Winter is coming, gotta think about base period

Wait what? Are you saying I can just start eating after 1h15-1h30 on my 5-6 hours rides? I am trying now to push it to 3/4 in when staying strictly in zone 2.

How do you know that those 2-a-days worked? Also tuesday 23.6 - two L5/L4 sessions that day???

  1. time weighted kJ at intensity much higher than in any build block in the last 4 years + significantly less disturbance of well-being-parameters (I’ve been tracking sleep and mood for 3 years now)

  2. yes … long day training … and not unusual when you look at other sports

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Pull the plug on my non-season a few weeks early.
Was going to do a Sportive Saturday which would have been my only event of the year but got injured 3 weeks ago and then came down with a cold.
Effectively on my post season break a few weeks early. Normally start planning and starting my base period the 2nd week of October.
So Winter is coming, gotta think about base. I will be starting my 2021 sessions / training first week of October.

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I have no events this year and have sort of faded out my training the last month, going down from around 16h/weeks to 9-12h/weeks. I will take the last part of September and October to do whatever I feel like, but trying to do 4-5 hour endurance rides during the weekends. I will quit my job and move the last of October so November 1st will be the start of my 2021 training season. I will have time to do traditional base and I like the idea of high volume. Hopefully my first race will be a criterium the first week of February, followed by a 4 days stage race with lots of climbing the following week.

I have to say I am really looking forward to November and get back to structure in training and back to the basics, slowly working towards a set goal.

Yep, as per my post I’m in week 2 of 2 weeks off the bike.
Next week I’ll still be trying to improve my capacity to absorb and recover from run sessions, but will add in easy bike rides.
Then from early October it’ll be as much volume at Z2 as possible (or tempo when time-crunched) + a couple of runs per week, and some strength work.
Maybe around mid-November, I’ll reduce the running down to 1 a week, but start doing more and longer tempo intervals (nothing strenuous, just building up muscular endurance) on top of the Z2 rides.
Base will officially end mid-December where I’ll have a 2-week FTP block periodisation before the festive break, then start Build in the New Year.

Obviously all subject to change and will adapt as life / reality gets in the way!

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I started this thread a year ago, a new season is about to start. This was probably the longest base period every. However, I had two races. The second one on Sunday, this was quite telling. Especially since I can compare it to previous participations.

First of all, I’m repeating myself now:

  • I’m a more experienced rider (I don’t see huge gains anymore, my FTP hoovers around 4.7-5.1 W/kg)
  • training before last year’s participation was very polarized for many months.
  • this year with Covid I did plenty of @ AeT and Tempo. Plenty, plenty. A short threshold block in July (which was too intense I believe) and another threshold block in September. The rest of the time AeT and Tempo. No “very easy” days. I rather took a day off or went for an easy 1 hour run.

4-5h MTB Marathon
Last participation

This year, 25min faster, age group win, comparable conditions

grafik

there is basically just one difference: I’ve spent almost 30 min more in the threshold zone. One of my main concerns with previous training was the lack of turbo diesel performance. Just LIT and HIT did not produce this. Furthermore, 10min less coasting. I’d say this also reflects improved fatigue resistance.

In contrast this year, lots of tempo. And a short threshold block. As said before, at 46 and with my history I don’t expect much movement of anaerobic threshold anymore. HOwever, it appears that time at threshold is still quite trainable.

This is strikingly similar to what we see in DrMF training model thread. And this will be my model for the upcoming base period. A nice side effect: riding around AeT and tempo is extremely entertaining. Happy hard, fun. What I will include as well are these low cadence variations, have never done them really.

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This is something I incorporated for the first time this year, and saw a noticeable improvement in fatigue resistance.

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I did lot less intensity this year. 530 hours last 12 months. Did not do as many 15h training weeks as i wanted. Biggest week 17 hours. No racing. Regained my fitness (was not in a good shape last year at this time) so FTP went up like 50w (july). Hit my 6min PR with very few vo2max sessions.

