"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - What did you/are you doing for base this season?

I'd like to know what all of you are doing for base. If you could share, that'd be great.

Thanks,
V.

rode lots. much easy. some hard.

Eat cookies and dream of warmer weather.

New tactic.

Virtual Coach plan on Trainingpeaks.com

Right now, specific drills during mostly low effort hours.

Me likes so far.

In all honesty between weight training and riding about 10 hours a week.
Weight training - high intensity
Riding - mainly spin bike, varying from low Z2 to Z4/5 TT efforts.

I have never had the scientific approach I just play it by ear.

i'm in midst of it. four cycles of 3 weeks on/1 week recovery. 12/14/16 hrs. on weeks/6 to 8 hrs. recovery weeks, adjusted when other obligations occur. not much structure, mixed intensity but nothing sustained or purposely above threshold aside from a few jumps. that's the sum of it, i could get much more specific but wont.

riding 3 days a week, cross-train/weight day 2 days a week and 2 recovery days

reason for 2 recovery days is my time is limited during the week especially with it being dark at night and early mornings.. I can do a run in the morning and weights in the evenings but I can't log the miles after supper or early mornigs on my bike during the week so I load up my training on the weekends. I start the weekend recovered load up then recover Monday.

this is my 2nd year of trying something structured see how it all plays out but so far it seems to be working

I am on my last week of my 3rd block. I did the vast majority of it at 75-80% mhr. My weeks have been between 14-17hrs. I have really been focusing on my pedal stroke and have done a fair amount of speed work.

Time to go put in 3hrs on the rollers.

So far it's been lots of time on the trainer because weather has been crap. 3 days/wk of long Z2 rides (2-3 hours), one day of short tempo effort (~1 hour) and 1-2 days of core workouts and calisthenics.

I'm not as sophisticated as many of the folks here when it comes to training. However, I do train with the belief that what one puts in is what one will get out; I don't expect desired outcomes without putting in what I believe is the effort to get there. I'm probably a bit old school and don't fully utilize state-of-the-art training principles (although, I do have a powermeter and find it very useful).

I am focused mostly on riding as many hours as I can. My first phase was from October to early December when I rode about 10-14 hours/week. Peaked at 17.5 hours in one week. Next, rest/easy riding for about 10 days. Now in my second phase where my shorter rides tend to be longer than in the first phase and my hours/week are up a tad (e.g., past week I would classify as lower end, 12-13 hours -- not checking log to confirm, but, pretty sure that's right). I am mainly focused on time in saddle and building endurance. I've done a little bit on leg strength with some low cadence stuff, and I'm probably riding with just a touch more effort here and there, but, still pretty much staying within the base pace for the most part. Plenty o' time later for intervals and such. I'll likely rest for 7-10 days in the latter part of January and then return to doing another round of base for a few weeks; but, I will look to either up the hours/week more or/and increase the length of my long ride.

I'd like to know what all of you are doing for base. If you could share, that'd be great.


I apparently went from racing cyclocross to training crits.

My base period consists of raising my threshold as high as possible so I am doing lots of threshold work on the trainer and on long climbs. I also do one long (4hrs) tempo / threshold ride per week to be able to mentally handle long hours on the saddle for road races. I tend to ride about 11 hrs a week with this program so far and I've never felt stronger.

Jan - trainer rides up to 3-5+ hours, usually 1-2 hours though, hopefully 10-15 hr/wk, but lots of other stuff happening due to prep for races (promoting)
Late Jan to Early Feb - SoCal "training camp", goal about 45 hours in 12 days.
Rest of Feb - 1-2 hour trainer rides, maybe 5-7 hr/wk due to getting ready for the races (promoting)
Mar to Early April - Race 1/week, train maybe 2hr/wk due to the races (promoting).
End of April - few long rides in warm weather, otherwise maintenance, 5-8 hr/wk.

*edit* intensity is usually below threshold, whatever I feel like. One race in early Feb. Some prolonged threshold riding up climbs in SoCal. Otherwise not very hard except doing some sprints to keep sprint soreness away when I start sprinting.

I just focused on time in the saddle, and ensuring some of my rides are long (4+/5+ hrs).

I'm already above my peak fitness from last year.

I'm about to begin some VO2 intervals now, for 2-week block, rest a week, then I'll begin a 2-week block of 20' intervals+sprint, then rest a week, That'll be right before a B-priority stage race for me. Then I'll reassess.

I got roughly 24 hours in the saddle from the 23rd to the 28. Lots of riding on packed snow made me go slow. Felt friggin' great at the end of that 7 day period. Now back to normal: 5 hours, 3 hours, and 2 hours, once a week, is the plan--plus at least 3 hours of commuting. I've only recently come to realize how many hours commuting adds.

