Mid-December is transition season for most athletes. Hopefully, you have rested enough to fully recharge your batteries, but not so much that there has been a massive loss of fitness.

 

Now it is time to get back to work.

 

Building a solid foundation can set the stage for a great season. This is the “homework” stage of your year. There are really no short cuts if you want to achieve your potential.

 

Have a Long Term Plan; Be Patient in the Early Season

 

The single most important “lesson learned” from many years or racing and coaching is to be patient and discipled during this early season training. Most athletes will start the season highly motivated and ready to go to work.

 

While that early season motivation is great, it often translates into doing too much and too soon.

 

A much better and more successful strategy is to take a long view of your season. What are your priority “A” events? When do you want to be in peak form?

 

For me and many coached athletes, peak events are May to July. Some will also target a second period of priority events in September and October.

 

These target events allow me, as the coach, to work backward from the target date to be in peak form. All athletes, regardless of experience and level, have only so many weeks that they can train at peak training stress. These maximum training stress periods last 8 to 12 weeks. That’s it!

 

The key’s to success during these periods are that the work must be “race specific” and it must be done hard. Quality on the hard days is the key. You must be training at the intensities that are required in your race. If success in your race requires 300 watts for a selective 10 minute climb, you must be doing work at that intensity. Otherwise, it will not show up on race day.

 

The key goal of foundational training is to be ready for the hard training that is coming.

 

Z2 Season

 

Longer rides that are done at comfortable intensities are a critical part of early season training.

 

There are numerous benefits from riding as many miles at these lower intensities as your schedule allows. This is where you build a super strong base. You will train your body to use fuel sources efficiently. This means utilizing fat as a fuel source not just precious glycogen.

 

This type of training also can dramatically improve mitochondria function. Simply stated, this is the ability to transport much needed oxogen.

 

The combination of better fuel utilization and mitochondria function results in increased “durability”. Athletes that do this well will get deeper into races with less accumulated fatigue. They will have the ability to produce power later in races, where it counts the most.

 

They keys to the most successful Z2 (zone 2) rides are that they must be done at a “comfortable” or “conversational” intensity. For most athletes, this zone is 65% to about 70% of a properly calculated FTP (functional threshold). If you do not train with a power meter, the conversational method is best. If you struggle to hold a conversation, you are probably going harder that you should be.

 

Longer is better on these rides, but harder is not better. Any big effort at or above threshold will defeat a key purpose of this type of ride. Doing so, will click on glycogen burning. It can take up to 30 minutes to get back to the intended fat burning zones.

 

Importantly, these rides need to have “constant pedal” force and continuous riding to be most effective. They are best done on flatter or rolling terrain. Long stops and re-fueling also defeat the purpose of this type of ride.

 

All of this is why I encourage athlete to ride alone, or in well matched smaller groups. Easing into the ride is especially critical during cold winter months. Fueling should be enough to support the ride but not too much.

 

Sweet Spot Structured Intervals

 

Lower intensity structured intervals are the other main pillar of your foundational training.

 

The so-called “sweet spot” is a great place to begin. This zone is 88% to 93% of your FTP.

 

A common misperception is that this type of training is easy. However, properly done, these workouts will be challenging, but they should not be brutal. It is much too soon for that.

 

Simplicity is the key. For example, a 4 x 10 minute sweet spot session with 5 minutes rest between can be highly effective. Many other variations can work well. Intervals can be shorter with shorter rest. This can break up the boredom, but accomplish the goal of a lot of minutes in these moderately challenging zones.

 

Ideally, the initial weeks will begin with less total minutes of work and build steadily. For most athletes, working up to about 40 to 50 minutes of combined work is optimal.

 

Proper warm-up and cool-down is always important so that your body is prepared to do the work.

 

Ramp Rate / Progression of Training

 

A steady, discipled and patient progression works the best.

 

The best way to do this is to build volume first at these lower intensities. This should be a combination of increasing the hours spent on Z2 training and the total minutes of sweet spot intervals.

 

As a general rule, a “ramp rate” that is more than about 5% per week is asking for trouble. For most athletes, this is the pace that they can absorb the training load.

 

The best progression of training is to increase training load in a “stair step” manner and not a linear increase. Bigger training weeks should be followed with weeks that are designed to consolidate fitness gains and rest enough.

 

At a minimum, athletes should have a lower training load week about every 3 to 4 weeks. This will prevent overtraining syndrome for most.

 

Summary

 

Building a solid foundation can set the stage for your entire season. If you are patient and you do this well, all of your numbers will surge once the more race specific training begins. That is where quality training is the key to success.