A successful spring/summer racing season hinges mainly on one thing: the type of work you put in right now to prepare for it.
Did you catch that? I said the type of work you put in — not how much work you put in. For most cyclists, the brisk air coupled with shorter days are two signs it’s time to buckle down on long-duration, high-volume base training. But to a handful of other cyclists and triathletes, winter means an entirely different type of training.
To discover the type of training that’s right for you this winter, follow along as I tackle some of the most commonly asked winter training questions. Everything you need to know to have your best winter training season yet — it’s all covered here.
Contents
This guide was written with order in mind, but if you want to jump around feel free to do so by clicking on the hyperlinked questions below.
- How do I set smart winter training goals?
- Should I focus on base training this winter?
- How are most cyclists doing base training wrong?
- How do I create a winter training plan that’s right for me?
- What approach to base training should I take?
- How do I mentally prepare myself for a successful race season?
- How do I optimize my indoor training environment?
- What should I wear — and not wear — when training indoors?
- How do I identify which workouts I should do outside?
- What should I wear when training outdoors during winter?
- How do I stay motivated to train indoors?
1. How do I set smart winter training goals?
Setting goals is a big part of racing and cycling in general. How much thought and strategy you put into the goal-setting process can forecast how your race season will turn out. That might sound bold, but there’s some science behind that statement. In a study done by the Dominican University on goals research, they found that people are a whopping 33 percent more likely to complete their goals if they write them down, create an action plan and share them with a friend.
Now that you know the science supporting setting goals, let’s talk about the art of it. There are three key characteristics of a well-thought-out cycling goal: measurable, specific and attainable. To make cycling goals that have each of those qualities, follow these steps:
Step #1: Consult Your Training Log
To set measurable goals, it’s best to know where you’re coming from. That said, take the time to revisit your training log to look at your last year’s performance before you start your winter training. Be honest with yourself. Analyze the aspects where you were weak or how you came up short. This first step will vary depending on if you train with power or not.
If I don’t train with power, how do I analyze my past performance?
If you don’t train with power, make note of the perceived exertion and shortcomings of your past performances. Did you get dropped on all the climbs? Could you not hang on the flats? Was your sprint weak? The goal is to study the outcomes of your past races in their entirety. Referencing times and finish placings of your past events is included in that.
If I train with power, how do I analyze my past performance?
If you train with power, this step is more clearcut. It’s all about your functional threshold power (FTP). Look at your power files from your races and focus on what your power output was like during key moments in the race. When you went for the winning attack did you stick with them or get dropped? By looking at all of these key moments in your season, you’ll get a feel for weaknesses in your performance.
Step #2: Pick a Goal Event
With the weaknesses you identified and your last year’s performance in mind, decide on your goal event for the new year. Once you know that, pick all your supplementary events — the events that will help you prepare for your goal event. The key when selecting supplementary events is to look for opportunities to build a specific type of fitness, or maybe even your confidence. The closer you are to your goal event, the more closely your supplementary events should replicate its demands.
Step #3: Create a Realistic Winter Training Plan
I’ll dive into the core components of creating a winter training plan later in this guide, but the point I want to make now is this: you can’t force more training hours. Your schedule is your schedule. The best you can do is be realistic about the number of hours you can commit to training and how much training your body can recover from, then make a solid game plan with that information in mind. You can also do yourself a huge favor and plan ahead. Many cycling and triathlon events require seven months of training to get ready for them.
Key Takeaway
Setting measurable, specific and attainable cycling goals is a multi-step process. If taken seriously, the effort is extremely worthwhile.
Action Item
If you’re not keeping a training log already, start one. This task is especially important if you’re not training with power because you don’t have downloads or files you can analyze. Along with your training and race notes, write your goals down in your training log to make them stick.
2. Should I focus on base training this winter?
In the cycling world, winter training and base training often go hand in hand. But the truth is, the two are not synonymous. Although it’s commonly done in late fall and early winter, base training is not tied to a specific time of year — it’s tied to your goal event.
Often during this time of year you’ll see cyclists go out for a group ride. One rider might decide to go really hard and blast away from the group. When this happens, the rest of the group will get frustrated and make remarks like, “Hey, we’re base training. You shouldn’t be doing that kind of stuff yet.”
A blanket statement like that isn’t appropriate unless you know the training schedule of every cyclist you ride with. Why? Who’s to say the rider who broke away from the group hasn’t already completed their base training? Maybe they’re only a few weeks away from an A race so they’re ramping things up.
Key Takeaway
Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean every rider is — or needs to be — base training. Your winter training should be dependent on the demands of your goal event.
Action Item
To determine the type of training you should be doing this winter, look ahead to your goal event. Then, lay your season out into three key phases. The first and longest of your three phases should focus on building a solid foundation of fitness. The second phase should concentrate on building your fitness and functional threshold power (FTP). Your third and final phase should help you specialize and fine-tune your fitness.
