- Training is the stress. You get stronger when you recover from it.
- Plans often follow a few harder weeks with an easier one so recovery can catch up.
- An easy week keeps the habit and lowers the load: shorter rides, easier rides, or fewer of them.
Where the gains come from
A hard ride gives your body a reason to adapt, and the adapting happens afterwards, while you rest, eat and sleep.
Stack hard rides without room to recover and you mostly get tired.
What an easy week looks like
You still ride, but less. Rides are shorter and mostly in Zones 1 and 2, with fewer hard sessions, or none. The week should feel light.
How often
A common pattern is three harder weeks followed by one easy week. Treat that as a starting point. If work is stressful or you are sleeping badly, an easy week a little sooner will not hurt.
Signs you need one
- Targets that normally feel fine feel hard.
- Your legs feel heavy for days.
- You dread the next ride.
If heavy legs, poor sleep or low mood last more than about two weeks after an easy week, stop hard training and see a doctor. Do the same if you have a fever or feel generally unwell, and rest rather than ride.
Do not skip them
An easy week keeps the habit going, and the next block starts from a better place. If you feel guilty, ride something short and easy instead of nothing at all.
Plan shows your week with its load: what you have ridden, what is still to come and what you missed. Tap a Rest day to add a light ride, or delete a workout to leave the day as rest. Drag a workout you have not ridden yet to another day; dropping it on a day with a workout swaps the two. In History, a one-word verdict on this week so far: Light, On track, Heavy, Rest or Unknown. It compares this week with last week, or with what the plan had due by now when there is a plan.
Show sources (4)Hide sources
- Bell L, Darragh IAJ, Travis SK, et al. (2025). A Practical Approach to Deloading: Recommendations and Considerations for Strength and Physique Sports. Strength & Conditioning Journal. doi:10.1519/SSC.0000000000000910
- Bosquet L, Montpetit J, Arvisais D, et al. (2007). Effects of Tapering on Performance: A Meta-Analysis. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 39(8), 1358–1365. doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e31806010e0
- Kellmann M, Bertollo M, Bosquet L, et al. (2018). Recovery and Performance in Sport: Consensus Statement. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 13(2), 240–245. doi:10.1123/ijspp.2017-0759
- Meeusen R, Duclos M, Foster C, et al. (2013). Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment of the Overtraining Syndrome: Joint Consensus Statement of the European College of Sport Science and the American College of Sports Medicine. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 45(1), 186–205. doi:10.1249/MSS.0b013e318279a10a