I am taking Jan easy - doing a bit of running, 1-2 rides a week, some weights and stretching. The rides are nothing particularly long so far, although I will start longer rides next month.

I just got the Kindle e-book by Hunter Allen on training for TTs - interestingly, he advises against doing LSRs during base. His argument is that for most amateur races/TTs, the loss of FTP due to LSRs takes too much time to recover and isnt worth the gains in aerobic improvement given the typical duration of the races.

I'm still in my early days of cycling, so I figure the more improvement I can make in my aerobic efficiency, the more the gains will be a year or two down the road. Am sticking with a steady mix of spinning, Z2 rides, running and weights.

Base 1: Lots of Z2 with a little Z4
Base 2: More Z2 with a little more Z4
Base 3: Even more Z2 with a little more Z4

Base 1: Lots of Z2 with a little Z4
Base 2: More Z2 with a little more Z4
Base 3: Even more Z2 with a little more Z4

If I was training for Cat 1/2 road races and or stage races I would do the same, except instead of the super massive amounts of volume you're probably doing I would do less volume (replace Z2 w/ low to mid Z3) and more Z4.

How do you like Hunter's TT book? Is it worth reading (I also have a Kindle)?
I am taking Jan easy - doing a bit of running, 1-2 rides a week, some weights and stretching. The rides are nothing particularly long so far, although I will start longer rides next month.

I just got the Kindle e-book by Hunter Allen on training for TTs - interestingly, he advises against doing LSRs during base. His argument is that for most amateur races/TTs, the loss of FTP due to LSRs takes too much time to recover and isnt worth the gains in aerobic improvement given the typical duration of the races.

I'm still in my early days of cycling, so I figure the more improvement I can make in my aerobic efficiency, the more the gains will be a year or two down the road. Am sticking with a steady mix of spinning, Z2 rides, running and weights.

Base 1: Lots of Z2 with a little Z4
Base 2: More Z2 with a little more Z4
Base 3: Even more Z2 with a little more Z4

Can I ask why Z4 in base? Most of the base regimens I have read focus on Z1/Z2/Z3 (ie, up to tempo rides at most).


How do you like Hunter's TT book? Is it worth reading (I also have a Kindle)?

I am sort of half-way through it. My inital impression is that it is hastily put together and shoddily edited/formatted. Lots of typos, formatting errors (eg, the sample training program given by Hunter is virtually impossible to read and grasp as-is, without copying it somewhere and re-formatting), some columns are missing, bullet point numbering is very random, etc. etc.

Give me a few days to finish it, and I'll post an update (or ping me via PM in case I forget :) ).

Regardless, I plan to email Hunter and ask if he can provide the tables/plans in the book in a legible format. It would also be nice if Amazon releases an updated/better-edited version of this book for previous owners.

V.

Since I'm about to turn 41, I'm doing 2 weeks on/1 week off. I just finished the first Base3 cycle topped off by my very first crit on Sunday. TrainingPeaks says I spent 9 hours in Z1/2, and 1 hour each in Z3 and Z4 last week.
The part of the crit I raced was mostly Z5. But I was about 2mph slower than most everyone else. I found myself spinning like crazy during the crit but I just didn't have the power to turn a higher gear.
I can only hope that this base training pays off later in the year. After four months of long hours on the bike, my morale isn't very high.

Just trying to get as many hours in the saddle as reasonably possible. Most of the time in z2 and z3.

Can I ask why Z4 in base? Most of the base regimens I have read focus on Z1/Z2/Z3 (ie, up to tempo rides at most).

It's what I've discovered works best for me mentally. I've never been a big fan of pushing in Z3 for hours on end and physiologically riding in Z3 and Z4 are very similar. it's simply a matter of volume required to elicit adaptation.

Since I'm about to turn 41, I'm doing 2 weeks on/1 week off. I just finished the first Base3 cycle topped off by my very first crit on Sunday. TrainingPeaks says I spent 9 hours in Z1/2, and 1 hour each in Z3 and Z4 last week.
The part of the crit I raced was mostly Z5. But I was about 2mph slower than most everyone else. I found myself spinning like crazy during the crit but I just didn't have the power to turn a higher gear.
I can only hope that this base training pays off later in the year. After four months of long hours on the bike, my morale isn't very high.

What's being 41 got to do with 2 weeks on and 1 off?

How do you feel after 2 on? Have you tried 3? What are you doing during the 1 off?

