Guys, there is a lot of confusion around in regards to “Base Training”.

By the way…the ideation below can be applied to any aerobic sport too and not just cycling, but without power meters. However, speed on a given known course can substitute to a good degree.

FTP = your one hour all out TT power, or one hour all out race pace in running, swimming.

The myths of “old school” base training are still very much perpetuated in this day and age in spite of what modern day exercise science has to say about it(not good).

As a result of this many promote too much “just riding around”(JRA) training in the winter months. As I mentioned before this will only cause your FTP to nose dive and you end up with little TIME to build FTP for the start of the racing season and leaves too little energy(and testosterone) in the winter to work on FTP with tempo, sub threshold and threshold work.

Guys there is no mystery to ENDURANCE and NO…riding around for hours on end in the winter at low intensity DOES NOT somehow magically prepare you for harder training latter on and allow for greater gains in power once you do start to train with more intensity.

Here is a quote from one of the most in the know men in the world in regards to proper training for the aerobic athlete.

GREG LEMOND
Way back in 1994 said this:

“The reality is endurance is a by product of an incredible VO2 max(maximum Oxygen uptake and utilization) and stroke volume(amount of blood the heart can pump with one beat).”

Now the following fellow has some very good articles that will help clear up base training in your head IF you read and digest what he says well. READ THEM! Make sure you “get” the part that talks about how power and duration relate.

http://www.biketechreview.com/performance/base.htm

http://www.biketechreview.com/perfo…itochondria.htm

Buy a power meter and start training by power! It’s worth every Penny.

GOAL OF WINTER TRAINING

….as winter starts you can keep the variety but start building your threshold power. You can even build FTP in an unstructured way early on…just work it!

Starting about Dec 1 start to build your FTP, which has dropped from last season. DO THIS SLOWLY AND PROGRESSIVELY in cycles of 4 to 7 weeks. YOU MUST schedule recovery weeks after 3-6 weeks of training. If you can tolerate it and if you progress slowly then longer cycles are superior, but you can get a lot out of the commonly recommended 4 week macrocycle.
Recovery weeks need to be SUPER EASY and 5-8 days long with no sustained efforts at or above threshold..take at least two full days off the bike.

By Spring your FTP should be higher than it was at the same time last year. (The only exception to this is if you plan on only racing seriously in a a couple mid season races….then you have more time to build.)
If you putt around 20 hours/week of endurance riding all winter you will NOT have enough time to reach a high FTP by Spring. Now, as the racing season starts you will continue to build FTP(and VO2 max which will raise your FTP ceiling) so that by mid season your FTP is higher than it was last season.

If you PUTT too long in the winter you will have a very hard time getting into race shape (high FTP) for the start of the season. Building FTP takes TIME!
That’s fine if you are Lance Armstrong and are only concerned about one or maybe two races in July but for the vast majority this does not apply.
Most of us need to be in damn good shape early and all season with one or two peaks depending on your goals.