3. How are most cyclists doing their base training wrong?
It’s traditional thinking that during winter when you’re doing base training you should be doing as long of rides as you can and at a very low intensity. This is the correct intention if you have enough time to bring about the type of adaptations you want. But here’s the catch. The majority of cyclists are time crunched and they can’t do as long of rides as they wish. That’s the big issue.
What often ends up happening during base conditioning is a cyclist will get in the habit of riding very easily and at a low intensity. But, to their detriment, they actually don’t have enough time to get the type of gains they’re chasing. To earn gains, you have to provide a stimulus that outpaces what your body can do right now.
When a cyclist rides easy for an hour or two, which they’re likely already capable of doing, they’re not creating a stimulus for change. However, when they ride for 4 or 5 hours at a relatively easy pace, that usually exceeds what they’re used to. If they don’t have those long durations to ride on a regular basis, they have to exceed their capabilities with intensity or, again, they’re not achieving a stimulus that later brings with it a change.
If you want to see gains from riding at a low intensity you have to ride a lot. This kind of volume requires a cyclist to dedicate around 12-20 hours a week to training. If you don’t have that kind of time, which most cyclists don’t, then it’s best to commit to another base-conditioning approach (I’ll discuss this more below).
Key Takeaway
Many cyclists are doing their base training at low intensity with good intention. The trouble is, they often don’t have the circumstances in their life that allow them to ride as many hours as they need to achieve real fitness gains.
Action Item
Figure out how many hours you can realistically dedicate to training this winter, keeping how much stress your body can take in mind. Once you have your number, you can confidently decide the approach to base training you should take.
4. How do I create a winter training plan that’s right for me?
Your training plan should be created based off the demands of your goal event, also known as an A-priority race. After you’ve determined what and when your goal event is, the next step is to pick all the B- and C-priority races you’ll do between now and then to help you prepare for your A race.
Each type of priority race has a specific purpose and should fit strategically into your overall training plan. Here’s how to categorize your future races, which is the first step in laying out a successful upcoming race season:
A Races
These are high priority, key events that should inspire all your training. The performance outcomes of your A races will likely serve as a measure of your entire season’s success. You’ll likely only have one or two of these races in a season. As you get deeper into your training, you should taper your training for these events.
C Races (aka training races)
These races are focused more on targeting a specific aspect of your fitness or performance than they are on winning. For example, maybe you want to practice holding 90% of your race pace during a C-priority time trial or triathlon. Or, maybe you want to take a few flyers during a criterium or attack some climbs during a road race. These are all situations where your results aren’t your highest priority — your training is. You shouldn’t be afraid to “fail” during events of this priority. With C races, there’s no tapering or extra rest you need to work into your training schedule to prepare for them.
B Races
These races fall somewhere in between and serve your training on a few levels. One, they’ll show you if your training is moving you toward your goals at the right rate. Two, they can familiarize you with the exact types of demands you’ll face during your highest priority events. And three, they can give you an idea of how you’ll perform when you’re not particularly fresh or optimally fit. You won’t taper for these races in the same way you will for an A race, if you taper at all.
When you step from your C to B to A races, they should get increasingly more specific to your goal event. Keep this in mind as you go into your next step of training planning, which is laying out your season into three key phases.
In my Train Smart, Get Fast email series, I explain in-depth why breaking your season up into different phases is the most effective way to accomplish your cycling goals. But, for this guide I’ll keep things to the point.
The goal for any type of productive training should be to establish a solid foundation of fitness, build upon that fitness, then fine-tune your fitness. At TrainerRoad, all 100+ training plans are structured with these three phases. We call them the Base, Build and Speciality Phases.
Of the three key training phases, the Base Phase is the longest. In most cases, you want to dedicate 12 weeks to base training. If you don’t have 12 weeks, eight weeks is a safe minimum. Anything less than eight weeks is not sufficient because it’s difficult to cultivate a solid base of fitness in under two months. As for your Build and Speciality Phases, it’s ideal to dedicate eight weeks of training to each phase.
Key Takeaway
Your training should get more specific as your races do. When creating your cycling training plan, you should prioritize your races then work them into three incrementally progressive phases to help prepare for your goal event.
Action Item
Make a list of your race dates, then categorize them into three buckets: your A, B and C races. Next, break your season up into three progressive and increasingly more specialized phases. Lastly, account for timing. Your B and C races leading up to your A race(s) should be properly spaced throughout 24-28 weeks of total training for your race season.
