Thought I’d share what brevets and long distance cycling does to your fitness / form. Not numbers I see during training. This isn’t from my main event just a practice to see where I’m at, especially after my back injury. I shudder to think what numbers will come out of my main event 
A photo from the ride
-105??? Wow. Serious fatigue. But a beautiful photo!
It’s inevitable with brevets or ultra events once you get up to the longer events of summer. It’s why we don’t hit our target distances too often and prioritise rest afterwards.
I imagine there’s a bit of a delicate dance with recovery: Doing some activities to maintain a level of fitness while still prioritizing recovery.
Yes, I’m a great believer in active recovery. Keeping intensity at the lower end, and duration no more than an hour. Then I go by feel, based on how the legs and fatigue feel, as to when it’s time to reintroduce intensity. For me HRV is back to normal before I’ve shed the fatigue and legs recovered. Hence feel playing an important role.
You’ve been doing this long enough as well that you understand what works for you.
I do, but useful seeing how the numbers correlate with my experience. The AI always wants you back on bike, doing too much too early. But it’s so far outside the norm, it’s probably having a panic attack.
Always listen to your subjective feelings. The body / brain is really good at telling us something, if we listen.
