I can see how people think I’m some kind of masochist since I only seem to do super-hard workouts, but that’s just because I don’t write about my easy rides since they’re not very interesting. To prove my point, here’s a typical “easy” ride:

I jump on the rollers and warm up for a few minutes, getting the blood flowing in my legs (which were feeling particularly heavy today). After about five minutes, I pick up my cadence to 105-110 RPM and keep it at a wattage that feels easy for the next 10 minutes. Right now, that’s about 190 watts. But when I’m in better shape, it’s more like 210. Then I ease off over the last couple minutes and I am done riding after a whopping 20 minutes!

Personally, my body seems to recover better with these short recovery rides than taking a complete day off. After a hard block of training, they really seem to help. My legs are feeling much better now, though I do detect some quad soreness so I’ll have to see how they feel tomorrow before deciding when I can hit it hard again.