5. What approach to base training should I take?
Variables like your cycling experience level, schedule and type of event you’re training for determine the approach you should take to base training. Take a look at these three rider-type scenarios to help you decide which approach works best for you:
Triathlete
Experience: Moderate
Availability: Minimal time to train (6 hours/week on the bike)
Recommended base plan: Low-Volume Full Distance Triathlon Base plan
Rider A has a family and full-time job. Every hour this athlete has available to train s/he has to make the most of it. While travel time for swimming can lift weekly training time, a full-distance “finisher” — someone who’s not necessarily looking to set PR’s or reach the podium — can do so on as little as 12 hours/week, with 5-6 hours dedicated to the bike.
If you see yourself as Rider A, a moderately experienced triathlete who’s time crunched with less than 8 hours/week to train on the bike, TrainerRoad’s Low-Volume Full Distance Triathlon Base plan is likely your best option. These plans favor building a higher FTP instead of only logging long hours of low-end endurance. Follow your Base plan with TrainerRoad’s Low-Volume Build and Full-Distance Specialty plans and you’ll be on the right path to a successful race-day performance.
Enthusiast
Experience: Beginner
Availability: A lot of free time to train (13 hours/week)
Recommended base plan: Sweet Spot Base
Rider B has no real limits on the amount of time s/he can dedicate to training. While this situation is ideal, it often leads athletes into the “more is more” training philosophy. In turn, the chances of injury, illness and/or exhaustion increase.
Many new and less-experienced cyclists fail to recognize that the body responds most favorably to gradual, progressive amounts of stress. Sudden heaps of high-level intensity, lots of time in the saddle, or a combination of the two can over challenge these newcomers. At the same time, the challenge to their current ability has to be substantial enough to make an impact on their performance capabilities.
If you see yourself as Rider B, a beginner cyclist with upwards of 13 hours/week to train, consider starting on one of TrainerRoad’s Sweet Spot Base plans. With three to six interval workouts of week, these plans strike an important balance between doing too much and not doing enough. You’ll be pushed just hard enough to realize recognizable, safely acquired increases in fitness and technique. For a new cyclist, an additional increase in workload beyond what Sweet Spot Base plans outline is often unnecessary, counterproductive and can derail long-term improvement.
Road Racer
Experience: Seasoned rider
Availability: Moderate amount of time to train (8-10 hours/week)
Recommended base plan: Traditional Base or Sweet Spot Base. But across the board, Sweet Spot Base is recommended more often.
Rider C is a reasonably experienced athlete with around 8-10 hours/week to train. This type of rider can benefit from doing either the Traditional Base or Sweet Spot Base. To decide, it’s mostly a question of duration over intensity. Consider the pros and cons of each approach:
Traditional Base applies high doses of low intensity to help Grand Tour athletes or those recovering from an injury who want to avoid high-intensity intervals. This approach can be useful to these types of serious riders — but only if you have a lot of time.
Traditional Base requires the sort of rider who can tolerate long, mind-numbing hours of steadily turning the pedals in pursuit of slowly earned, incremental aerobic fitness gains. It’s no surprise a mindset that accepts monotonous workouts and training doldrums well is required.
The type of gains you can achieve through Traditional Base are useful to a limited number of athletes, such as Grand Tour riders and RAAM participants. These types of riders know that with this approach to training gains come slowly — if they come at all — since they depend on devoting a lot of time to riding easily.
Many long, slow and steady training adaptations use a blend of mildly and substantially higher intensity. Enter Sweet Spot Base and its mix of strength-endurance and max-aerobic training.
Pros of Sweet Spot Base
In contrast to Traditional Base, Sweet Spot Base is more all-inclusive and can get you more evenly fit for events in relatively less time. The workouts are substantially more varied, interesting, challenging in numerous ways and are comparatively entertaining. Just two or three of these workouts each week can bring measurable, inspiring fitness gains for all types of riders with varied training time limitations.
Higher-volume riders who are able to train more frequently (4-6 times per week), can add in just enough of the long, slow, traditional riding to further their gains a little, or to simply spend more time riding for weight loss or maintenance.
Cons of Sweet Spot Base
Opposite of Traditional Base workouts, Sweet Spot Base workouts require focus, concentration and often enough, a willingness to endure more intense — but shorter — durations of riding discomfort.
If you commit to Sweet Spot or Traditional Base, you will have desirable training outcomes. However, we recommend Sweet Spot Base for 99% of cyclists.
Key Takeaway
Traditional Base assumes you have almost unlimited time to ride at a slow pace. Whereas Sweet Spot Base assumes you have a limited schedule like most non-professional cyclists, which allows you to compensate for the lack of duration with an increase in intensity. That being said, time is not the only factor when deciding on your base training plan. You must also consider your experience, the type of rider you are and the cycling event you’re preparing for.
