Have you ever found yourself over-packed with running events you don’t remember signing up for at the start of a new season?
The charity rides, fun rides, or other endurance events and wondered how you’d fit in all the training? Most people would say, more training, more speed but in half the time. Now, that’s where the big mistake falls through, you will not only overtrain, your progress will sputter to a halt.
Hence, here is why base training and aerobic fitness are essential for every cyclist to make sure you are building your base properly for your season and goal.
What is Base Training?
Well, the clue is in the name. If you consider your fitness as a pyramid, base training provides a solid endurance base, which your top-end form typically ends with short, sharp interval training sessions.
Base training involves a long, steady ride intended to build your aerobic fitness that is widely used at the start of a new cycling season. Base training for a cyclist is an important part of training because it brings specific physiological adaptation, which provides a foundation for a cyclist to further train.
The duration of cycling base training takes between six to twelve weeks at the start of your training season or before your goal events. It needs time to build the endurance and fitness necessary for the subsequent training phases.
How to plan your Base Training?
Here’s an example of how you can plan out your base training;
Ramp Test
Week one of the Base Training Plan begins with a Ramp Test. You’ll take a Ramp Test at the start of each new training phase to assess your fitness and keep your workouts tailored to you.
Image via : Bicycling Magazine
Endurance
After the Ramp Test, you will need to complete an Endurance workout for some active recovery. A thirty-minute aerobic endurance workout between sixty and seventy percent of your FTP.
Endurance workouts aim to improve cyclists’ aerobic power production capabilities in a steady, low-stress manner. Over time, endurance workouts can productively increase fat metabolization and muscular endurance, both vital for cyclists.
Intervals
On the third day of your cyclist base training plan, you’ll have your first interval exercise. Technically a tempo workout, with 3 x 12 minutes intervals at eighty-five percent of your FTP.
This type of base training is designed to improve cyclists’ ability to resist fatigue at high power outputs over a substantial length of time. Moreover, it provides cyclists the opportunity to target a specific aspect of climbing form, aero positioning, and cadence.
Image via : Technogym
Over-Unders
The aim of over-under workouts is to develop the cyclist’s ability to handle changes in pace while maintaining a high level of work.
Sweet Spot
The final workout in the first week of the cycling base training plan is a 4 x 15 minutes sweet spot workout. These sweet spot intervals aim to increase aerobic capabilities via reasonably long, mildly more intense work than your typical long endurance workouts.
Now, the base plan will continue to develop different capabilities, by increasing the challenge of the workout with additional intensity, variety, and duration. After five weeks of the base training plan, you’ll recover and reap all the benefits of your hard work. You are now ready to compete in top form!
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