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Cycling
in Cycles
In our last article, we set out the blueprint for a training plan that would
take us from winter training to summer peaking. In order to execute that
plan, we have to get specific about each aspect. Training is essentially
a process of stressing a system, letting it recover and adapt to the stress,
and then stressing it again. This cycle of training exists at every level;
from intervals and recovery in a single workout, to a hard season of racing
followed by a rest in the fall or winter. Even on the largest scale, you
often see riders who miss a season due to injury and come back the following
year stronger than they were before they stopped. Imagine taking a rest
season!
Seeing your training in this pattern of repetitive components can help
you plan from top to bottom and find a rhythm as you execute it. It's
no different than those fractal art pictures that look like a bunch of
random swirls; if you stare at them long enough and change your focus,
instantly a picture appears that you hadn't seen before. In the context
of our training plan, that picture is your fitness. The cycles you see
are:
1. Career
2. Season/Calendar Year
3. Macro (phase or period of season, 2-18 weeks)
4. Meso (2-6 weeks)
5. Micro (1 week)
6. Mini (3-4 days)
Many coaches define their cycles in different ways but use the same terms,
which can sometimes be confusing. The key is understanding that each process
of stress, recovery and adaptation builds on itself in repetition to create
the cycle. 2 mini-cycles make a micro-cycle, 4 micro-cycles make a meso-cycle,
multiple meso-cycles make a macro-cycle, and so on.
The Career
Many riders may not even have begun to think this large, but it can be important
to know what cycling means to you in the long term. Do you want to be a
European pro, or perhaps find time to stay fit enough to be competitive
in local racing despite the pressures of a job or family? Both ends of the
spectrum are difficult challenges that require different approaches and
different mindsets. Planning for career goals is an important part of what
will motivate you to go out the door every day to train.
The Seasonal Cycle
A season can vary greatly from rider to rider based on geography, style,
ability, and a host of uncontrollable circumstances that have yet to be
set in motion. Generally, a season has a typical structure of peaks and
valleys that starts at a certain level of fitness and ends at a higher one.
For each season, it's important to have concrete goals. Upgrading to the
next category, making it onto the national team, or improving your time
up Mt. Washington are all things to build a season around.
The Macro-cycle
A macro-cycle is a 2- to 18-week period within a season where a particular
energy system or type of training is focused on. Your six main types of
macro-cycles are the off season, the pre-season, the base period, the intensity
period, the peaking period, and the maintenance period. We detailed some
of these in the previous article.
The Meso-cycle
The meso-cycle is a 2-6 week training period within a macro-cycle. It typically
consists of 3-5 progressive weeks of training followed by a rest week.
The Micro-cycle
The micro-cycle is normally a period of one week, though it can be adjusted
to 8 or 6 days long.
The Mini-cycle
The mini-cycle is a period of 3-4 days. There are 2 in each micro-cycle.
The first is the Monday-Thursday period, and the second is Friday-Sunday.
In an 8-day micro-cycle, the Monday-Thursday mini-cycle can be repeated
twice. In the case of limited training time during the week due to work
or other concerns, the shorter, 3-day Friday-Sunday mini-cycle can be
done first, followed by the 4-day cycle. This moves more of your shorter
workouts to the weekdays, and lets you maximize the weekends. Within each
mini-cycle, the days play out in a traditional Lemond-style program, as
follows:
- Monday: Recovery day
- Tuesday: Short ride, Sprints, Maximal intensity
- Wednesday: Middle distance, Middle intensity
- Thursday: Long ride, Light intensity
- Friday: Rest day
- Saturday: Same as Tuesday
- Sunday: Combination of Wednesday's intensity and Thursday's duration
The details here will allow you to color in some of the lines we drew in
the previous article, and help you see both the big picture and the little
details hidden within. With each installment we'll help you build, execute,
and understand a yearly training plan by breaking down and explaining each
aspect as we go.
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