Action Item
First, look at your winter schedule and decide on a realistic number of training hours you can commit to each week. Next, evaluate your most important events for the year and ask whether or not you’d like to get fit quicker for your lower-priority events. Finally, take into account your training history/experience, tolerance for patience and overall interest in working out. Once you’ve considered all these things, you’ll be positioned to make a decision on the direction to take with your base training.
6. How do I mentally prepare myself for a successful race season?
A strong, focused, and most importantly, goal-oriented mindset is one aspect of training that can help cyclists achieve consistency and success. If you’re like the majority of other cyclists base training this winter, your mindset should be concentrated on one thing: patience.
It can be tough to put in hours of hard work without the reward of competition. Remember, this is your time to progress and build a foundation for a new level of fitness you’ve never achieved before.
Building your aerobic endurance, speed and technique all takes time. The important thing is that you use this time to really focus in on those fundamentals. Make your efforts really count because once the race season is here, you’ve got the fitness you’ve got.
Key Takeaway
Base work is not exciting, glamorous or sexy — but it’s a requisite to a successful season.
Action Item
If you ever experience a lack of motivation during base training, revisit your cycling goals and the plan you have for achieving them. This exercise will remind you that if you’re following your plan, success is inevitable.
7. How do I optimize my indoor-training environment?
Indoor trainers are a great substitute for inclement winter weather, but more importantly, they’re the best way to get into a structured workout. To have long-term success with training indoors, the right tools and setup is imperative. There are two words that should describe your indoor-training environment: comfortable and accessible. The important thing is that it can’t be, or feel like, a ton of work to get on the bike. You must eliminate as many obstacles as possible. Is your indoor training setup crowded, noisy, too bright, too cold, or too warm? These are all things you should address.
Of all the aspects of your indoor training setup, cooling is probably the single biggest issue because you’re not moving. Especially as you get into higher intensity workouts, it can be hugely limiting. This is one reason cyclists might think they have an indoor FTP and an outdoor FTP. But really, it just boils down to focus and cooling. The vast majority of cooling comes from evaporative cooling rather than room temperature, so a good fan is essential. Place one at the base of your bike and aim it at your body, or put it front in center on its high setting and you’ll be good to go.
How can I make my trainer sessions more successful?
- Stay psychologically and physically motivated by integrating some entertainment into your training environment. Music, TV, Netflix are all great options. Heck, our CEO even plays video games on some of his longer workouts!
- Enhance your indoor training experience to best represent how you’d ride outdoors by using a front block or riser to make your front axel even with your back axel.
- Mimic the head angle and positioning that you’ll experience on the road by positioning your display(s) appropriately; not too high, not too low.
- Minimize discomfort during extended rides by adjusting your pelvic posture, and by using your saddle shape effectively.
- Account for the lack of side to side movement by performing standing breaks throughout your workouts.
- Keep excess sweat from hitting the bike by using a towel or bike protector.
- Control the build-up of corrosion under your bar tape by periodically inspecting your handlebars.
How do I adjust my indoor-training setup the closer I get to my goal event?
Eventually, you’re going to want to make sure your indoor-training environment is setup so it’s not as foreign to your goal event’s racing environment. When you’re in the Base and Build phases of your training you don’t need to go to great lengths to replicate your outdoor racing environment. You will be too far out for any adaptations you incur to stick around throughout the rest of your training.
The Speciality Phase is when you can to start making adjustments to your indoor-training environment. For example, if you know that you’re going to be racing in Hawaii, invest in a humidifier to make your indoor-training space more humid.
Key Takeaway
Eliminate everything in your indoor-training environment that might deter you from getting on the bike to do something that’s potentially unpleasant.
Action Item
If you can, have a dedicated bike for your indoor training. This will help reduce the number of obstacles you face when preparing for a workout. Even if it’s an old bike, it works. The only critical variable is that your dedicated indoor-training bike fits identical to the bike your ride outdoors. Note: this tip is purely for motivation. It’s not to save your bike.
8. What should I wear — and not wear — when training indoors?
What you should wear when training indoors really comes back to cooling. You should be wearing as little as possible. And of the items you do wear, they should be your best, most comfortable pieces.
It’s very common for cyclists to leave their old cycling kit (worn-out jerseys and bibs) for the trainer. In reality, this couldn’t be further from the best practice. When you’re outdoors, mostly because you’re in and out of the saddle and moving more, it’s a little more forgiving if you have an old chamois. But indoors, because you’re sitting in the same position for your entire workout, it’s best to wear the good stuff. You don’t want to set yourself up to get a saddlesore, rawness or something worse.
There’s also something to be said for looking good. You can gain a little motivation from putting on that fancy race kit. If you look better, you feel better and you might even work a little harder.
Key Takeaway
Wear your best, most comfortable gear when training indoors. After a long-duration workout on your trainer, your body will be glad you did.
