I’m planning to focus on weight lifting Oct-Dec. I have an old FasCat 10-Week Weights plan that is basically Z2 and Muscle Tension Intervals (ie low cadence, high torque). One of my knees doesn’t really like squats, so I need to find an alternative exercise but, overall, I like the idea of focusing on building strength. I followed this plan in 2021 and 2022.
Last year I tweaked my knee on the very first day squats, so I followed JOIN Cycling’s Stamina Builder plan. However, it had VO2 and tempo workouts. I also substituted a number of rides for TR endurance workouts, so I don’t have a good sense for how often these show up.
TR of course has Traditional Base. TB II and III start to incorporate some sweet spot, and I didn’t see any low cadence work.
I plan to focus on sweet spot work Jan-Mar, then move into a build / race / JOIN plan as I get ready for next year’s events. Anyway, curious about what you plan do work on this offseason.
My last race is beginning of Oct. my cycling “plan” after that through the end of the year will be TrainNow or IndieVelo rides with some mtb on the weekend. And at least 2 days of strength training per week. In Nov/Dec I also do concept2s rowing challenge.
I’m wondering what to do so this is a helpful post. My A event is Sunday, September 15, a century that members of my club and I are racing. Once it’s over, I don’t know what to do. I’ve never had an off-season per se but I’ve got a few small injuries I’ve been dealing with. I’m kind of at a loss on how to structure an off-season.
Using concept2 rowerg, Bikeerg, or skierg you signup and do 100,000 or 200,000 meters between thanksgiving and xmas eve. I usually choose 100k as it’s pretty reasonable and allows me still do all my cycling and strength training without feeling overwhelmed by rowing. I work from home so it’s even easier to take a break and do an easy 2k.
You can also choose a charity from a list when you signup and concept 2 donates a certain amount based on how many meters people cover.
I think I like to sometimes do challenges like that because it’s fun to not focus on watts or improving some performance metric and more just consistency.
Pendulum squat is fantastic. Best leg exercise hands down. Also leg press, Bulgarian split squat, leg extension as a finishing exercise. It’s important to examine why the squat bothered your knee: maybe too much weight (i.e. doing that with any exercise can result in injury), maybe feet too close together, etc. Some points to consider:
If you are lifting for legs you should not be doing VO2 max work - if you are then you are not really doing good work in the gym. Rides should be endurance, sweet spot, maybe a threshold day once a week, and you should definitely ride after you lift, not before, and don’t make lifting days no-ride days. Lift legs twice a week and have a couple solid rest/recovery days where you allow legs either complete rest or super easy 45 minute spin on trainer at super low watts (like 75w).
Do leg curls before your main compound movement, preferably using a seated curl where you lean forward from your hips (not your back) to stretch your hamstrings and glutes, or standing single leg curl where you bend at the hips 90 degrees and effectively have your upper body under the arms pads - same thing, stretch the hamstring and glutes. Doing leg curls first will really get your legs - and knees - ready by moving blood through muscles and getting the tendons and ligaments around the knee warmed up without putting stress on the knee. Add some bodyweight squats (i.e. calisthenics) as you go through warm up sets on the leg curl and then a few afterwards and you’re going to notice a significant improvement in how your knees feel when doing your quad-oriented lifts.
This winter I think I would like to focus more on my running and make my cycling workouts complimentary zone 2 rides on the trainer when the weather is crappy outside. Normally when the weather is nice I ride 3 days per week, run 2 days per week, the other 2 days are upper body weightlifting and core work. This winter I may switch it up and replace one cycling workout for a run workout.
I usually tail off Nov/Dec then kick off on Jan 1st with a huge month but TR has pointed out a few things and I think I peak a bit too early in the year.
Nov will still be running and biking into Dec.
Jan/Feb will be my cycling down time.
I’m pondering how to combine strength and lose body fat over that period…with low energy availability I’m not sure how much aerobic work to keep doing. Maybe:
M Lift
T Run easy
W Swim & Lift
T Run short
F Lift
S Bike long/easy
S Run short
I’m going to try to do as much Z2 as possible. This winter, I struggled to do long Z2 rides indoors, and I can’t really ride comfortably outdoors in winter. I’ll see how I can keep myself motivated. I plan on maybe adding strength training for at least a few months, probably do maintenance intervals (e.g. VO2max or long sweet spot) once a week, but otherwise really try to build that endurance base. The past few seasons I have come in with probably less base training than I would like.
I ride a singlespeed mtb Once or trice a week. Why, because it makes me ride at a huge variety or cadences and requires some organic intensity. Other than that i do instructure road or gravel rides until training starts in December
Its spring here in Australia so it will be all outside and not on a trainer thank god. I’ve been reading alot about the benifits of training in zone 2 and I have pretty much been on a TR plan for the last 2 years so kind of looking forward to not doing intervals for a little bit.
Altough I was considering throwing in a couple of vo2max efforts at the end of one of the days just to try maintain a little bit of top end.
More volume, more virtual “climbing”, heat adaptation, and as much “enjoyment” as I can squeeze out of indoor riding (which is to say, more than 0). Weather’s still good here, but road time is likely limited to 3 weeks, with gravel extended through October.
I’m a bit torn on what I should do. I’m a relatively newer rider after picking it up post hip surgery (torn labrum) but have been making good progress. I was a hobbiest runner since 2018 and generally adhere to polarized training philosophies.
Feb-April last year I did Zwift rides and eventually some self prescribed polarized training. Upped my FTP from 3.2>3.4 w/kg. May/June I did a TrainerRoad high volume polarized plan that went well, bumped from 3.4>3.6 w/kg. I’d like to get to 4 w/kg by end of April.
Since then has largely been some general medium volume and loose polarized training. I plan to cycle 4-6 days a week through the winter and do another high volume polarized plan sometime leading into my first spring race (around March?)
Just not sure if I should do anything else to structure my training between now and the end of the year. I generally planned to continue some self prescribed polarized training (2 days HIIT, 3-4 days endurance) until the end of the year. I do have a race November 17th but it’s only 55 miles and not high on my criticality list.
end of October to the beginning of November I’ll take a brake. Then lift twice a week until mid-January. Ride 3 or 4 times a week, mostly endurance and SST—Fatbike, running, cross-country skiing.
I’ll focus my training on February. By late March should gradually start to go outside.