Since I'm about to turn 41, I'm doing 2 weeks on/1 week off. I just finished the first Base3 cycle topped off by my very first crit on Sunday. TrainingPeaks says I spent 9 hours in Z1/2, and 1 hour each in Z3 and Z4 last week.
The part of the crit I raced was mostly Z5. But I was about 2mph slower than most everyone else. I found myself spinning like crazy during the crit but I just didn't have the power to turn a higher gear.
I can only hope that this base training pays off later in the year. After four months of long hours on the bike, my morale isn't very high.

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?

http://www.trunkbunker.com/satchelpaige2.jpg

I do a pile more L4 this winter than I did last winter.

the rest is high L2 to low L3. almost no L1.

of course that is almost all indoors.

What's being 41 got to do with 2 weeks on and 1 off?

How do you feel after 2 on? Have you tried 3? What are you doing during the 1 off?

Friel is the one who recommends doing the 2/1 cycle for over 40 athletes. Personally, I'm wiped out after 2 weeks of 11-14 hours on the bike, so I'm not complaining. I only ride 7 hours during the off weeks.

Huh. I guess I'm glad I haven't re-read Friel in a few years. ;)

FWIW, I turn 42 on Wednesday.

How long have you been riding, what sort of background do you have in endurance sports before then? What are you doing during the 11-14 hours that's leaving you wiped out?

IMHO, If two weeks of 11-14 hours are leaving you spent then you're either working too hard during that time without enough recovery, or you're just lacking the aerobic endurance. As Floyd Landis once said, while injecting his hip with some vitamins, "If you overtrained, it means that you didn’t train hard enough to handle that level of training."

I tend to do the 3/1 schedule typically, but have been known to push a build block out to 4 weeks. The last two "build" blocks were 15/16/17 and 17/20/21 hours respectively. During the last two blocks, with the exception of the last week of the last build block, and of course recovery weeks, I did 3x20's every Tuesday and Thursday, and a 5-6 hour ride that included at least 90 minutes and up to 120 minutes of sweet spot every Saturday.

The key for me is to take one day completely off each week, do REAL recovery spins (so slow your butt hurts) of no more than 1 hour at a shot, usually Fridays and Sundays, and sometimes the a few hours after the 3x20's, keep everything else at no more than zone 2. There's also quite a bit of stretching, sleeping, eating, and rolling around on a foam roller in between.

And yes, I also work full time and am married, but don't have kids (and have a supportive spouse).

Sample schedule looked like this:

m - off
t - 3 hours, w/o 1: 2.5 hours (3x20's), w/o 2: 30 minute recovery
w - 3 hours, zone 2
th - 3 hours, w/o 1: 2.5 hours (3x20's), w/o 2: 30 minute recovery
f - 1 hour recovery ride
sa - 5.5 hours w/120 minutes of SST
su - 1 hour recovery ride

Of course, I'm just a piddling cat3 who does this stuff for fun, so take anything you read here on the internet, including what I just posted, with a grain of salt.

Huh. I guess I'm glad I haven't re-read Friel in a few years. ;)

FWIW, I turn 42 on Wednesday.

How long have you been riding, what sort of background do you have in endurance sports before then? What are you doing during the 11-14 hours that's leaving you wiped out?

IMHO, If two weeks of 11-14 hours are leaving you spent then you're either working too hard during that time without enough recovery, or you're just lacking the aerobic endurance. As Floyd Landis once said, while injecting his hip with some vitamins, "If you overtrained, it means that you didn’t train hard enough to handle that level of training."

I just did my first Cat 5 race yesterday and was riding half this many hours last year. Care to reevaluate your critique of my training plan?

What training plan? You still haven't told me what you're doing during that 11-14 hours that's leaving you wiped out.

Here, let me re-quote:



IMHO, If two weeks of 11-14 hours are leaving you spent then you're either working too hard during that time without enough recovery, or you're just lacking the aerobic endurance.

Oh yeah, I also forgot to re-quote:


How long have you been riding, what sort of background do you have in endurance sports before then?

Oh yeah, I also forgot to re-quote:

Last Week:
M: Commute X 2 (Commute = 1hr @ Z1/2 + 20min of climbing @ Z3-5)
T: Commute X 2
W: Off
Th: Commute X 2
Fr: Commute X 1
Sat: 1hr @ Z1/2
Sun: 1hr @ Z2/3 + 40 min @ Z4/5

This is my first year of organized training and my fifth year riding a bike.

OK, I guess I found it, but there's still no info on the background:


I just finished the first Base3 cycle topped off by my very first crit on Sunday. TrainingPeaks says I spent 9 hours in Z1/2, and 1 hour each in Z3 and Z4 last week.The part of the crit I raced was mostly Z5.

No mention of how it's structured though. did you ride 1.5 hours per day for 7 days? Long days? Short days? Recovery days? Did you do structured intervals to get that z3/z4 time, or was it happenstance via MUP racing?