Action Item
Separate, or get rid of, old cycling kits so you’re less likely to make the mistake of grabbing it before an indoor workout.
Bonus Tip
You won’t need to worry about this in base training, but for the sake of looking ahead keep one thing in mind. As you near your race day, consider wearing your aero helmet or wearing a skinsuit on the trainer once or twice. The controlled environment of the trainer is a great opportunity to work through details just before your goal event.
9. How do I identify which workouts I should do outside?
When performing your workouts outside during winter, be strategic. If the workout is specific and intense, take those two qualities as a sign that your workout is best done inside. The opposite side of that is quantity. When you’re just logging miles, looking for a heart-rate parameter or a pretty wide, but low-wattage range, go outside when weather permits.
If you’re following a properly structured training plan, your weeks should follow a consistent pattern. Weekdays you should have your shorter, more intense, structure-workouts. Then on the weekends, you should have longer rides that have little fluctuation and specificity. When these types of workouts are prescribed, consider them an opportunity to do your workout outdoors.
Key Takeaway
If a workout looks really specific with a lot of different intervals and rest periods, you’re better off doing it indoors. This will help you focus on the quality of your workout.
Action Item
Look at your workouts the day before you’re scheduled to do them. Doing this will allow you to plan ahead with your training. That alone has its own added benefits.
10. What’s the best gear to wear when training outdoors during winter?
There are many cyclists who tend to think they need that really expensive jacket or they need a full set of bib tights. But, in almost every single situation where you’d really need a massive jacket and bib tights, it’s a sure sign that you would probably get more benefit from training indoors.
If the cold weather isn’t too taxing and you want to take a workout outside, layers are your best friend. Leg warmers, arm warmers and a good vest are the best for managing the cold. Also, consider getting a thin scarf to bunch around your neck and shoe covers. With shoe covers, look for a pair that provides insulation and shields your feet from the elements. In my opinion, the thin latex shoe covers that slip over the feet are the best as they don’t absorb moisture.
For the riders who insist on training in shorts, knee warmers are a must if it’s below 45 degrees. There’s one major reason for this. There’s not a whole lot of circulation that takes place in the joint capsule. This is the opposite with muscles where there’s plenty of blood flow and heat. But in the joints, where circulation isn’t great and lubrication is necessary, protection is key. Otherwise, your joints will suffer in the cold.
Key Takeaway
If you step outside the door and you’re already warm, you’re overdressed. You should be a little cold starting your ride. If you step outside with a large jacket on and you’re freezing, you should probably opt to do your workout indoors.
Action Item
Make time for more gradual warm ups. It doesn’t matter how warmly you dress, when you train outdoors and it’s cold you don’t want to dive right into training. Your whole asthmatic response will become totally exacerbated.
11. How do I stay motivated to train indoors?
I’ve already covered several tips on how to stay motivated to train indoors — including how to set actionable cycling goals, create a comfortable indoor training environment, reduce obstacles in your training journey and what to wear to feel good when training indoors. There’s just one more training component I haven’t addressed yet: workout structure.
Indoor training has long been typecast as boring. The natural conclusion is that we need to make it feel like we’re riding outside to be entertained. Many cyclists like to use forms of entertainment to keep their minds occupied, but the real secret to achieving workouts that seem to fly by is having benchmarks you have to hit.
When you give yourself a specific goal during each workout and interval — and actively measure your performance in relation to that goal — you create an engaging indoor-training experience. That’s how you make your indoor workouts more enjoyable and motivating. At TrainerRoad, we get this. In fact, it’s one of the main reasons all of our 800+ structured workouts include objectives and key milestones based on the broader cycling goals you set.
Key Takeaway
If you want the time on the trainer to pass quickly, set goals for your workouts and create plans for achieving those goals.
Action Item
Before each workout write down exactly what you want to accomplish during it. Every workout, even if it’s a recovery workout, should have an interval structure with prescribed interval intensities and durations. If you’re not sure how to structure your workout with the appropriate type of intervals, use a training tool like TrainerRoad. We handle all those workout details for you, as well as track your performance in real time.
Ask a Cycling Coach Your Winter Training Questions
If you had questions as you read through this winter training guide, I want to give you the opportunity to get them answered by me. Every week I record a cycling podcast called Ask a Cycling Coach with other certified cycling coaches here at TrainerRoad. It’s the only podcast dedicated to making cyclists faster and new episodes are released weekly.
This winter training guide was updated on October 16, 2017
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I am getting ready for my base training. for the last 2 months I has been 1 or 2 fun mtb ride a weeks and a full body weight program. I like to keep up the weight lifting going but am unsure how to intergrate in with the base train road program
Hey Paul,
Weight training during lower-intensity work is pretty forgiving in the way you can do it before or after your rides (although later in the day is still optimal) whereas during the higher-intensity work you’ll be best off saving it for the opposite end of the day, after you’ve done your riding. This assumes you can ride in the morning and get your weight training in during the late afternoon/early evening.
