The Big Base

Think of your training as being like a pyramid.  If you want the peak of the pyramid to very high then it needs a big, solid base.  The basic off season approach of “getting the miles in” has been tried and tested over many years and it works.  It doesn’t mean going out with a chaingang and having a mock road race every Sunday during the Winter, hanging on for grim death until you eventually get shelled out and make your weary way home on your own.  It also doesn’t mean sitting in a large group of riders hardly making any effort at all.

It means getting out with a reasonable group which suits your ability and doing some steady zone 2 and 3 rides.  That means that it shouldn’t be eyeballs out all the way round but you should have to concentrate to maintain the effort while still being able to hold a conversation with your fellow riders.  Have a thrash up the hills later in the Winter if you like but don’t let the effort level drop too low on the flat.  

If you normally wear a pulse monitor for racing then you can estimate your zone 2-3 heart rate as being between 20 and 50 beats below the heart rate which you can maintain for an hours maximum effort (e.g. a 25 mile TT) or 65 to 82% of you maximum heart rate. This is a wide band of heart rates so use the lower end for longer rides and the upper end for shorter rides (up to 2 hours).  As the weeks go by gradually increase the duration of the rides but have an easier week every 3rd or 4th week to allow your body time to adjust to the increased training load.