"It doesn't matter how much you are training, how well planned/structured/executed your training is, if you are not getting quality sleep, forget about it."
by Alison Powers, ALP Cycles Coaching
In February ALP Coach, Alison Powers, announced that she had signed up for SBT GRVL, a 141-mile race with 100 miles on dirt/gravel roads in Steamboat, Colorado. With race day approaching, she’s been blogging every day leading up to the race. She blogs about the specifics of her training, her preparation, headspace, etc. All the things that lead up to race day that not everyone gets to see or understand.
25 days to go - Thursday, July 25th
After the Lickskillet ride, my legs hurt so badly that I took Ibuprofen before bed. The research on taking “vitamin I” as a recovery tool is not good and it’s not something I make a habit of doing. But, for me, Ibuprofen works. Laying in bed with aching legs and low back does not make for good sleeping and sleep is the #1 most important tool for recovery. It doesn’t matter how much you are training, how well planned/structured/executed your training is, if you are not getting quality sleep, forget about it. You’ll never reach your fitness potential. For me, when I take Ibuprofen, I sleep hard and I wake up feeling so much better.
That being said, even though I felt better, I was in need of a recovery day (mentally and physically). My in-laws are visiting from Florida and they wanted to ride mountain bikes. We got them bikes from Tin Shed and off we went. It was super fun. I have no idea how long we were (maybe 75min?) out there or what our ride time was but it was fun to be outside, move the body, and be with family. I felt my legs on every little uphill so today was perfect to promote recovery and not add any extra fatigue.