Periodisation Plan

The plan only needs to be as detailed as you need it to be. There's probably stuff that lives in your head you don't need to be reminded of. If it were a plan for another rider it would probably need to be more explicit. And then of course we can make training as hard (complicated) or easy as we want. Some riders need great detail. Picking an arbitrary day, my personal plan may include the length of time I'm going to spend on the bike along with some notation like 2x20 or 2[3x3], etc. I'll know exactly what the workout entails - what intensities, cadence, rests between reps, sets, etc. and don't need to write that down.

Typically I would include the rides length of time (volume), #of reps, sets (intensity), and fixed rest days, so I can eyeball that I'm doing what I should be doing on the bike. For me that's enough. These plans can include all kinds of other things. ie. diet, etc. There may even be plan 'templates' that can found for downloading from the web.

The Cyclist's Training Bible will walk you through making a plan.....

Thanks for the replies. From the plans ive seen I would need to create a chart at the bottom, how would I go about making one?

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by bgoetz [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

The Cyclist's Training Bible will walk you through making a plan.....

What he said. Good book!!!!

only 3 competitions in a year ? could you please give us more details, specially the dates and the sort of competitions. if we are talking about road cycling you need base training, like 3 months, including long distances but low intensity rides, followed up by 3 months of harder training including race like tempo, hill climbing and intervals, you need recovery periods after every 4 to 6 weeks of training, 2 months (before your base training) for general weight training and calisthenics, if it is only 3 competitions you might want to taper for them, tapering shouldn't be done more than twice a year, tapering is basically a super hard block of training followed up by resting days and super meal charge going into these one day races, ok we still haven't reach the 12 months mark, i would say that you increase your base training period to increase your mileage of aerobic rides,

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by Nat123 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me. I need to do a periodisation plan which is 12 months long & includes 3 competitions but I'm unsure of what to include in it. Do I have to state every exercise within it and the reps and intensity etc?
I've seen examples of so many different ones that I'm now unsure.
Thanks in advance for any help.

Are you doing this plan for yourself or for someone else?

Most riders (those who are not pros) have a large enough gap between where they are and where they could be that just working on improving whatever needs to improve works just as well as peaking and falling off the peak.

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Most plans work for a week or so and then people seem to either outgrow them or underperform. So don't be too specific on your plans. Be flexible.

If you have intervals scheduled for a day and short ones don't seem to be working out, try longer ones or even just do what you feel like.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by An old Guy [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Most plans work for a week or so and then people seem to either outgrow them or underperform. So don't be too specific on your plans. Be flexible.

I disagree. Consistency is key. Make a plan and stick with it from a macro level. For an individual workout, if you just "aren't feeling it" or too tired, feel free to take it easy. But at a high level, try to stick with it as close as possible. You will have missed days, and that is okay. Just don't try to cram missed workouts into another day. Just move on.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by awilki01 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Just don't try to cram missed workouts into another day. Just move on.

+1, better just to stick w/the plan even if you miss a day or workout here or there. Switching too many workouts around to accomidate missed ones can quickly snowball into a null plan.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by danfoz [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

+1, better just to stick w/the plan even if you miss a day or workout here or there. Switching too many workouts around to accommodate missed ones can quickly snowball into a null plan.

Personally, I think it depends of the emphasis of a given block of training. If the day you missed is one that's more relevant to that particular block then do that instead of the one scheduled for that day - just don't try and do them both.

In response to the OP,

The plan should also take into account the type of event being trained for. Requirements for a crit differ from those for a long time trial or an endurance MTB race. Keep the planning fairly simple to start with and work backwards from the date of the event. So if you're doing a crit, you might want a week or so to freshen up after 8 weeks of targeting VO2/Anaerobic work. Prior to that you might want 8 weeks of L4 and L3 endurance sessions with VO2 work peppered in there and an easy week at the end. For a reasonably long TT (say 10 miles or more) you might want similar blocks of 6 to 8 weeks but without highlighting anaerobic work so much. Once you have a basic plan, start to detail what goes in each block. Training normally requires some kind of progressive overload to keep improving, so make sure than your schedule reflects this.

I find it valuable to keep note of the "50,000ft overview" for each block as well as the detail. Being aware of the reason for a particularly difficult training session can make that session much easier to complete. I'm a bit of a meat-head when it comes to training and usually require a reason to NOT go smash my head in... so in my case having clearly defined blocks and sessions helps stop me from running myself into the ground.

Remember to include races during that period as training. Treat them as training. If that current block of training says you need x amount of VO2 Max intervals and you find yourself sitting in the bunch semi-comfortably during the first half then get to the front and give it some grief.

Also remember to include some testing to keep track of your actual current form. At the minimum, test for FTP and if the block emphasizes VO2, test for 5 minutes too. Do this at least every 8 weeks to keep the numbers current and honest. When you make the plan, try to reference % of FTP if you're using a power meter, rather than a specific wattage. Assign that wattage to a session the week or so before the session in question to (a) have relevant power levels in there and (b) to make writing the plan easier and ultimately more accurate.

Dont forget to include an easy week if you're moving to a block of shorter more intense work. The shorter the efforts the more you need to be fairly fresh to do them properly. Slugging out L3 rides for days can be done with legs that feel like lead but you can't do L5 and above work properly if you can't hit the big numbers required with consistency.

There's a couple of little extra things I throw in my "plan" - little reminders to remember to "stomp test" the Powertap (in addition to regularly "zeroing" it) and to regularly change out the batteries