Hi,

I want to know what are your opinions on doing base training. Mark Allen says to stay below 75% of Max hr, Joe Friel says that during base 1-3 your sessions go up to zone 3 which is just below threshold. I do not have a problem with my hr during base training but I'd like to know at what cadence should base training be done. When I did base training three months back I stayed below 75% of max hr. In order to built cycling strength (because I don't believe in going to gym) I do hills in a heavy gear whilst keeping my hr low. The problem I find with this is that it brings me up to a very good condition very fast and thus shortly after I feel drained and it feels like I need to rest. But it is only base training and I kept my hr low, I have not even started intervals yet and then I need to rest and thus I have not reached my potential. In order to do proper periodisation I believe now that the low gear strength building sessions should now be done in Joe Friel's built period only. I do not follow a structured training program but I do have rest weeks, every 3rd or 4th week. Now my question is should the base period consist of mainly long low hr kilometers with high cadence speed sessions thrown in? What adaptation will high cadence, low power give me during the base period? Any ideas on your favourate base training sessions?

What are your goals?

IMO, base training is the most important aspect of training since everything is built on top of it. If you're feeling tired during your base training something isn't right. My LT is 151 BPM so during this base period I'm keeping my heart rate below 141 which is my max HR for zone 3. I have done the vast majority of my workouts in an easy gear and high cadence. My favorite base building workouts are the aero base builder spinerval DVD's. I have all 4 of them and do them at least two nights a week. I have found the variety of the workout good enough to keep me from getting bored with them. Coach Troy does throw in some big gear grinding to keep things interesting as well. On the weekends I'll get out and ride on the road. I've found it's easier for me to manage my HR during the spinvervals workouts than out on the road.

This past weekend my buddy and I did a 25 mile ride and we hammered the 2nd half of the ride. In the past I've had difficulty keeping up with him but this past weekend we were wheel to wheel so I know my base building is paying off.

Hi,
My goals are to peak for an 8 day mountain bike stage race in South Africa. It is called the Cape Epic (www.cape-epic.com). We will do on average a 100km of mountain biking per day. The total ascent for all the stages will be 16020m.