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  • Keeping the Fitness for Adventure with a Base Training Plan for Cycling

    A person I know, who is not an endurance athlete, asked me if I keep high levels of fitness all year. I told him I cannot maintain racing fitness year-round, but my training plan is structured so that I keep a level of fitness that allows me to do activities on a moment’s notice.

    Though I didn’t go into more detail with the fellow asking the question, I had to smile to myself because if I had told him what I did the day before – surely he would have confirmed his suspicions that I’m a little (pick your word – insane, nuts, off, crazy, stupid…) I rode roughly 91 miles with over 7800 feet of climbing so that I could keep a string of 105 consecutive months of riding my bike from Loveland to Estes Park, Colorado intact.

    In the past I’ve written about a rule of thumb that I use that if you complete some 50- to 100-percent of the time you plan to be active doing an event (a race or personal adventure) in training, you have the endurance to complete your event.

    Case in point, the 91-mile ride took 6:49 of ride time to complete. My longest ride in the month prior to the adventure was a mountain bike ride that was 3:32 of ride time. This put my endurance training very close to that 50-percent rule of thumb mark.

    Was the 91-mile ride as fast or as comfortable as it would have been if I completed it in July or August?

    No.

    Was it a grand adventure that I’m happy to have completed?

    Yes.

    Don’t let your fitness go dormant in winter months. That doesn’t mean you should be doing a racing training plan for your triathlon or cycling goals – but it does mean you should maintain some off-season or base training activities.

    Cycling Base Training Plans

    Triathlon Base Training Plans and a Full Assortment of Plans, Some Available at a Discount at Gale Bernhardt Consulting

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  • Comments on this post (1 comment)

    • Williammaps says...

      All the best Hoock

      On May 11, 2016

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