Races are done for the season and thinking about what the winter indoor season will look like this year. I’m confused how to setup TR to train from roughly November to April.
For example, I can use Plan Builder to create a 5 month General Fitness plan around Building Endurance but I see these always include Speciality Phases. I don’t see a need for a Specialty Phase without a specific event in mind. Am I wrong there? So should I be just adding Base and Build blocks as necessary to fill the 5 months out?
I have two goals this winter: raise FTP (goal to hit 300 watt, currently 285) and incorporate 2 days of strength training each week (bit less volume on the bike to make space for this). First event is likely end of May but not signed up yet. How would you use the TR plans to accomplish this?
Might be missing something here, but why are you planning to split up your upcoming season? Usually when talking about off-season it’s the period with no, or only unstructured, riding that is talked about. What you are talking about is what most would call their base season and this is usually planned together with the rest of the season.
Is there a reason you are not planning out your season with next year’s A-race(es) and starting that in November?
do you mean base season? offseason is generally off the bike…If you mean base season, i would just do base, build, rinse and repeat. delete the speciality out of your plan. You should be in the gym for the first couple months out of hibernation too, if you’re not already. i would suggest a more traditional base with gym work (as your ‘intensity’ 2x a week) before a SST base. i dont use TR anymore as i’m coaching but you essentially just move through the phases once you’ve squeezed everything out of that phase. i got a huge amount out of long z2 rides working at 65%-75% during the week whilst layering in gym work. happy to assist if you have more questions or provide more info about your history/goals.
Thanks, I see I’m using the wrong term here, changed the OP. Off season is October for me, then back to base/build starting in November to prep for riding next summer.
Here’s my annual training plan from last year. I rarely do events, though, and follow the plans to have something to focus my efforts. Last year I intentionally did five months of base (after the off season, which some might consider ‘base’) to see what would happen. Saw my first FTP bump in a long time during the first part of base but nothing thereafter.
Month
Plan
Oct - Dec
Off Season cycling-focused weight training with base endurance rides (eg FasCat 10-Week Weight Lifting Program)
If you are planning on doing a normal base/build period over the winter I would just plan all of 2026 in one go. Find your A races and let the plan builder do its thing. I have set up my plan for next year with my first A race mid June. Plan builder then gave me 12 weeks of base, 9 weeks of build and another 4 weeks of base taking me to second half of April. Then I’ll do 8 weeks of specialty taking me to my mid June A race.
You’ll likely benefit from throwing some harder training into the ramp-up to your racing season if you have some sort of base already built up. Luckily, that doesn’t just disappear after your offseason.
You don’t need things to be entirely linear with one Base > Build > Specialty block. Adding some Build and even Specialty to your season early on will likely only build more fitness. That’s why we often run our athletes through Base > Build > Specialty more than once if their schedule allows it.