If you typically ride later in the day, you can either weight train earlier that day or you can squeeze in your trip to the weight room early the next day, post-ride. Neither is as ideal, but they’ll both work well enough assuming you feel like you’re getting in enough recovery time prior to your next ride.
Nutrient timing is pretty critical to heavy strength work though, so however you go about it, it’s a good idea to follow your more intense weight workouts with adequate protein in order to actually benefit from the muscle abuse you just imposed on your body.
Above all, the key is to follow your priorities – and I’m assuming you wish to become a better cyclist and you’re using weights to that end – and recognize when/if your strength training is negatively impacting your riding. This is as simple as changing up your strength routine, e.g. timing, intensity, body parts; should you notice a slip in your riding performance, i.e. missed power targets, poor riding form, gradually degrading workout quality either within the workout for from workout to workout.
Most riders can make 3 strength workouts per week work during Base, cut that down to 1-2 during Build, and then trim that down to a single, weekly maintenance workout during their Specialty training and eliminate it altogether (except for core exercises which have a place in any training week) about 2 weeks prior to your most important events.
Great advice, thanks!
For those of us who don’t yet have a strength training program, but do have partners threatening to leave if we become any skinnier, can you recommend a program that would compliment the sweet spot plan? I’m currently toying with the idea of Strong Lifts 5×5.
Thanks,
-l
Thanks for the feedback Luke!
We actually have a new blog and video on the horizon that will explore integrating 5 workouts into your training program to help in the strength/resistance department.
In the meantime, here’s a bit of advice Coach Chad has shared with me in the past: “No hard, fast rules on coupling your training with your riding which is why I don’t heap on too much advice on this topic. Personally, I’ve had to experiment with what works and it’s led me to a few conclusions:
1 – Bike first, weights second…always. Are you primarily a weightlifter using the bike to ditch fat or a rider tying to get stronger on the bike? Accordingly, prioritize what’s most important, i.e. intervals, quality, freshness for the bike in the case of cyclist-first athletes.
2 – Couple weights with riding on intense days so you don’t lift on easy/recovery days and compromise your recovery. This may be a tall order, intervals + weight training on the same day, but I’ve had good results by doing intervals in the early morning and weight training later in the day, sometimes only as little as 3 hours later, thereby leaving the remainder of the day and the following easy or rest day for less-interrupted recovery.
3 – Periodize your weight training much the same way you periodize your bike conditioning, and there are several good books on this topic. Typically this means some early, adaptive training followed by some max-strength transition training, max strength training, and finally some maintenance training over the remainder of the season.
4 – Don’t lift weights during the week leading up to a key event. There’s nothing to be gained but additional fatigue when your this close to an important event, and your muscles won’t atrophy or lose significant strength/power in a single week of weight-training downtime if you’ve been consistent to this point.
5 – Experiment, experiment, experiment. What works for me, for other riding buddies, even for your coach, may not work for you. So while there will be a transitory period of a week or two while your body grows accustomed to the shifts in training loads/emphasis, at some point you should start to notice improvements in your strength, endurance, control, etc. and not just heavier levels of fatigue.
As far as which workouts to go for, you’ll have to tinker a bit. Try workouts that focus on core strength then resistance training. The muscles of the trunk such as abdominal and spinal musculature should be your focus. This will help prevent lower back pain, a common issue cyclists run into. The other focus on resistance training will aid in not just strength building but also to prevent injuries. Things like the tendons and ligaments around the knee, ankle, foot, and hip joints—even muscular imbalances can be helped by resistance training.”
Hope this helps in the meantime of us releasing our workouts video! Stay tuned! 😀
From experience perspective when should I consider switching from Traditional Base to Sweet spot, to not make harm to my cardio system in long terms?
Hi Armond,
You can cut over anytime you like, but I recommend doing it at the end of a 4- or 6-week block such that you reach (and work through) your recovery week.
There won’t be any damage to your cardio system regardless. One method is simply an alternative to the other in the way that Trad Base uses long, slow distance working toward higher but still subthreshold power outputs to stimulate aerobic adaptation and Sweet Spot Base relies more on strength-endurance (above 80% FTP from the start) and VO2max work well above FTP for short durations.
And the higher-volume versions even incorporate some long, slow work which really rounds out the Sweet Spot Base approach.
what about the age factor?
Hi Piet,
If you mean, should older cyclists use Trad Base and avoid the intensity included in plans like the Sweet Spot Base plans, it’s really very much the opposite.
Assuming you have no preexisting conditions that restrict your activities/intensity, doing some high-intensity work (even during the base phase) is one of the few methods aging riders can use to combat the decline in muscle mass, VO2max and even bone density.
