How long is your base phase (in months; continuous before starting another phase; do not count a second base phase in the same year)?
none
1 month
2 months
3 months
4 months
5 months
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7 or more months
0voters
In previous years my base phase phase has been about three months (Jan-Mar). I have then moved onto build or an equivalent plan. I tend to see gains (at least in terms of training load) during base, then wane during build. This is as much due to shifting activities as the weather gets nicer as the more demanding workouts, but I also struggled with burnout in 2022 and 2023.
This year I adjusted my plan for five months of base - Traditional Base II-III and General Base I-III (both mid-volume). Iām also going to try masterās build this year, as I can handle two interval workouts per week but three seems to be too much.
Anyway, just looking for otherās experiences with an extended base phase. Thanks!
Great question and looking forward to hearing responses.
Can you define what you mean by ābase.ā Is this primarily building endurance? Does it include tempo/sweetspot/threshold? Accelerations? Other types of workouts?
In the context of this post I consider Base phase to align with TrainerRoadās base plans (General Base, Traditional Base, Polarized Base, and various Triathlon Base programs). These include endurance but also sweet spot and some workouts with even higher intensity.
Base Phase
Base training is where it all begins. Itās the foundation of cycling and triathlon success, developing resilient aerobic fitness and laying the groundwork for higher-intensity, discipline-specific training later on. The importance of base training canāt be overstatedāgetting faster starts here!
Iām coming back from a little foot injury and didnāt ride much before that. So my base this time around is 4 months, it also depends if I keep improving while hitting my performance goals.
1 month of building volume with some tempo, sweet spot and hitting the dirt (gravel and MTB) with hills and punchy climbs.
1 month of longer sweet spot & tempo rides. Also extend the long ride and add in some 30-30s and/or 1-3 min super thresholds.
That usually leads into more specific training toward the goal event from there. Goal of my base phase has been to keep it fun & low-key. That doesnāt mean easy or yourāre not tired, just that you arenāt going crazy with intensity, which gives me a mental break from always being āon.ā
i think it really depends where you are coming into it. if youāre pretty consistent with training year round and not coming off a big break, you probably need less ābaseā and conversely if you trained hard and took a long break you might need more base. 8 weeks is kind of where I settle at with sweet spot tte development and endurance work before moving on to other stuff
Now that Iāve been riding consistently for almost three years, Iām good with 2 months of base on the short side, and 3 on the long side. I figured out that I often feel best after about 4-5 months of dedicated training. Anything longer than that and Iām losing motivation and focus for my event. Iāve also felt stronger in later build phases than after doing a dedicated specialty phase.
This past year I did about 3 months of base, a VO2 block of 4 weeks, then two more months of mixed Build/Specialty phase and I was kinda over it the last month.
I also benefit a lot from the longer Tempo and then SS work during this time and can just feel and see my fitness increase which is really motivating.
This year Iām starting my base phase early. As in 2 weeks from now. Next week is vacation week. Base will last about 3 months. I find a longer base makes it so Iām not so burnt by the end of summer. This year kinda sucked. I was injured at the end of summer in 2023 and really never recovered until spring 2024. Not much base and right into build.
I have modified my med volume plan to be 4 days a week. 3 hardest workouts at the beginning of the week with the middle one being a short 30 minutes.
1 long one on the weekend. Maybe a gravel āCāevent.
If the weather is good I can turn the 30 min hard into a long outdoor ride. Will make my TSS go up but at endurance pace this should be ok, plus itās outside.
Hopefully my body agrees.
I had a break when traveling to Portugal in June, so I effectively used that as my off-season break as I only had one race to do (this last weekend) until maybe March/April 2025. Due to that timeline I decided to try my longest base ever, starting the new season on June 24th.
This base period however, are 3 training plans on Join,
Stamina Builder
FTP Builder
LFTS
Their plans have some type of VO2 sprinkled every 7/10 days, torque workouts, and touch every system from time to time, so itās not really a boring 9 months of Z2+Tempo or something like that, I feel itās very easy to keep engaged and improve at the same time. Letās see what happens.
You could argue these are closer to build then pure base plans but I donāt like doing classic base plans I need some intensity all year around but not too much.
+1 to this! Which is why Iām going to experiment with a longer base phase. I probably forgot to mention that I donāt race and rarely get to do any events, so there is nothing driving a need to peak at a certain time.
Another reason Iām interested in a longer base phase!
I donāt ever really get out of shape so base is just the fall/winter period until I need to do a build in January.
My current plan for ābaseā is weight lifting twice per week plus indoor trainer rides. So far, the weight lifting is enough intensity and I donāt need intervals on top of it. And Iāll snowshoe and XC ski if we have snow this year.
Iām not even sure if Iāll do a build this year. Iām really happy with being 90% fit all year long these days. Maybe Iāll do a build if I have an event.
Triathlete here, so may plan might be different than a pure cyclist. My base phase this year will be at least 4 months (Oct. - Jan.). Like others have said, I will include some intensity, but I am limiting it to 1 harder bike workout and 1 harder run workout a week, and mostly technical swims. I want to focus on building strength (heavy weight lifting) and speed (cycling/running sprints with lots of rest between) before my triathlon training ramps up. Sometime in January I will drop to 1 heavy lift day & 1 maintenance lifting day per week. And sometime later in the winter/spring I will drop it to only 1 maintenance lifting day per week and add an additional swim workout.
I answered ānoneā. I generally keep the same training schedule all year round, with slight variations in the weekly workout(s), which focus on a different energy system (tempo/ over unders, threshold, or vo2).
I basically started from zero in Feb after an accident then a sickness.
I did Base from Feb though July and have never felt better. I probably missed out on some FTP gains by focusing more on sweet spot and skipping threshold workouts from time to time but here it is Nov, and I havenāt felt burnt out even after having a raced packed Sept/Oct.
I think I did push back the build because it seemed way too early to me to start that. I donāt think Iāll do that this year as I still have so much base.
I got up to PL 10 on sweet spot a few times.
one benefit I had was still not knowing many people where I lived so I wasnāt missing any group rides.
Also, endurance rides are key. Donāt skip Wednesday for an easy day. Push through on those days as well.
I have found races to be less taxing cause the pace of the group is my sweet spot range now. the attacks needed to win/stay away are still tough and something I know Iām missing by skipping that build phase. but I will finish a race and donāt feel nearly as fatigued.
Basically 3 months for me. Plus or Minus. October-December after taking a bunch of time off and significant volume reduction from the middle of August into the beginning of October. Main goal getting my volume back up, building back some lost gains without a ton of real intensity. Staples are Endurance, Tempo, Sweet Spot and lifting for strength.
Starting in January and into February and March will be VO2 and a lot of Threshold work with the strength work tapering back to maintenance.
Historically Iāve taken two weeks totally off the bike before starting base. This year I thought Iād carry on training through and despite feeling jaded.
Big mistake. Referred back to ālisten to your bodyā and Iām currently enjoying my second week off. Another good aspect is Iāve rekindled my appetite to crack on next week.
A bit more of a reset, new power meter means a ramp test next Tuesday before a 12 week block of traditional base medium volume with some extra z2 thrown.
