Fall is here. This is the time of year when most cyclists start their base training. For many riders, this means ramping up their training volume to get in as many miles each week as possible. As well intentioned as this type of training is, it’s not the most effective way to train.
If you want to make the most of every second you spend on your bike, a structured training plan is key.
There are a few ways riders can implement a structured training plan. The most common way is to pay a cycling coach to create a training plan for you. The cost of hiring a coach varies, but you can expect to spend anywhere from around $50 to $150 per month for their guidance and advice.
The second way to get on a structured training plan is to buy a templated plan online. Although this option won’t cost as much as paying for an actual cycling coach, the downside is that the plan you purchase won’t be custom fit to you.
The third way to get started on a structured training plan is to design one for yourself. This is obviously the most cost-effective option. But, let’s put money talk aside. The benefits of creating your own structured training plan go well beyond saving a few bucks.
Becoming a better cyclist starts with education.
And there’s no better education than building your own plan.
Building your own structured training plan will teach you a lot. You can expect to learn the importance of goal setting, how to measure the effectiveness of your workouts, the true meaning of key cycling terminology, and so much more.
We want you to reap the benefits of building and using your own structured training plan. But we understand it’s not easy to get started without some help — that’s why we created our Train Smart, Get Fast email course.
In six emails delivered to your inbox, our free Train Smart, Get Fast course will teach you how to train more effectively. After a week, you’ll have the knowledge to create a training plan to help you become a faster cyclist.
Overview of what you’ll learn with the Train Smart, Get Fast course:
- How to create your own training plan
- The best way to measure the effectiveness of your workouts
- What Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is and why it matters
- The three phases coaches use to build training plans
- How to establish a training regimen for your specific cycling event
- How to determine the amount of rest you need when training
Six cycling emails. Zero dollars. One faster cyclist — you.
Start the Train Smart, Get Fast Email Course Now:
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Excellent podcast guys!
As a long course triathlete I do all of my A-races in aero position and this is the area I want to be good at as a cyclist. Last season I did pretty much all my Trainerroad workouts in an upright position. The reason being that I was able to produce more watts (+20 watts) compared to aero. Also, I could not complete any of the workouts in aero as I did my FTP test in upright position and thus the goals of the workouts were just too high for me.
Would it make more sense to do all my Trainerroad FTP tests (lower result) and all training sessions in an aero position and have less watts or should I aim to dish out the maximum wattage, thus riding in upright position?
Hi Henry,
Glad you enjoyed the podcast!
Three things to note here:
1) FTP is FTP, and what I mean is, it’s basically the highest measure of what your body can do for the test durations, e.g. 20 minutes or 8 minutes; which is then reduced to estimate what you could do for longer durations closer to an hour. So you only cheat this measure by doing it in a less-than-optimal position like your aero position. So test in whichever position yields the best result.
2) Aero athletes – and we all qualify to some extent – need to adapt their power to those positions they’ll use in competition. So in your case, you have to learn where to balance your power output with your aero position. This can be accomplished through practice, fit manipulations & often enough, flexibility training. So anything that works against your efforts to sustain a race pace that is within your fitness capabilities has to be addressed via one or more of these aspects.
3) Conditioning is either position-independent or position-related. In the case of the former, the goal is stressing a particular energy system or taxing the muscles in a particular way and thus should be done in whichever position yields the target wattage, VO2max intervals spring to mind. In the case of position-related work, this ties back to point 2 where you have to figure out where the balance between position on the bike and working to your full capabilities lies.
So in your case, I’d recommend doing the harder work (>95% FTP) sitting upright, the easier work (all the way up through Sweet Spot) in your aero position, and working up to a point where you can do your goal/race power in your aero position. For full-distance triathletes, this might only be 80% FTP, for 40k time trialists, this will be right around FTP, and for criterium riders, this could actually include doing some VO2max & sustained, suprathreshold efforts in the drops.
Hello,
I’m 54 years old based in Germany and I like to start at the “Tour Transalp 2020” (June 2020). The race is about 800Km and around 19.000Hm duration 7 days.
I think Trainerroad could be the right choice for a structured training. But how can I set up a plan based on the date when the race will be?? You know?
Many thanks in advance!
BR
Wolfgang
You should be able to find a lot of relevant information on how to properly train in one of our discipline-specific help center articles.
If this race will be more of a constant, casual pace, check out our Gran-Fondo article:
https://support.trainerroad.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024656371-Gran-Fondo-Training-
If you will treat this like a competitive stage race, then check out our article on stage racing:
https://support.trainerroad.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024370992-Road-Stage-Racing
A complete Base/Build/Specialty plan will require 28 weeks of your time, so you can schedule those training plans in your calendar accordingly. If you are wondering what you can do with the extra time at your disposal, then check out this article titles “Too Much Time”:
https://support.trainerroad.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025556952-Too-Much-Time-
Feel free to reach out on the TrainerRoad Forum at forum.trainerroad.com if you have any more coaching related questions. We have hundreds of threads that may be of interest to you, and you can always start a new thread with your specific question as well.
Happy training!