AFL Rd 15 2023 Carlton have the bye!

[Lods]

[member=906]Lods[/member] dont want to harp on about this but I was reminded of another example. Tour de France, 3500km over 3 weeks all at a fair clip with some of the meanest roaded mountains on the planet along the way. What do the riders do on their day off? Spin the legs over 100km for craps and giggles.

Is that right...
I haven't really followed the race
I wasn't sure of their activity during the break in the tour.
Is it everyone doing that extra cycle?
Is it an organised activity?
I'm guessing it's not a full on effort but more just keeping the legs turning over at a much reduced intensity.

But consider professional cyclists would be training for most of the year.
The Tour would be the same as their Olympics/world championship/ Commonwealth Games
For the elite, the ones with a good chance of winning, those events would be targeted so they reach their peak at the time of the competition.
During that annual training period there would be peaks and troughs of intensity.
They wouldn't be training flat out for that entire 12 month period.
I suspect for cyclists they may even have some weeks, even at the elite level, where they don't even sit on a bike and have a complete break...much like a footballer has his end of season break.

The more intense activity would be well away from the 'ultimate' event.
For a footballer that's the pre-season.
That's where you build a base.
With a 'competition' every week for the 20+ weeks of the season it then becomes more about maintenance during the season.
There may be a heavy block of training at different times through the season proper but it's more about maintaining fitness levels.

But there are other factors at play at the elite level, no matter what the sport.
The mental and injury issues.
Mental fatigue and niggling injuries can both benefit from that break in competition where a rest is probably the best option.

It's quite remakable the failure of some teams to 'get up' after the bye.
You can make a case that the 'switch off' is detrimental.
On the other hand the benefit of the break may not manifest itself until a few weeks after the bye.
Better to lose a game just after the bye, than to lose two or three heading into the finals.
Of course there are teams that can't afford to lose any...as we know.