I can't give you scientific training advice. But I've been racing bikes in some way, shape and form for 25 years.

Ride a lot. Hard, slow, easy, fast.

You'll get better.

My personal advice: Don't over think it too much. Get in a lot of volume. But also make it hurt sometimes.

Thank you for the answer. The one question I have that you may have an answer for is what advantage will a traditional base provide that a sweet spot base won't? I'm referencing trainer road plans. I have been happy with the sweet spot base route but have always wondered what I might be missing. Thanks again.

Will you ride outdoors? Go full hermit mode and just ride lots for a few months. Will it be trainer? Trainerroad Trad Base II+III (dont waste your time with Base I), follow with the HIM plan, dont do the taper though. 4-5 very solid months.

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Endurance coach | Physiotherapist (primary care) | Bikefitter | Swede

This is a great question and one that we receive often. What's the point of Traditional Base and should I start there or not? The short answer is that Traditional Base is the best starting point if you are going from off season into race season with several months to prepare. Think of both Base plans as the foundation to your fitness for the rest of the year. You won't see huge FTP gains while you're going through them, however they will build and prepare your body for tremendous improvements later on in the season as you begin incorporating more intensity and frequency.

Traditional Base will help you burn fat, charge up your aerobic engine, and better prepare the body for adaptation to the intensity to come. Sweet Spot base is the perfect compliment to follow it up with as it begins incorporating more intensity and improving your power at and just below threshold. After going through both of these plans, your body will be best prepared for big fitness gains as you take on the plan for your specific goals, like 40k TT, CX, mountain bike, etc and this is where the FTP increases will really start to happen; more so than they would without adequate base training.

-Trevor from TrainerRoad

This is a great question and one that we receive often. What's the point of Traditional Base and should I start there or not? The short answer is that Traditional Base is the best starting point if you are going from off season into race season with several months to prepare. Think of both Base plans as the foundation to your fitness for the rest of the year. You won't see huge FTP gains while you're going through them, however they will build and prepare your body for tremendous improvements later on in the season as you begin incorporating more intensity and frequency.

Traditional Base will help you burn fat, charge up your aerobic engine, and better prepare the body for adaptation to the intensity to come. Sweet Spot base is the perfect compliment to follow it up with as it begins incorporating more intensity and improving your power at and just below threshold. After going through both of these plans, your body will be best prepared for big fitness gains as you take on the plan for your specific goals, like 40k TT, CX, mountain bike, etc and this is where the FTP increases will really start to happen; more so than they would without adequate base training.

-Trevor from TrainerRoad[/quote]

Thanks, great answer. After diving into this question on my own last night, there seems to be a common idea that a traditional base is in fact the best option, but only if you have ample time per week to devote to it. One such source is Carmichael who states that "Pro athletes typically build a base by spending a few months focusing on long, moderately paced rides, for at least 15 hours per week. But many amateur cyclists, who may have only an hour each day on the bike, can't effectively build an aerobic base this way because six to eight weekly hours of easy riding aren't enough to achieve the necessary adaptations. After about a month your body will be used to the workload, and you'll stop improving."

Would you agree with his rational? What is the minimum time an athlete can put in at lower intensities to actually see a significant improvement? I know there will be some weeks I will have 15 hours per week, but most weeks it will be closer to 10 hours. With ten hours as the norm, would it be better to repeat sweetspot based training adjusting ftp trough out as needed?

Thanks, great answer. After diving into this question on my own last night, there seems to be a common idea that a traditional base is in fact the best option, but only if you have ample time per week to devote to it. One such source is Carmichael who states that "Pro athletes typically build a base by spending a few months focusing on long, moderately paced rides, for at least 15 hours per week. But many amateur cyclists, who may have only an hour each day on the bike, can't effectively build an aerobic base this way because six to eight weekly hours of easy riding aren't enough to achieve the necessary adaptations. After about a month your body will be used to the workload, and you'll stop improving."

Would you agree with his rational? What is the minimum time an athlete can put in at lower intensities to actually see a significant improvement? I know there will be some weeks I will have 15 hours per week, but most weeks it will be closer to 10 hours. With ten hours as the norm, would it be better to repeat sweetspot based training adjusting ftp trough out as needed?[/quote]
Yes, we totally agree. Traditional Base is only for the very dedicated rider with lots of time. If you're only riding a bit on and off during the winter it's not going to do you any good.

