Sometimes, you just have to take a break

After reading Peter's post about his "holiday from cycling", I felt compelled to share one of my reasons for my own small break from the bike every now and then.

For a few different reasons, I have not been able to ride this weekend. Coming down with the flu has not helped and the weather has not exactly been conducive to going for a good spin, but regardless of these issues, I may have struggled a little bit if I was on the saddle anyway.

As some of you may know, I have a heart problem. I have 2 holes in my heart where they are not supposed to be. Without going into specific details, the result is that the blood flowing around my body is not carrying as much oxygen as it should. While on the surface my health isn't really affected by this, I do suffer in terms of recovery. My body takes longer to recover from most activities compared to other people and I need a lot of sleep to as a result. On average, I try to get 9-10 hours sleep a night...sometimes even this isn't enough.

Trying to co-ordinate a fairly busy, stressful job which requires reasonably long hours, a social life where late Friday or Saturday nights take place every now and then, and doing a fair amount of exercise (I like to exercise most days), leaves me a little bit drained. Quite often, I have to compromise doing one thing in order to do another activity, purely because of my sleep requirements.

Every 4 to 6 weeks, my body kind of tells me that enough is enough. I occasionally get to a point where I just do not have the energy to do what I want. I need to take a few days off the bike. By the end of my working week, I need to just take it easy and get a hell of a lot of sleep, in the order of around 12 hours a night. Although I have a very relaxing weekend, usually sleeping in until ridiculous hours then laying in bed just reading a good book before getting up for the day, not riding leaves me feeling a bit empty. This is the most frustrating part.....
One of the things I absolutely love to do is get on my bike and go for a spin. A good ride, no matter how far or how difficult, always leaves me with a smile on my face. When I feel drained of energy, I get frustrated with my body. What I really want to do is go for a ride to smash the frustration out of my system. But obvious, I don't have the energy to do so!

When this happens to me, I can't wait to get back on the bike. This time round, getting over the flu will obviously make me feel a lot better, but a few more very early nights will also help me get my energy levels back up. Exhaustion like this is an extremely frustrating thing. Over the years, I have learned to listen to my body. Every now and then I need to take a bit of a break from cycling....but thats much better than having to give it up altogether!

3 members like this

Comment by Zuzana Huljak on April 10, 2011 at 23:13: Thanks for sharing.. am road cyclist as of Jan 2010, I felt guilty taking time off the bike.. a week off here and there or days off. Especially mentally really.
I love cycling but pushing through the pain, cold weather & almost getting hit by cars is overwhelming at times.
Moderation is the key...

Comment by Patrick O'Kane on April 11, 2011 at 1:16: "A good ride, no matter how far or how difficult, always leaves me with a smile on my face" I've never seen you without a smile on your face. Enjoy the break, come back stronger.

Comment by Bec on April 11, 2011 at 1:26: Rest up Darren and look after number 1. Thanks for sharing I think many would be surprised to hear of your heart condition as you are so fit and strong so well done to you...

Comment by RD6 on April 11, 2011 at 7:11: Dazza - flu sucks as it drains the life out of your body, rest up mate and what I have learnt from my training is that every 4th week ( recovery) I take a break and recover from my rigors of training. Works well. Maybe train every second day during your training and allow you body / legs to recover on the day off.

Comment by snappy_don on April 11, 2011 at 10:23: If something has to give, I'd be tempted to give up work for a couple days, rather than give up the bike ;-)

I'm interested to know what you (and others) think..

How much do you think you lose in terms of bike fitness, if you don't ride for, say a week? And is it the legs, or the lungs that drop off first?

I get out two or three times a week. Not long rides, but I'm usually chasing someone faster than me. And if I miss a couple I feel it pretty quickly. On the other side of things, the S2S riders reported how good they felt after riding really hard for a week. That after 3-4 days the legs got used to the workload, and they rode better and better..

What's your experience?

Comment by Sakura Saita on April 11, 2011 at 11:20: I am having a rest for some reason...so I have not yet decided when I could come back to normal training.

Comment by Andrew on April 11, 2011 at 13:33: Thanks for your openess Darren. As frustrating as it is you have set an amazing example of the right thing to do by ones-self, controlling what you can and not getting hung-up about what you can't control.

Comment by Darren S. on April 11, 2011 at 13:44: Thanks for the positive comments guys and girls....the level of encouragement and support shown on this site never ceases to amaze me :-)

Don - I have found that 2 weeks off the bike is the limit. Anything longer than that and I really notice the loss to my level fitness....in terms of leg strength and cardio capabilities. It usually takes me about a week or so of riding to get back to what I consider a comfortable level. If the break is longer, the return to fitness increases too.

Comment by easytiger on April 11, 2011 at 14:02: Darren - if having a break means coming back stronger and ripping everybody's legs off - more power to you!

Sometimes, you just have to take a break

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