When to start a winter training plan?
CompM
Posts: 47 Member
I'm looking at some foundational 12-week plans from British Cycling (free) and plan to get Friel's bible soon. I am a year-round commuter (very short distances), but as this is my first year taking cycling more seriously, I have no idea when people usually start settling in and turning to base work. Do you wait till the weather turns to crud? Use a spring event as a benchmark? My Google-fu is seriously lacking today.
It may sound ridiculously early to be asking but school is starting up again very soon. I want to prioritize my fitness and maybe even try my first race or two in the next year. My family and studies come first but cycling has brought me so much happiness. It's going to be difficult to find time for everything as my schedule will be very demanding. On top of everything is required volunteer work and possibly a part-time position. I'm trying to plan for success! How do you do it, busy MFPers? Thanks in advance for your time.
It may sound ridiculously early to be asking but school is starting up again very soon. I want to prioritize my fitness and maybe even try my first race or two in the next year. My family and studies come first but cycling has brought me so much happiness. It's going to be difficult to find time for everything as my schedule will be very demanding. On top of everything is required volunteer work and possibly a part-time position. I'm trying to plan for success! How do you do it, busy MFPers? Thanks in advance for your time.
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Sweet. I looked up Trainer Road and unfortunately don't have any ANT+ equipment or a power meter just yet. It looks like I may take a week or two off or go super easy after my first 100-miler at the end of this month. September sounded kind of early at first but this is relatively new to me.0
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I am assuming you mean base training. Typically one would identify the "A" race(s) and work backward. Prep period for "A" race, build, could be between 8-12 weeks. 8-12 week before the build period is generally the base period. A few weeks in between base/build pair is maintenance (generally the holiday season and decompression between "A" races before resuming the next build block.
Living in a temperate zone, I get between 9-10 months of good weather and a long racing season. Back in the days when I was racing the switch is Day Light Saving for start/end. The official starts is April 15 and the weekend races was used to prep for my "A" races (generally a July 4th crit and a Fall circuit race). Between October to January was maintenance and February to April was all endurance miles with March onwards racking up long rides. December through February is generally indoors with the trainer.
Since restarting cycling in May 2014 after a 23 year break, I'm on week 6 of my first build cycle. I needed a full year to reconstitute my aerobic base (still not full there yet). My build is only concentrated on increasing my FTP. Hopefully by next May I will be in the position to work on improving my anaerobic abilities.0 -
Gotcha. Thanks for the info smeak and kcj. Once I complete my first century at the end of this month, I'll take a couple of recovery weeks in September and transition into base training. The weather here is atrocious during the winter with a ridiculous wind chill factor to boot so (unfortunately) I'll get plenty of trainer time.
Since I've never raced, I have no idea how to pick an A race but that'll be fun to look up and see what I can find locally! It's my hope to save up for a good computer soon because right now I'm using a Trip 4w and Excel.0 -
I'm just finishing up a short base phase (about 5 weeks) that began after my road racing season finished up at the end of June. I'm starting a short build now leading up to Cyclocross season starting, with my first 'cross race coming up in about 4 weeks. My 'cross season will end in early November and that will be the trigger for me to move back into my longer winter base phase.
Like @kcjchang, I live in a pretty temperate area so my riding season is pretty long. I usually only have about 3 real months of "winter" and that, for us, normally means daytime highs in or above the mid 40s (f). I use TrainerRoad extensively, along with Zwift, and a lot of lunchtime outdoor gravel or mountain bike rides during the week.
My base phase will probably last from early or mid November until late January and then the build will start toward the first criteriums and time trials in late March.0 -
As for picking "A" race(s), just find what is interesting. But, keep in mind the later the season (for you area) the harder/competitive the races tend to be. Look around for bike/race clubs around the area, join/converse, and get a lay of the land as well as learning to handle yourself on the bike (pace line, pack riding, group sprints, tactics, pacing, etc). The discipline/type of racing and the local weather pattern will ultimately determine the span of your race season.
I picked my "A" races based on scheduling. I was in college at the time and the July crit was in town. Fall race coincided with finishing the first set of mid-terms and hitting the hills over summer break while living back home. Within a 35-40 miles radius of my university it is flat as a pancake and within 10 miles from my parent's I'm in some serious climbs. The circuit was rolling hills and the crit was flat, they complimented the training terrain at my disposal. British Cycling? May be a Gran Fondo as a start?
Take a look at the "The Time-Crunched Cyclist". I'm still of the old school that emphasizes long hours at low intensity to build up one's aerobic base but the author makes some interesting points. His plans are more inline with what I used to do and will do for the build period; it basically eliminates the bulk of the base phase. I'm going incorporate his plan for the upcoming winter trainer period (November - January depending on the deluge & temp) and see how it goes.0
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