I’ve coached riders well into their 60’s who not only benefitted on the bike but also improved their running & skiing capabilities, for instance, as well as their general wellbeing and day-to-day functionality.
I recently started high volume traditional base, but switched to sweet spot base after just 2 weeks. Anything longer than 90 minutes is torture on a trainer, both due to boredom and the fact it is uncomfortable riding in the same position at relatively low watts.
How do you recommend extending the plans if you have more than the 28 weeks required?
I took a 2-3 month break in August/September and my ftp dropped 15%+ from peak, which is okay!. I am just finishing up sweet spot base HV 2 now. I still have +/-30 weeks to go until an ‘A’ event. Would it be okay to start a sustained build HV plan for 4-5 weeks and drop back down to SS base I again for 3-4 weeks to recharge before starting SS base 2/general Build/specialty? Or would it be better to just restart SS base 1 again now and tack some extra weeks on at the end?
Hey Josh,
Great question! So there’s two things you can do here and your choice will likely depend on what area you think you’re lacking in. Do you need to place more emphasis on strength, or establish more aerobic and muscular endurance? Since you’re still in the Base plan, you could simply extend your time in Base to work on more aerobic and muscular endurance. If you think your limiter is your sustainable, or sprint power (or mix of both) maybe you’ll be better off revisiting a Build Phase of your choosing after progressing through the entire Base/Build/Specialty cycle.
If you go with the former, I’d recommend extending your Base Phase by following Sweet Spot with either the second of third block (or both if time allows) of Traditional Base. This is also assuming you have at least 12hrs/week to train.
If you go with the re-build approach. What you should do is progress through the entire Base/Build/Specialty cycle and revisit either the first or second half of a Build Phase (depending on your fatigue level) after scheduling a couple weeks of low-intensity work following the completion your Specialty phase. Then, if time allows, progress through as much of your Specialty plan before your A event. Just make sure to allow enough time to schedule a taper week (week 8 in the Spec plan) the week before your goal race. I guess the ultimate determinate may come down to how much time you have. 🙂
Hope this helps get you on the right track my friend! Happy Training!
Hi Chad,
After the Base and the build phase I did 7 weeks of speciality climbing, I went to the Ride the Ardennes, a 3 day’s event on Belgium roads. My goal then was to ride it out to the full distance. 375km and 6500htm. witch I did.
Now my Question is sinds I have set my goal to ride the Marmotte next summer (2018) how can my winter training help me improve my performance and witch training shed-dual must I follow? So that I can raise my ftp, VO2max and still have power to ride the full Marmotte witch is 174km and 5,180 metres of climbing, making it one of the toughest courses of any sportive in the world. What plan can ore should I follow Asap.
Sincerely Eric
Eric,
Nice work training for the Ride the Ardennes this season. It sounds like the ride went well, great effort!
A good training progression for the Marmotte would be the Sweet Spot Base plan > Sustained Power Build plan > Climbing Road Race Specialty plan OR Century Specialty plan. In deciding whether to use the Century training plan or the Climbing Road Race training plan, the differentiating factor is whether or not you’re racing the event or if it is self-paced. If you’ll be racing, choose CRR; if you’ll be doing a self-paced effort, go with the Century plan.
Hope this helps Eric! For more answers to your cycling related questions, check out the Ask a Cycling Coach podcast presented by TrainerRoad
Cheers
Thanks Nick,
For you’re answer.
I had my doubts if I could ride the full distance due to my disability in my right leg. Still thanks to the TrainRoad workout I had a perfect preparation before the event. Now starting my training for my next challenge. Greets Eric
That’s awesome to hear! Thanks Eric.
Have an awesome season! Let us know if you run into any questions or concerns.
Great info as always Chad!
Andrew,
I got the mail, still does not explain witch training to follow to achief the best result even with the work I put in to!
Greetings Eric
Curious to hear your thoughts on the recently released 4dP training assessment by Sufferfest. They’re claiming “FTP is dead” and instead focus on specific areas to strengthen, ie sustained power, 5 minute VO2MAX, anaerobic 1 minute power, and/or 5 second neuromuscular power. Once that determination is made, it could be useful to tailor TR workouts around those strengths and weaknesses…Thanks for the amazing app and product!
Great question. I’m anxious to know their response as well! Any comment about this Chad??
I’d like to hear TRs thoughts on this as well. Sounds like it could be valuable to integrate something like this into their programs! I’m not planning on jumping over to The Sufferfest, but this sure sounds intriguing.
A la espera. soy nuevo por aquí, pero los % sobre el FTP de Coggan Classic Levels, no creo que este “muerto” pero a partir de Lactate Threshold, el sistema de SF me está llegando..
