Periodization question?

N_laplaca said:

I have been reading Chris carmichaels the ultimate ride. I haven't finished it yet but have some questions concerning periodization. First of all my goal is to build my fitness level to be able to give racing a shot next season. Next year will be my 3rd year on road bikes

I live in New York and my available time to ride has shrunk quite a bit.getting dark very early now. I'm really only able to ride on the weekends now and 1 day during the week, so I have been spending more and more time on my trainer.Once winter is in full swing I will be on the trainer until spring. I picked up a couple of spinerval videos and they seem pretty effective.

In his book he suggests that fall and winter are ideal times for the foundation period. I have no problem staying on the trainer for the hour or so that these spinerval videos last but I doubt I am going to be able to do long endurance/foundation type work on the trainer. I just don't think I will be able to spend 3+ hours on a trainer.

Is it really neccessary to fall back to a base/foundation type period at this point or is it okay to continue to do interval type workouts until spring and then begin the foundation period and go from there? I swear the more I try to educate myself the more questions I have. I am tempted to just hire a coach and let him/her make these decisions. I don't really feel like spending $100+ a month but I may have to. What do all you who live in the northeast do to get prepared for race season? Nick

Nick,

I'd generally suggest have a very short recovery period (as you haven't raced yet) unless you feel pretty tired right now. from there you can either do steady hours on your indoor trainer (that'll be interesting!!!) or mix it up a little and have some harder sessions in there. in fact, for a lot of the people i coach they do plenty of intervals over the winter period to keep themselves in good shape for next season. it's a serious mistake to do no intensity work over the winter if you want to race from e.g. the spring onwards, you need to do some over the winter. If you do none you'll lose all the gains you made over the summer.

it's great that you asked now -- now really is the time to start planning what to do and how to do and get fit for next season. Riding the road (etc) at the weekends and one day mid week, plus some indoor trainer/moderate intensity work will be great for the new season. that sort of approach will have you going well, assuming you plan out your sessions and goals carefully.

We (RST) can certainly help you with some coaching aimed at getting you race fit for next season. please feel free to give me a shout at [email hidden], so you can get ahead of the peloton 😄

ric

ric_stern/RST said:

Nick,

I'd generally suggest have a very short recovery period (as you haven't raced yet) unless you feel pretty tired right now. from there you can either do steady hours on your indoor trainer (that'll be interesting!!!) or mix it up a little and have some harder sessions in there. in fact, for a lot of the people i coach they do plenty of intervals over the winter period to keep themselves in good shape for next season. it's a serious mistake to do no intensity work over the winter if you want to race from e.g. the spring onwards, you need to do some over the winter. If you do none you'll lose all the gains you made over the summer.

it's great that you asked now -- now really is the time to start planning what to do and how to do and get fit for next season. Riding the road (etc) at the weekends and one day mid week, plus some indoor trainer/moderate intensity work will be great for the new season. that sort of approach will have you going well, assuming you plan out your sessions and goals carefully.

We (RST) can certainly help you with some coaching aimed at getting you race fit for next season. please feel free to give me a shout at [email hidden], so you can get ahead of the peloton 😄

ric

Cool I was hoping for that type of response. It doesn't seem right to me to stop doing high intensity work in favor of steady state miles. I'm still not happy with my LT anyway. Thanks.

Nick

N_laplaca said:

Cool I was hoping for that type of response. It doesn't seem right to me to stop doing high intensity work in favor of steady state miles. I'm still not happy with my LT anyway. Thanks.

Nick

Just make sure you plan your goals and training accordingly, or give us a shout at RST

ric