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A Case for Base:
Why you should focus on aerobic training in the early season
Riders talk about "base" quite a bit, but the unfortunate reality
is that very few of us actually understand what it actually is, and how
to go about getting it. The old school says lots of long, easy miles in
the winter. But what good is being able to finish a 6-hour ride if you
get dropped on the first climb, or if your longest race is only 3 hours?
Some riders will go to the other extreme. In their haste to be race-ready,
they will flog themselves with hill intervals, only to find themselves
exhausted once the season actually starts (and usually trying to fix that
by doing even more).
Base training focuses primarily and almost entirely on aerobic fitness,
but that encompasses much more than just being able to do a 35-hour training
week, or a 6-hour ride. There are a number of different energy systems
shifts that occur throughout the range of aerobic training, and a proper
base emphasizes every aspect. Not only do you need long rides, but those
rides need to be made up extensive and intensive aerobic intervals to
truly raise your fitness level.
Your goals in a base training period are to increase your aerobic endurance,
your aerobic efficiency (both cardiovascularly and neuromuscularly), increase
the power you put out at your lactate threshold, perhaps increase the
threshold itself, and increase the number of minutes you can ride at or
just below threshold. This will allow you to race at a lower heart rate
for a longer time, recover quickly from both aerobic and anaerobic efforts,
and increase the number of anaerobic intervals you'll eventually be able
to do.
The problem is that most riders think that aerobic training is too easy.
A rider wants to get better, so that rider goes out and trains as hard
as they call whenever they can, with either extremely long rides, or extremely
hard rides. You can get pretty fit training that way, to a point. Soon,
the bottom falls out of that type of training, and staleness sets in.
Riders should remember that training hard is easy, but training effectively
takes self-control and discipline. Training with 100% efforts all the
time or letting yourself get sucked into racing on the group rides is
the obvious thing to do. That's why most riders never reach their full
potential.
They key to base training is a slow burn, with the emphasis on the burn.
There are four training zones you need to focus on during the base period,
and I prefer to give them descriptive names, rather then cold numbers.
Those of you who have read Greg LeMond's Complete Book of Cycling, or
are familiar with the work of Swiss coach Paul Koechli may recognize the
terms.
&Mac183; Recovery
The heart rate range for the recovery zone is below 70% of lactate threshold,
or below 60% of your maximum heart rate. Your body uses mostly oxygen,
fat, and sugar as its fuel sources. In this zone, lactic acid is cleared
from the muscles quickly and minimal new lactate is produced, allowing
recovery to take place. It's important to point out that this is not a
training zone; it is a recovery zone. You use this zone primarily as recovery
time between intervals.
&Mac183; Easy
The range for easy is from 71-80% of lactate threshold, or 61-72% of max.
This is the basic endurance zone. Fuel sources are the same as the recovery
zone, but more sugar begins to be used as fuel to supply quicker energy,
and so more lactate begins to be produced, a trend that intensifies with
the increased intensity of each zone.
&Mac183; Light Intensity
The range for light is from 81-90% of LT, or 73-80% of max. The emphasis
is on aerobic efficiency and endurance, and it's done with intervals of
extensive duration at a higher than normal cadence. Interval length for
training in this zone is from 15-30 minutes. Recovery time should be 50-100%
of the length of the interval. The feel is comparable to a rolling tempo
in a road race, or perhaps sitting in during an easy criterium. You can
still speak in full sentences, but are somewhat uncomfortable. Your endurance
rides should be at least half in light, so if you want to do that 6-hour
ride, you better be able to do 3 hours worth. Doesn't sound easy to me.
&Mac183; Middle Intensity
Middle is the lactate threshold training zone, but the target is about
10-14 beats below your threshold. In the past, it was thought that to
improve one’s threshold, one had to ride at threshold. It's since
been shown that training 10 or more beats below yields the same training
benefits without doing nearly as much damage to the muscles. The range
is tight in order to be specific, from 93-95% of LT, or 84-86% of max.
You want to stay out of the no-man's-land between light and middle when
you're training, to be sure to differentiate between the efforts.
Interval lengths for Middle should be from 5-20 minutes, with 10-15 minute
blocks being the ideal range. Recovery should be approximately 100% of
the interval length.
With Middle intervals, the emphasis can be on either aerobic strength
or speed, and should be controlled with cadence-- high or low to emphasize
the area that needs to be addressed. Either way it should be an extreme;
you should never feel comfortable doing these intervals. Normally it's
best to start the season emphasizing high cadences. Once a cycle is complete,
you should be ready to begin working on strength. How many minutes of
middle you should aim to complete is based on the volume you need to be
capable of in a race. In your category, how long is your average criterium,
cyclo-cross race, or district time-trial?
Notice that nowhere in these recommendations for the base period did I
mention any anaerobic intervals. That's because you don't need to do them
until your goal volumes of easy, light and middle have been achieved.
This frightens many riders, but once they try this approach and find out
how much easier their races have become, how much longer their season
lasts, and how many more anaerobic intervals they can do once they finish
their base training, they always become believers. Normally in your base
period, racing once a week will provide you with all the anaerobic work
you will need, and often more. Remember, as I said, that training hard
is easy. You want to add some brain to that brawn, and leave your ego,
as well as your competitors, behind.
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