A POWERFUL FOUNDATION OF FITNESSby Hunter Allen
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I know you have
spent a lot of time this fall and winter on the indoor trainer while binge watching everything from The Punisher
to Criminal Minds. Indoor training is a great tool to increase your fitness in these months and maintain your hard-won fitness from last season.
BUT, it’s always a battle in the winter between cross-training, cold weather (for most of us!), indoor riding and just how much intensity to do indoors vs outdoors.
I prescribe a lot of tempo and “sweet-spot” work in the off-season in order to limit the upper intensities. If you ride at the higher levels in the winter, you risk peaking too soon and creating a lull in your fitness in March, right when most of the racing starts in the US.
To prevent from overcooking during the winter months, it is important to focus on building your power foundation.
I really don’t like the phrase--“Base Training”--because it produces images of long, slow distance training where your watts are at 60% of your threshold and you just putter along in your ride. Too many athletes and coaches believe that an athlete has to do “Base training” first and before any other type of training can be started. Now, I’ll concede that if you are a Pro cyclist and training for a huge season in Europe in 2019, then yes, you should be doing some serious “Base training.” Riding your bike for 4-6 hours a day at endurance pace will help continue to develop your aerobic system and also prevent you from peaking in January. But, everyone else? Forget it.
We don’t have the time to put in 4-6 hours a day at a slow pace, stopping at coffee shops along the way and enjoying the sights. For most of us, we have only 1-2 hours a day to train and we have to make the most of those hours, optimizing our training for the highest ROI. If we took that 1-2 hours a day and rode at endurance pace, then what would really happen? We would lose fitness and get slower. For most of us, riding that slow will not be challenging enough to create any training stress and therefore adaptation (improved fitness).
There is a relationship between time and intensity that must be respected and when you ride at lower intensities, then you need to ride longer in order to create enough stress for adaptation. Therefore, I like to call what most of do in the winter and early spring, your “Power Foundation.” This is the type of riding that contains more tempo and sweet-spot work, essentially more intensity (but not too much!) then riding around at endurance pace. Building your power foundation, I believe, is critical for the coming season in improving your FTP, and also preparing for the entire season of racing, so that you are consistent throughout the year.
In the late winter/early spring, you should be finishing the power foundation phase and transitioning from indoor riding to outdoor riding. This signals the time in which you need to solidify your winter fitness, especially if you have risen up a level (!) and begin adding in more and more work at your threshold and a little above.
HUNTER'S FOUNDATION WORKOUTS
Got a question? We’re here to help: info@peakscoachinggroup.com
Before beginning to ride at your FTP for extended periods of time (longer than 10minutes) I would recommend you to do some final work at your sweet-spot (88-93% of FTP) and then move onto work right at your FTP and above.
SWEET-SPOT WITH BURSTS is one of my favorite workouts that I use for many of my athletes regularly in February and March.
During February and March, along with continuing to ride at sweet-spot, you need to begin incorporating riding right at your functional threshold power and also doing some forays above it to prepare for the higher intensities of racing. I recommend at least one day a week of training specifically at your FTP and then one day in which you incorporate shorter intensity as well. I like to incorporate the shorter intensity on the weekend when you are doing a longer ride, by including it in the first two hours and then using the last hour or two to focus on your overall aerobic endurance through tempo and sweet-spot work.
The one focused day of threshold work needs to be highly focused and designed to just address your FTP and nothing more. This allows you to dig deep into the “well of courage” and push yourself for maximum training effect. I recommend doing the WELL OF COURAGE for improving your FTP.
On your weekends, make sure you are getting in at least one day of group riding as this is fun and it will also help to develop your race fitness with short, hard bursts and simulated attacks. A BITE OF IT ALL really makes a difference in your endurance and stamina for the upcoming season. On the other day during the weekend, it would be great to work on your shorter, more intense efforts. I recommend to my clients to do a group ride for an hour or two and then go longer afterward if they can.
The transition from winter to spring training is more important than most riders think as the demands of racing are very specific you must be prepared for them along with prepared for the entire season. One important final note to discuss is the importance of entering the race season with your “battery” 100% charged. This means that you should make sure you rest between hard workouts and keep yourself relatively fresh. Digging a hole in this transitory time can be a recipe for disaster. I recommend taking a rest/easy day after every three hard days of training, as this will guarantee that you are well rested for the next block of training and are not getting fatigued.
The phrase “Power Foundation” is how I prefer to talk about winter and pre-season training as it doesn’t conjure up those dreaded thoughts of LSD training, and more focuses one on the ‘power’ side of the equation, since your goal is to increase your power at threshold this season. Overall aerobic fitness improvement is always something that we all want to accomplish every season as more fitness=more fitness and you will be riding faster than previously. These workouts are for riders that don’t have 4-6 hours to ride each day and will keep your fitness higher throughout the winter than normal, but that means you don’t have that far to go in order to peak for your key event in the spring. Give these workouts a shot and you’ll be pleasantly surprised with your new higher threshold this spring!
I really appreciate your help.
I’ve read your book, read most of your blogs, follow you on the Cycling Forums …..I drank the cool-ade and I won’t look back. I love my powermeter!
I did it last year, and am planning on doing the Winter plan again this year. I stuck with it and did all the core and weights and by the end of January I felt awesome! I then purchased the Spring and Summer plans and followed those. That spring one was great…I got 2nd overall in the Chico Stage Race (I won the Paskenta Road Race, third in the Time Trial on a bike I had never ridden before, and placed second in the over-all)! Then placed 3rd in a sprint out of a five man break at the Copperopolis RR. I felt competitive all year.
Those plans WORK!
Shane Okly
New York
Dear Hunter Allen: During the first and second weeks of June I participated in the 75-79 USACycling Masters Road Nationals in Augusta and the 75-79 NSGA Nationals in Birmingham. USAC: RR 3rd place; Crit 4th place. NSGA: 5K TT 13th, 20K RR 4th, 40K RR 4th. This was a result of the Peaks Coaching Group Training plans . I have never been so well prepared, thank you.
Pat Kapp
Lincoln, NE
Not having followed a proper training plan in the prior 5 years or so, I first used this plan during the 2016-2017 season. Astounding results.
Strength and plyometrics training built core and foundation for training. The strength building was incorporated into on the bike training and for the first time in many years, I had a very effective sprint.
The "on the bike" sessions and strength training are balanced with each other and periodized, ensuring that one does not become overtrained. This is important as I am turning 58 years of age.
Used plan again and found myself comparable to age group 30 at provincial MTB championships. Was still strong and motivated through summer and into September. Recommended.
Jazz Tracy
Richmond