No answer on background either, so I'm going to assume none (cycling for a year).

BTW -- no offense intended here, I'm honestly trying to understand/help.

As I said, with staring at 42 like a freight train bearing down on me, I find what's important for me is recovery spins (real easy days), rest, and stretching / rolling.

As I also tried to point out, you may be lacking the aerobic endurance for the harder efforts.

Here, let me spell out what I've been trying to hint at: If you're pushing so hard that you need a recovery week after a 2 week period then perhaps you should back off a bit and do less hours and probably some less intensity until you've gotten more miles and hours into your legs.

Since you're more recently read up on Friel than I am, perhaps you can recall what he said about having 1000 hours (or so) in your legs before beginning to worry about periodized training. Also, perhaps you should re-visit commandments 1, 3, and what he says about progression under the science of training.

In all honesty, if you've only got 1-2 years riding under your belt, the best thing you could probably do is just ride 3-4 rides a week, or between 2-4 hours with one of them being 4, at an endurance pace, with probably the long ride being a group ride of some sort. Swap group ride for race when you want to race. Once you stop progressing there, then re-visit Friel.

I believe the sticky on the front page of the racing forum may be the best info.

Last Week:
M: Commute X 2 (Commute = 1hr @ Z1/2 + 20min of climbing @ Z3-5)
T: Commute X 2
W: Off
Th: Commute X 2
Fr: Commute X 1
Sat: 1hr @ Z1/2
Sun: 1hr @ Z2/3 + 40 min @ Z4/5

This is my first year of organized training and my fifth year riding a bike.

OK, you posted while I was writing up my post.

20' climbing on the commute, that's pretty cool. I live in flatlands, so it's not an option for me.

Here's what *I* would probably do:

Either skip the commute, or tack on an extra hour on the commute home to make it 2 hours instead of 1. 2x1 hour rides provides WAY less adaptation and endurance building than 1x2 hour ride.

And combine Saturday/Sunday into one longer ride (~3-4 hours).

Sample:

M - commute x 2 with return leg being 2 hours.
T - off
W - same as Monday
H - same
F - commute x 1 (is this morning/afternoon?), try to keep it easy zone 1, keep it one hour or less.
Sa - 3-3.5 hours.
Su - off.

Edited to add: keep H as zone 2 only (skip the climb if you can).

Thanks for the constructive feedback. You're right that I should be doing more long rides. It certainly would break up the monotony of my commuting miles. But I have a 1 year old at home and my wife wants me home as early as possible. I had also originally agreed to take one weekend day off. So with these limitations, I'm lucky to be getting this many miles on the bike.
I feel like I've made a big leap of faith and commitment to stick to a program so far. But I also believe that you should do something right or don't do it at all. I hope I'm not setting myself up for more disappointment.

Thanks for the constructive feedback. You're right that I should be doing more long rides. It certainly would break up the monotony of my commuting miles. But I have a 1 year old at home and my wife wants me home as early as possible. I had also originally agreed to take one weekend day off. So with these limitations, I'm lucky to be getting this many miles on the bike.
I feel like I've made a big leap of faith and commitment to stick to a program so far. But I also believe that you should do something right or don't do it at all. I hope I'm not setting myself up for more disappointment.

I totally get that. You have to acknowledge it as a training limiter. I've done all right in crits and I suspect I'd enjoy the track (if I could ever get myself to Hellyer). With work and family I can rarely get more than 2 hours on a bike, so I am never going to establish the endurance necessary to do well in a long RR. I'll just have to live with that.

My wife is big on the "family day!" thing on the weekends. That's another advantage of combing Sa/Su into one ride day and using the other for rest/recovery (I do my recovery spin while she's taking a zumba class at the gym). She got so used to family day during the off-season (between October and, well, this weekend) that I found myself looking through the race calendar and picking out Sunday races I don't mind skipping this spring (racing starts Jan. 15th here in Florida).

Realistically, you should be able to get pretty quick, at least fast enough to be competitive in the 4s and 5s, on ~8-10 hours a week. It just depends on how you structure them. But to build up the endurance, unless you picked out good parents and got great genes, you're going to have to get in at least 1 long ride a week (long being 3-4 hours), and probably another of 2 hours.

Do you have shower facilities at the office? Perhaps driving to work and going for a ~2 hour lunch ride is an option? That would give you the opportunity to get in a 2 hour ride as opposed to 2x1 hour rides, and still be home in time to keep the wife happy. Or go for the ride before work?

I have been helping out with new racer skills clinics and not doing enough volume due to that, weather, time, illness, other obligations. Sigh. To make up for it, I am going to try to avoid much racing in Feb/Mar this year.