Preparation for Base Training

Base Training Overview

This is intended as a general guide to the winter base training period and is based on my own personal experience and reading from coaches whose opinions I value. I have used the principles of periodisation in my own training for a number of years as I have prepared for various endurance events such as the Etape Du Tour, triathlons and an ultra marathon. My main source of reference is the Training Bible series of books by Joe Friel which I can recommend.

One of the key tenets to successful performance is a solid period of base training. This is the foundation work required to build good aerobic endurance that will give the base to move onto higher intensity training and racing later in the year. For this reason the club has put on a series of training rides each winter to assist riders of all abilities and ambitions lay down those foundations. Accepting that everybody’s requirements are different the base training sessions put on by NFCC are aimed to support the needs of the majority of riders and cannot accommodate  everybody’s specific needs. Therefore it is necessary for members to integrate the club sessions into their training plans and tailor other training to their own specialised requirements.

It is essential to take a recovery week at the end of each of each phase of training, typically the training year will be broken down into 4 week blocks. A reduction in volume every four weeks will allow the body to repair and the positive benefits of the increasing workload will take effect. It’s a hard discipline to take a recovery week when you are feeling strong but it will pay off later in the season. The club base rides will be shorter every four weeks to fit in with this philosophy.

Good time of year to have a professional bike fit. Flexibility changes over time and your bike fit is more important than any upgrade to the machine.

Preparation Phase - December

Hopefully you will have had some rest since finishing your racing from the end of last season and have been doing some riding and cross training. Riding during this phase should be easy and should be aimed at getting you back into the habits of regular training. As well as starting exercises to increase our aerobic capacity we should also start thinking about cycling specific drills to increase our efficiency and building muscular strength. The usual way of doing this is by specific gym work. This is an area of divided opinion amongst some endurance athletes but for most of us targeted gym work will add strength without adding weight and bulk. If you’re not familiar with weight training seek specialist advice before starting and make sure you’ve got good technique before starting on the maximum strength phase of training.

For those that are new to weight training or if you want to undertake weight training that is beneficial to cycling I can recommend “Weight Training for Cyclists” by Ken Doyle and Fric Schmitz. The 2^nd edition of this book is much better than the first. It’s also advisable to include core strengthening work into your plan. The benefits of a strong core are numerous for all parts of our sport, generating power, injury prevention and aerodynamics as a strong core is required to hold a tuck position for a long time.

At this stage of the year we’re all several months away from our first time trial / race / sportive so be disciplined and train easy. Even if you feel you can go faster you will be doing yourself a disservice in the long run as you are looking to build intensity over the coming months and not peak in January and find yourself declining over successive months. Remember you don’t see modern pros hold peak form all year round, your fitness is either improving or worsening at any time and periodisation is designed to make your best performance come at the right time.

Type of training during Preparation Phase

Depending on the type of events you are training for but as a general guide three times per week would be appropriate for most cyclists. One long endurance ride to increase aerobic endurance. Aim to keep cadence high, around 90-100 is ideal, drop into small ring when climbing to keep the cadence high. Suggest 2-3 hours at a heart rate that’s 70-80% of max (perceived rate of exhaustion level 4). If you're unfamiliar with the Perceived Rate of Exhaustion scale see separate post.

In addition two short sessions of 45-75 minutes at a higher intensity. The club turbo sessions will be designed to be complimentary to these needs. Details of the club tubo sessions will be in another blog post on this site.