Train hard, recover hard

By, Christian Helmig

Everyone knows that you need to train hard in order to get better – what a lot of people still don’t understand is that recovery is just as important. Only during the recovery period can the body actually convert the work you have put in during training in to gains in fitness. So a little time off is just as important as training hard. I’ve put in some good training sessions here in Europe to get ready for Joe Martin coming up next week. Last Thursday I tackled 3 mountains during my ride and climbed for a total of over 8000 ft and put in some good intervals. Nothing too special about that except that I didn’t end my ride at home but at a little hotel in the middle of the Black Forest. Thursday had been my last training day in a 3 week cycle and after that time of hard training it was time to recover and recharge the batteries. Also, it was past time for some quality time with my girlfriend so we had planned a couple of days at a spa and wellness hotel in Bad Sulzburg, a couple of miles outside Freiburg.

I had a great ride that day, even though it was a hard ride and the weather didn’t make it any easier. It rained a lot and there was quite a but of snow left on the passes too. I was pretty cooked by the time I reached the hotel but that was ok, after all I had a couple of perfect recovery days coming up. The stay at the hotel turned out to be extremely relaxing, we got massages and spend a lot of time just handing out and chilling at the pool and in the sauna. On top we took some time off to hike and explored the trails around the hotel. The food was great too 😉 It was definitely nice to get a little distance from the bike and you usually come back even more motivated than before.

Now I’m ready to hit the next set of races fresh and recovered – Tuesday I’ll be traveling back to Dallas and then we’ll head out to Joe Martin later that week.