Training rest period questions ?

[Rat]

I have been doing about 1.5 - 2hrs training a day with one rest day a week for 8 months now, from a fat slob PC chair potato base before that.

I'm now happy with my weight and strength and my cardio fitness is vastly improved, but I would still like to build it more. Recovery is good, but I would like to be able to go full power for longer before huffing and puffing, wouldn't we all

What I want to know is, how long should I expect it to take to see a noticeable boost in fitness ? I'm doing hills / intervals / weights / treadmill / rowing machine, but will focus on hills/interval riding now.

If I take my training to the next level (I'm already going fairly hard) would I see an improvement in cardio in 2 weeks ?

Also how long a break do you take from training before a big race ? I was thinking just cutting back for a couple of days.

How long does it take to start losing fitness ? if I had a rest for 2 weeks would my fitness suffer much ?

I have a 6hour race coming up in 3 weeks and 2 weeks after that is Wildside. I hope my legs will have recovered by then. Hmmmm I'm starting to ramble now

 

[topher]

Hey i can only help you with one part of your question here. If you take a rest for 2 weeks as you are thinking you will notice that you aren't as fit as you were when you just started your rest. However a rest from the bike can be a 'active rest'. During an active rest its best to do some swimming, because it has no direct strain on any of your muscles. It will also keep you reasonably active so when you go back after 2 weeks you wont feel like a fat slob when you first started.