Winter: Let’s Build a Base
I had a friend who would give me a hard time at the end of the offseason by saying, in a faux-German accent, “No more disco, you must train!” He was giving me a hard time because he was still doing all the disco he wanted and I was trying to get focused and start training for goals that were months away. For me the good times were over, but the fun had just begun.
Winter training, to me, is one of the more exciting times in the season. Yes, it sucks, but show me a cyclist who doesn’t love suffering and I’ll show you a liar. I’m not calling you a liar, but let's be honest, part of the fun of riding a bike is the fact that you can cover ground and dig deeper than most any other sport. Runners love to suffer, but when they are cooked, they fall over. Us cyclists have physics on our side and centrifugal force keeps you on your bike, even if you wish you were sleeping in that nice patch of grass back there at mile whatever. But I digress. The winter season is exciting because it is the period when you get to start fresh and build methodically while feeling unencumbered by the pressure of goals that are months away.
I said it before: Champions are born in the winter. And here we are — it’s cold, it snowed a little, and, for all our sakes, I hope it snows a lot more. Winter is here. The coming months are the hardest time of the year to ride outside, but they are also some of the most rewarding periods of training if you have the right attitude and the right clothes. But, thanks to technology, location, and open minds, we also have a lot of great training options in our winter wonderland that don’t involve six layers and a steel will. Personally, I loved riding outside as much as I hated riding the trainer and I did it a lot when I was fully committed to chasing glory. But I also did a lot of time on the trainer and got out on skis, snowshoes, and on foot when necessary — and I am here to tell you, it is all valuable. Aerobic work in the winter is aerobic work and the most important thing is staying consistent, whatever the discipline.
The main goal in winter is building an aerobic base. Base is the foundation of all that comes later. Think of it like the literal foundation of a skyscraper. If we consider a season and peak fitness in the terms of trying to build as tall a building as we can — the taller the structure, the better the fitness — the first thing that has to happen is going underground and installing a strong and stable platform. It’s not sexy and once the building is complete, no one wants to know how much concrete you poured, but that towering monolith is going to fall over if you don’t have something very strong to build it on. Getting back to training, this means you want to focus on creating the best possible oxygen carrying capacity you can. And the way this is done is by, yes again, doing a lot of LSD. Long slow distance is the surest path toward going faster later on when it counts, and we have a long winter ahead of us for a methodical build of that aerobic engine. If you don’t have a job and a lot of clothes, I would suggest riding your bike a lot in the next months and doing your best to keep it aerobic. Aerobic isn’t breathing hard, it’s just riding in Z2 and below and slowly building the systems that carry blood to the muscles so you have the ability to ride as efficiently as possible. The high intensity comes later and can actually be detrimental to a long-term build that has a lasting effect if done too early in the build.
“Jeff, I have a job and I don’t want to ride outside all day!” I hear you.
The good news is there are many ways to get there and, as I alluded to above, consistency is key and the discipline is not as important as the act. Any activity that is aerobic is a great pursuit and will build the systems necessary for growth. This can be, and is not limited to, riding the trainer, hiking, snowshoeing, backcountry skiing, cross-country skiing, running, swimming, water aerobics, or (ahem) reading the news. You can definitely mix it up with the goal of staying active and consistent, whatever the distance, and be confident it will set you up for a great year ahead.
If you want to be better next year, whatever you do, make it consistent, and don’t chase the high end. Keep it mellow and grow that base. The foundation of a season is all about doing the work and being confident that you are doing the right thing. The better you can train more regularly without going too hard which, in turn, will allow you the energy to keep repeating it, the taller you’ll be able to build that towering skyscraper of top form this coming spring and summer.
— Jeff Louder