Love some advice, I’ve been an avid user and promoter of Trainerroad for the past year. I spent the Australian winter preparing for World Age Group Standard distance championships in Rotterdam which I raced on the 17th September. I was in good bike form after a solid winter of doing the Olympic distance mid to high volume program. However I damaged my foot and will have been off the bike for 2 months until mid November. I have a Half Ironman on Feb 17. Any recommendations on how I should return to cycling and what program I should do?
Steve,
Sorry to hear about the foot! But good to hear you’re able to get back to training soon! 🙂
When it comes to injuries to parts of the body that are specifically involved during cycling, we’re especially cautious and recommend you ease back into your training. I assume you’ll be in a bit of a rehabilitation period anyway, but a great training plan to complement that rehab would be our Traditional Base training plans. This will also be an excellent plan to follow to build a robust aerobic base before moving into our Half-Distance Triathlon Build training plan. Normally you’d follow that with our Half-Distance Tri Specialty plan (our plans follow a 3 phase sequence: base, build, specialty), but I don’t think you’ll have enough time before your event on Feb. 17. There’s actually a chance you don’t have enough time to complete your full Build phase of training either, so you’ll want to make sure to taper your training in the week (or two) preceding the event. This will allow your body to recover a bit to make sure you’re as fresh as possible come race-day.
Hope this helps Steve! Happy Recovery!
Hi Trainerroad,
First off very nice guide, i have a two fold question:
I trained this year for an IM in Aug. Then took a bit of time off, trained a bit for a half marathon. And now feel like i will start with off season training, but how do i know if I have rested enough to start structured training again or if i should allow more time? I did FTP test this weekend and saw a 255 FTP, had a 265-270 FTP in july, is that enough of a drop to justify starting training again? I’m mostly worried that come june next year i might burn out due to not giving my body enough rest now, this might be totally irrelevant for a 10/h a week triathlete?
Second part is that i with B/B/S have 28 weeks+4 more as buffers, race weeks, holidays etc. Leaving around 5 weeks, would it be OK to start Sweet spot base 1 for 4-5 weeks then jump into long course tri B/B/S?
Lasse,
Thanks for the feedback on the guide!
As for this years training… We typically recommend athletes take anywhere from 1-3 weeks of downtime before jumping back into a full B/B/S progression. That time can be spent doing some low-intensity workouts, or time off the bike completely. Choice is up to you. 🙂
It does sound like you’ve given yourself enough of a break, though. I wouldn’t be overly concerned with burning out if you’re confident you’ve given yourself this week (or three) to provide some relief on the hormonal and autonomic systems.
Regarding your Sweet Spot approach to kick off the season, this is absolutely an awesome way to go about it! In fact, it’s exactly what we’d recommend to further deepen your aerobic engine and also introduce a nice variety of varied efforts early on in the season. After you bang out those 4-5 weeks in SSB, following the B/B/S triathlon progression should have you right where you want to be for your next event.
Hope you have an awesome 2018! Keep us in the loop on how it goes!
I am looking to set up a training plan this winter but am limited to 40 minutes Monday thru Friday. I can also ride on weekends. I have been riding trainer 6-7 days a week picking short duration workouts with no particular structure. I do not see any plans designed to ride everyday for short duration. Can you give me some guideline for picking your short workouts for best results?
Hey Chris!
We happen to have a training plan specifically for this use-case 🙂 We call it the Time Crunch 45 plan. All of the workouts on this plan are 45 minutes which should fit your schedule perfectly. You can check out the Mid-Volume version of the plan here: https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/plans/247-time-crunch-45-mid-volume
Depending on your overall goals for the season, you can substitute in some different, longer workouts on the weekend, or simply ride long outside if that’s your preference 🙂
I hope that helps! If you have deeper questions, we offer a podcast in which our USAC Cat 1 head coach, Chad Timmerman, addresses users’ coaching-related questions. You can submit your question to the Ask a Coach podcast for a chance to get it answered 🙂
Hey guys,
I’ve been listening to the podcast a lot lately and it a wealth of great info. On one of these podcasts i heard lately you mentioned motivating music while on the trainer. I’ve looked around a little on the blog but can’t find a list can you help me? If its all Kenny G you can keep the list. HAHA
P.S. Keep up the great work on the podacast
With regards to targeted races (A, B, and C), is it possible to build my training plan to peak for a series of races? Example – There is a local summer MTB short track series with weekly races that run for two months, with points awarded for each race, and podiums for the top three on the final race of the series. I realize two months is a long time to hold peak fitness but is there a way to target the series and be in ‘great’ form for the two months?
Hey Jerry!
I would recommend checking out this article about peaking for multiple A races:
https://support.trainerroad.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005942586-Peaking-for-Multiple-A-Races
You are going to want to look at Scenario 1 specifically, it should answer your question directly 🙂
Cheers!