Colligate running —> moving into cycling

Hey guys, I have been listening to your podcast for about six weeks now and I have been cycling in my local groups in Birmingham. Currently I am running for my University but in December I am going to transition to training full time for cycling. Currently I can without any riding, jump into my local A group fast ride and hold on to these guys (normally cat 1/2 riders). I was wondering in December, what training plan should I choose on TrainerRoad that will help me continue my fitness and not lose the fitness I will have after a hard running season.

Do you have any goal events (what/when)?
(Helps determine plan direction and timing.)

If you are doing regular fitness with no goal event:

  • Sweet Spot Base 1 & 2
  • General Build (good option for many uses, or you can pick Short Power or Sustained Power if those fit your goals better).
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Yeah so I have a few road races that I will want to compete in in the spring and then the Alabama state championships in July would be the A race. Mostly Crit races but a few road races also. I am currently Cat 5 and I want to cat up as fast as I can.

Best to use the Calendar,

  • Select your desired Specialty phase (Crit or Rolling Road Race?) and apply it so you have it finish in July on your A-Race.
  • Then add a Build phase (Short Power or General?) in front of the Specialty.
  • Repeat with Sweet Spot 2, then Sweet Spot 1.

Effectively, back schedule the entire season from your target event. It is often recommended to leave a week buffer between the Base/Build/Specialty to account for life/sickness/etc. as those can impact your planning.

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If you haven’t already, start following Michael Woods :wink: He took up cycling after running in college. He was 3rd in last year’s World championship road race and is riding in this year’s Tour de France for EF Education.https://www.efprocycling.com/riders/mike-woods/

Beat me to it - I was going to say about Mike Wood!

I’ll let y’all know how that goes for me

Don’t forget about the skills/tactics side. Riding fast takes fitness but racing well takes skills and tactics, and there is almost no cross over between running and bike racing tactics and strategy.

Do the trainer road plans for the fitness piece but also race as much as you can and do regular group rides with those local cat 1/2’s and observe them and pick their brains. And join a team/club. Cycling is a team sport.