The Plan

When I begin my 450-hour macrocycle on May 19, there will be 17 weeks until the first race, the Florida State Championship opener on Sept. 13-14.


I’ll use a PowerTap SL on the road bike, so most workouts will be measured by watts. Off-road, I’ll measure with lap times, perceived exertion and heart rate. I’ll download the power files to a TrainingPeaks WKO+ program.


My natural abilities profile shows weakness in speed skills (ability to pedal and ride with more economy) and force-generating skills (strength to power up short steep hills, turn a bigger gear quicker). I didn’t work on those limiters enough last season. I tend to ride big gears and mash at low cadence. The other training goal is to increase my threshold power to weight ratio to 4 watts per kilo.

To reach race shape, a minimum of 16 weeks will be required, broken down thusly:


8 weeks of Base training (long steady distance, speed skills and force work followed by tempo and muscular endurance work).
8 weeks of Build training (lactate threshold, Vo2Max and anaerobic work).
I’ll also weight train once weekly for a half hour.


To get ready to train again, I’ll spend 2 weeks doing easy endurance rides on the road bike and off-road single-speed and geared riding.


It’s hot out, there’s traffic on the roads and the trails are dusty and jagged. Time to train.