The Grey Zone

A few weeks ago, I had a call with one of my athletes. She's training for the USA Cycling Gravel National Championship in September — a serious goal that demands serious preparation.

Near the end of the call, she said matter-of-factly: "Having a plan keeps me from going too hard on my easy days."

It's one of the things I harp on most with athletes: your training and recovery should be binary. Hit your intervals and targets on your training days, then take your foot all the way off the gas for recovery days.

Many cyclists blend the line between training rides and recovery rides – that "medium hard" or "grey zone" pace that feels like training….but isn't.

The grey zone is the intensity band between genuinely easy and genuinely hard. It's not Zone 2. It's not a threshold interval. It's the moderately hard effort that feels productive — the group ride that’s too spicy on the hills, that solo endurance ride where you keep the power "comfortably uncomfortable" for two hours.

Those rides take some effort, they feel like a workout, and they're definitely not easy.

But physiologically, this approach is a dead end. You ride too hard to truly build an aerobic base, but not hard enough to create a meaningful high-end stimulus. You accumulate fatigue without triggering the adaptations that will actually make you faster.

So, what's the fix?

Before you ride, ask yourself: "Am I doing a training ride or a recovery ride?" Either answer will point you in one clear direction. If you're training, stick to your workout plan and make it a high-quality session. If you're recovering, your ride should be free of sprints, Strava-segment attempts, and medium-hard pedaling with buddies.

Easy is supposed to feel easy. That's the point.

Yours in speed,
Steve