I know volume works for me so i need to find a way to increase it. So this year will be probably very similar; Z2 with stuff.

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Excited because it looks like I’ll be able to add a bit more volume this off-season. Daughter is older and daily schedule is changing.

Step 1:
re-check my “2mmol/L” intensity (HR + power). I’ve recently learned 2mmol/L is about 0.2-.03 mmol/L above my LT1. Haven’t looked in about 5 months. Feel stronger, so expect HR+power at those 1.7-2mmol/L to have bumped up a bit. I like having that Tempo be above LT1, but not so high it’s SST, etc. Too high.

Once established, I have two zones. Lower end (endurance) and upper end (Tempo/AeT+, high Z2)

Mon - Off
Tues - 2 hrs w/ 60-90mins Tempo/AeT+ interval
Wed - 2 hrs w/ 60-90mins Tempo/AeT+ interval
Thurs - 2 hrs endurance
Fri - Off
Sat - 4 hrs endurance
Sun - 2.5 hrs endurance

Will add load by sprinkling in Tempo/AeT+ on Sat or Sun if possible. It is never as precise and perfect as I’ve depicted here (“no plan survives contact with the enemy”), but it is very flexible and I’m still seeing growth riding this way.

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Going into the off season aswell. The last race of the race season is cancelled today… So 2 weeks of no training starts today, after that I will reintroduce strength and running and then start the base phase.

My week will look like this:
Mo: Off day
Tu: Strength + 3 hrs
We: 3 hrs
Th: 1-2 hrs easy
Fr: Strength + 3 hrs
Sa: 2x1 hr commute with tempo
Su: 4hrs MTB

I will also add some low torque efforts probably on the strength days. I will start with almost everything at Z2 and some tempo when I’m time crunched.

When do you guys start to add intensity? Threshold or VO2 Max?

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If racing starts in April, February. However, I have my doubts about next spring.

and January Tempo work should hit upper Tempo frequently.

Does this mean races that you care about or like the local spring crit series? Living in MI the first races are in April and then no races of consequence before mid-May. Would you still start intensity 2 months before that or kinda treat those local crits as an intro to intensity?

Thanks for posting that. A really interesting insight. A good review is always good to do. I’m going to read that again and think about my own review.

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All races are important to me. I only do 4-12h events, one or two per month mid April-early October. I have two 10-12h events in mid July and early August. They suck up a lot of energy and require a different (short term) build

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So that means just intensity in the build phase and nothing at all in base.
I guess I will add VO2 in the 3rd base phase, but that is still a while.

It´s hard with all the uncertainty currently, only thing we can do is get in a good shape for whatever is to come!

Ahh gotcha. So that would probably warrant a different training strategy than if you are going to do 1-2 45min crits each weekend. They don’t cause as much fatigue as an 8 hour race so you can fit them a little more organically into a training program.

I always did some vo2max work in winter in the last few years. Because of this “old people have to work on their vo2max” and “do it every 7-10 days” to maintain. I must say, I never really noticed any real improvement. Yes, my 5 and 20 min test went up a few points but these changes were not relevant for my racing. I still sucked in the fast start phases which are so typical for many mass start events.

Furthermore, all these dedicated vo2max blocks did not help either. They just hurt without much benefit. Often probably counter productive.

This time with Aet/tempo and threshold blocks overall load was probably higher. But not as taxing. I always felt pretty good. I’d say this is this consistency trumps everything thing. 4-6x10min at threshold hurts a lot, as well. But it is a different pain.

However, still have to tackle those fast starts. Not sure how. If I had gotten into a faster group on Sunday my overall ranking would have been better.

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yes, it basically an intense base, then an intense, dedicated threshold block, and then more or less maintenance throughout race season. With some short build blocks based on the next race.

Still have to tackle those fast starts. Not sure how. If I had gotten into a faster group on Sunday my overall ranking would have been better.

Some Zwift races maybe? That’s my thinking for helping with MTB fast starts. You basically get a fast start then 45 mins of over-unders.