Figured the beginning of the year would be a good time to hash this out. I don’t formally race, and as such I don’t have any A events or even B events for that matter. I have long routes and “big” rides that I plan, and would like to ride but often times my dates fluctuate due to work.
How can I define a season for myself to both - cycle my training correctly, and Accurately compare my performance year over year.
I bought my bike in May and started training in August - so as of now I have completed 1 SSB plan, I’m halfway through general build and have another Base Training plan slated for March 1, when this build phase is over.
I define the the finish and start of the season based on when I can’t be bothered to ride. Normally the break will be a couple of weeks after the weather turns. Then I start missing it and start again.
No need to think of seasons in terms of 12 months either if you don’t want to.
TR has season matching so however they are defined you can compare week X in various seasons.
Typical road season in the northern hemisphere ends in autumn (late september / early october). You take a few weeks off structured training and start Training for the next year in November.
This is however with racing in mind, still might provide some orientation. As far as your big rides go… just put them on the calendar and let plan builder do the rest. If they move they move and you reschedule. Until specialty (~ 6 weeks before A event) you will cycle Base and build anyhow.
This is the info I was looking for! Thank you, and thank you to @SeeEl for providing an equally great answer.
I live in Seattle so most of my big goal rides are in mid to late summer anyway. So I think it would be best to coordinate my training with the road season in NA - that way I’m getting close to peaking around those prime summer months, and can inundate the wet days in winter with time on the trainer.