If you don't have the time to do a ton of base work, we recommend sweet spot base, which is more focused on "sweet spot" work with less weekly training hours.

I took about a year off when my last child was born and I did about 6 weeks of traditional base low volume before switching into sweet spot work. I just did that because I was going from 0 hours of weekly cycling and I wanted some low intensity stuff to get back into it.

Here's a good way to decide between the two.

Traditional Base
- I have lots of available training time in the winter
- I've been riding for a long time and I'm beginning to see diminishing returns
- My race season is many months away, and I plan on training for many months in a row
- I'm ok with building a base (which might be boring) to reap rewards later

Sweet Spot Base (Majority of People)
- I have a reasonable amount of time to train, but it's not my life
- I'm also running and swimming
- My race season is a few months away
- I still have a lot of improvement to make on the bike
- I like the variety and challenge of sweet spot work
- I want to see an FTP improvement in 6-8 weeks

What you want to be careful of is taking on traditional base, trying to cycling for like 10 hours a week, then burning out come race season.

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CEO at TrainerRoad
Co-host of the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast

I cant tell you any specific trainerroad plans to use, but I personally have had a huge success this season using hill repeats on my bike. unfortunately I dont have any good interval times or power numbers to share, as one of my friends and I go out early sunday morning and climb up and down hills in and around my town for about 2 hours. this has increased my average speed on a flat sprint course tri 2 mph this season. have you done any of the climbing workouts with slow pedal revs and a propped front wheel?

Thank you so much for such a specific response. For me personally, this is the best answer I've had to any question on slowtwitch. Very much appreciated. Thanks!

Wow thanks :). That made my day :).

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CEO at TrainerRoad
Co-host of the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast

This is awesome, and makes perfect sense!

Thanks for a thoughtful answer!

Trevor what do you recommend for somebody coming off a successful season at a Sprint distance who's planning to move up to Olympic distance in the following race season? I have great fitness at the moment but the moment my last race is completed I'm looking ahead to next year. My main areas of focus will be endurance (the bike leg being longer) and hopefully some FTP gains to up my w/kg for the upcoming 2015 season. I've never used trainerroad but I'm making the decision to move ahead based on how iOS rollout goes, which is looking good at the moment. Any advice would be appreciated as per which plans to use. I'll have roughly 6-10 hours a week to work with.

Thanks!

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

What kind of time frame are you working with between your last race this season and your first race next season?

-Trevor from TrainerRoad

We are talking 6 months since I live in Canada where the winters are tough. It could be considered 8-9 months, however when I am 16 weeks out from the first race (June 1st) structured training begins. This results in a reduction of dedicated cycling time to incorporate swim and run training.

Oct-June is off season June-September Race season. I typically dedicate 8-12 hours a week to training with some slight deviations here and there year round. The 3 year goal is to be competitive at 70.3 races to give more perspective to my goals.

Thanks so much for your reply Trevor, I greatly appreciate it!

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

Okay, cool. With that big of an "off season", something to consider is taking some time off before jumping right back into things to reduce the risk of burnout. Even if the time off is just time away from structured training, while still riding, running, swimming, and staying active on a more recreational basis.

Here's a good breakdown of how the 6 months could be spent. Depending on how your current fitness translates over during the time off, you could either start with Sweet Spot Base, or do a Traditional Base III and then Sweet Spot. The FTP gains won't be tremendous while you work through the base phase, but this will prepare you for more volume and intensity, which the 40k TT plan is fantastic for. This plan and phase of your training is where you will begin to really see the FTP improvements and the workout durations and structure will prepare you for the longer Olympic distance courses.

1. Break, no structured training
2. Base I
3. Base II
4-6. 40k TT

-Trevor from TrainerRoad

Perfect! I did plan to take off half of Sept and a bit in November while away on vacation. I appreciate the advice and I'm looking forward to this as twisted as that sounds. I doubt it's anything short of excruciatingly painful but the rewards will be great. Thanks once again for your insights :-)

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"