Base training on the road

If you do the same thing, the same way, all the time, you become really good.....at doing the same thing!

Emma Silversides in action

This just highlights the fact that training for a cyclist, and indeed any other sportsperson, should be varied. Our bodies have an impressive ability to adapt to the training stresses that we impose upon it, so if we train the same way all the time we will adapt but will not see continued improvement. The answer?

Periodization; a means of varying our training throughout the year generally based upon a specific goal.

The macrocycle (typically one year), helps you define the times you'd like your performance to peak (a specific race or event). Within the macrocycle, we develop mesocycles (phases) with specific training objectives such as base, strength, power, peak, and maintenance. And within each mesocycle, we plan microcycles - typically specific training for each given day within a week.

Base Period

The most important phase of our training is the base period. For most cyclists, since we plan to peak in the spring or summer, autumn/winter is traditionally the time when we focus on endurance/base-building rides. Endurance is the foundation of all else we do on the bike. Riding in a moderate heart rate zone (65% to 75% on max HR) builds the base for us to later increase speed, strength, and power. For me these rides are generally on flat terrain to avoid my HR going too high and to assist a continuously high cadence. They begin at 3 hours in November and reach a maximum of 6 hours in late February.

However, you must train according to the length of time for which you will compete; there is not point doing a 5 hour training ride if the longest race that you do will be 2 hours!

Endurance rides are always based on time for me, never distance. There are too many varying factors to start setting mileage targets; things such as terrain, wind and indeed your physical state on that particular day. Unfortunately, group riding is not always the best for endurance training. In my experience the pace can get quite heated at times and you will find yourself going out of your specified heart zone, or at the other extreme you will be sat in perhaps riding a little too slowly and risking getting cold. DO NOT do this, it's not good for you on a long ride.

As ever remember your food and drink; for rides over 3 hours you'll probably need to stop at a shop to fill your bottles, don't under-estimate what you are putting your body through while endurance training.

Response..

So, how does our body respond to base-building? Well, in several ways. Firstly, endurance rides help build capillary density, which in turn allows our body to function more efficiently (oxygen and fuel delivery), improving aerobic performance.

The second physiological result of endurance riding is that at a lower intensity, our bodies burn a higher percentage of fat as fuel (as opposed to glycogen, the stored form of carbohydrate). Thus the popular term “fat zone” or “fat-burning ride.” Don't be misled by this though since, in reality, your body will burn more calories at a higher intensity level (although the percentage of fat as a contribution to fuel is lower). So relatively, you burn more fat at a higher intensity (since the caloric total is higher). But the key here is that our body's first choice for fuel during higher intensity exercise is glycogen, and exercising at a lower intensity level helps your body become more efficient at burning fat for fuel.

Low intensity cycling also stimulates slow-twitch (type I) muscle fibres more predominantly that fast-twitch (type II) muscle fibres. These fibres then adapt by becoming more efficient at lower intensities with less fatigue. Because of this adaptation, we need to recruit fewer muscle fibres to maintain a given effort, and the fibres that are at work are more efficient. All good for cycling, because then we use less energy (fuel, oxygen) to ride!

You can post your Questions about training for Emma on her SheCycles Forum Thread