may be down generally.
If you’ve got away with just road rash or bruising, the golden rule is not to do anything that causes significant pain. Secondly, ideally keep the intensity below the second lactate threshold, or Critical Power, while the bruising is more visible or the road rash has yet to start scabbing over. If you’re training using more of a Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale, stick to sub 7/10. After that has started to happen, you can introduce more intensity based on how you feel.
For broken bones, my recommendation is to rest for the first week or two as the daily metabolic cost can increase by large amounts. Your body is working hard to mend itself, adding training could overload it and impair recovery.
After the first two weeks, setting the bike up to accommodate riding in the case of a broken collarbone is key, while anything on the legs, hips, or back and neck needs to be based on medical advice. From experience coaching riders through these sorts of injuries, it can be around six weeks before they start to feel normal on the bike at intensities below the first lactate threshold.
Overall fatigue
Another key reason for riders not wanting to ride is general fatigue, and this comes in many different forms.
I generally set training in blocks – there will be a gradual build, followed by an easier ‘deload’ week.
As a training block progresses, as a coach, I am looking to create a level of fatigue for riders, the goal being functional overreaching. A certain level of stress is needed to create the appropriate stimulus to generate training adaptations, but equally, I don’t want too much.
If there are no external additions to the fatigue, and we are in the last week of a build, this is where the rider normally needs a little bit of a push to get through the sessions with the promise of a deload period after this week. Breaking efforts and sessions down into manageable segments tends to help.
Real world examples
(Image credit: Future)
Framing efforts in the most suitable way for different mindsets often helps. One rider I work with needed a bit of a boost for some longer threshold efforts. Three 12-minute blocks of just under Critical Power is a tough session, and the final effort always got them psychologically. We started framing the session as everything after six minutes into the second effort meant there was less to go than had been completed. This really helped the rider complete these sessions thereafter.
As an opposing story, another rider always found the first ones harder than the last, so a bit more of a push was needed for the first effort, and doing a short mini-threshold effort really helped their legs feel more ready for the session.
Other types of fatigue experienced may be external factors. This could be work or life stress, lack of sleep, or underfuelling.
Work and life stress adds to the sum of all stresses, and impacts the balance of allostasis, or, overall load. Meanwhile lack of sleep does the same by removing recovery. In this scenario, I generally suggest that we reduce the intensity, the number of efforts, or the volume of the sessions depending on the rider. This is normally a very case by case basis, and for some actually starting the session gets them into the swing of it quite quickly, while others may be better off resting.
Fuelling wise, this is why I would prefer to see riders overfuel than underfuel, and making sure they have enough before, during, and after rides is key.
You can use apps like Hexis to cover the full day of nutrition. I’m also working on an app – StemNotes, which is currently in beta testing – which provides guidance during the session. If a rider is facing any issues that mean they are in an energy deficit or low energy availability, then a key thing we will do is drop the volume and intensity until they are able to balance it out. Not doing this not only impairs performance, but also recovery and overall training adaptations.
Real world examples
I had one rider this year have a very busy work week before a key event, so we did a single one hour ride in the seven days leading up to it, and they had the best power and result at this event they have ever had. Meanwhile another rider had the opportunity to do a fast paced 4 hour group ride the day before a key hill climb they wanted to perform in, and went into it too tired after too much fatigue from the group ride the day before.
If an event or race is coming up in the week, I generally suggest to riders that if they feel over tired or under rested, then it is better to rest. It is far too easy to do too much in the week leading up to an event than to do too little.
Just not feeling it…
(Image credit: Richard Butcher)
Another factor is motivation, and this is again a very case-by-case basis.
As the weather turns from summer to winter, a lot of riders may be feeling miffed about switching from an aero race bike and carbon wheels with race tyres, to mudguards and training gear which is slower. In this situation, I do try and find specific motivators for those riders to get them out on the bike, it is worth pushing through a bit here.
If it’s very wet and they have limited time to clean bikes, then we may see where we can switch that volume elsewhere in the week, or do a reduced volume indoor ride. Again, this is very case by case.
There can also be a bit of fatigue for those racing; starting in March and racing until September is a long season. Often riders start to get demotivated and tired of the process of race weeks and preparation. Sometimes this means we call an end to the season early and ensure they have their off-season break before the winter training season. It is also why I am a fan of a ‘mini-off-season’ break, in the middle of the suummer, for riders with long calendars. This might be a summer holiday, or a break from racing and structured racing to ensure the love and joy for just riding a bike remains.
The bottom line
It’s difficult to give specific rules of when to ride and when not, and as a coach I approach it on a case-by-case basis.
If motivation to ride is waning and there isn’t any joy to be found from riding or completing a session, I think it is important to rest, for a day or several until the desire to ride returns. For the final efforts of a training block, if there are no additional external stressors, then it is a good idea to push through.
For injuries, anything broken, or concussion-based needs to be guided by medical professionals. For anything less serious, giving your body time to initially heal by avoiding high intensity is a good idea, and then introducing efforts based on personal comfort.
For illness, if it’s viral, then rest. If it’s below the throat and perhaps a blocked nose or stuffiness, then riding steady should be fine, but perhaps avoid intensity until it’s just a bit of a blocked nose.
For tiredness, anything that will impact alertness on the road, stay indoors or rest. If it’s a bit of additional fatigue from external sources, then reducing intensity and then volume if needed is a good way to go.
