2021 Remote Base Builder Program

  • July 29, 2020
  • Blog

Due to COVID-19 we’re unable to host our 16th annual in-house Base Builder Program…

So instead, we’re making our Remote Base Builder bigger and better!

Built off our 15-year successful In-House Base Builder program, our Remote Base Builder Program allows athletes that can’t train with us in-house to train with us remotely on their own. Follow the same training program, join the same coach-led discussions & workouts via ZOOM, weekly podcasts and videos. Be a part of our WE Training Squad from anywhere across the globe in the comfort of your own home.

More robust features. Live, online, coached workouts (available as recording as well), weekly virtual meetings to stay on track and answer all your questions. This is going to be great!

LEARN MORE ABOUT REMOTE BASE BUILDER

NEW Training Plan Subscriptions

  • July 22, 2020
  • Blog

With access to our entire training plan library you can work through all of our plans with one low monthly fee. Switch between Base Builder, Race Prep, Booster plans and back to Race Prep as you need to fit your specific training and racing goals. And as we create new plans, you have access to those as well!

LEARN MORE

Join Us for our 2020 Season Salvation Plan

NEW ‘RETURN TO RACING’ TRAINING PLAN NOW AVAILABLE.

We’re calling it our…

2020 Season Salvation Plan

With the possibility of events happening before the end of summer and into fall, the time is now to begin a 2020 re-build of fitness to be ready if/when racing resumes.

For this unusual time in history, we’ve put together a 12-week training plan designed to accommodate cyclists of all variants with a training progression to bring their fitness to a high level before the end of summer. Modeled off our popular annual winter Base Builder Training Program, and including all the value and support our athletes have enjoyed for years:

  • Detailed training program delivered via Training Peaks
  • Designed for all cycling disciplines (i.e. road, mountain bike, gravel, cross)
  • Volume adjustable to fit individual ability & goals
  • Easy to follow workouts designed around power, heart rate and RPE
  • Weekly Podcast to discuss the weekly training and share valuable insights along the way
  • Follow along in ‘real time’ with us every week for increased motivation & accountability

Along with all of the proven training we’ve implemented through our winter program, we will follow a similar build of fitness over the summer months but with a handful of differences to make the most of this unusual time of ‘Summer Base Training’:

  • Extra emphasis on riding outdoors and logging (at least a bit, if not a lot) more ‘base miles’
  • Structured workouts easily performed outdoors, as well as indoors
  • Following a ‘steeper’ progression curve (i.e.. progressing more quickly than typical winter base training)
  • Added weekly video tips to enhance engagement
  • Added nutritional direction to assist in performance & body composition changes

The Plan Details

Our 12-week plan is broken into three 4-week training blocks:

  1. Low-Intensity Base
  2. Mid-Intensity Aerobic Threshold
  3. High-Intensity Interval

The blocks consist of three weeks of progressive training, followed by a lighter recovery week. The weeks are volume-adjustable to meet your personal training goals. We will explain how to do this on our podcast, as well as offer to do it for you as an optional add-on to your plan.

Low-Intensity Base

This is the classic ‘base miles’ time. Three weeks to build your daily riding frequency and weekly volume (via hours, miles and/or TSS). Intensity is kept low so you can simply focus on riding more and maximizing your time outdoors enjoying your bike. During this time, we’ll provide additional information via podcast and video tips on improving your diet to increase your performance and shed unwanted body mass.

Mid-Intensity Aerobic Threshold

This block raises the intensity slightly and adds in structured intervals to the weekly schedule. The Aerobic Threshold energy system develops sustainable power and muscular endurance. These relatively long duration intervals train your ability to pedal hard while maximizing the aerobic system to improve overall endurance and strength. Also included in the this block is continued low-intensity riding to further create aerobic adaptations.

High-Intensity Intervals

The third and final block of the plan switches gears to a more polarized approach of ‘easy days-hard days-easy days’.  The hard days emphasize the glycolytic energy system: putting greater demand on carbohydrate usage for increased power output over shorter durations. The glycolytic ‘sub-systems’ of Anaerobic Power, Vo2 Max and Anaerobic Threshold are addressed each week combined with very easy recovery days for three weeks. This kicks your race-preparation fitness into high gear as the end of summer approaches.

Upon completion of this 12-week progression, you’ll be event-ready. You can then easily transition into late season racing, a cyclocross schedule, or some fitness-charged fun fall riding.

Plan Assistance

Like with our annual winter Base Builder Program, we’re in this together. As part of your plan, you can choose to follow along listening to our weekly podcast for deeper instruction and insights into the plan. We will provide suggestions on how to maximize your training plan experience by providing suggestions on how to:

  • modify the weekly volume to fit your needs
  • create your ‘return to racing’ calendar within the Training Peaks ATP
  • modify and execute the structured intervals
  • fuel your workouts & recovery
  • daily diet tips & videos
  • and answer questions you have via email

Optional Volume Personalization

Not exactly sure how much is enough training and/or concerned about doing too much?

We have written the 2020 Season Salvation Plan to accommodate all types and levels of competitive cyclists. It has been written in a ‘mid-volume’ level of workout duration and weekly loads. This volume is modifiable to the individual and we will explain this in detail within the weekly podcast.

For those that would like us to personalize the volume for them, we are offering a optional upgrade ($29) for this convenient service. Via a short list of questions and a view into past training efforts, we can adjust the daily and weekly volume for you to fit your goals.

Ready, Set, Go

Our ‘live’ following of the plan begins June 15th to have us finishing by middle of August. Join us then and follow along in real time.

Not ready to start in June? Or not needing to be event-ready in August? No problem. You can choose to start the plan any Monday after June 15th and listen to the podcast in order of your start date. Simply find your target event date, count back 12 or more weeks from there and that is when you can begin.

Too confusing? Send us an email and we’ll get you sorted out.

Plan Purchase & Delivery

We have created this plan on Training Peaks. You will need a free Basic account or paid Premium account to access the plan. You can simply view and purchase the plan directly from Training Peaks for $99.

But wait…

We want to offer all of our training plan users, followers and podcast listeners an even better deal!

 

 

 

 

 

Get the 12-week plan for just $48!

That’s only $4 a week, less than a premium coffee, for dialed-in training, online support & accountability, and a boat load of knowledge to get you fit and fast for the remainder of 2020. Join us and save your season. You won’t regret it!


Plan Options



Register today! We’ll get back to you via email within 24 hours to provide directions on connecting your existing Training Peaks account or creating a new FREE Basic account for you. Then we can attach the plan to your desired start date, and make any Volume Personalization modifications if chosen. 

Listen to our recent Podcast to Learn all About it…

Episode #36: our 2020 Season Salvation Plan

Questions?

Email Us: [email protected]

 

Aerobic Threshold

Aerobic Threshold Booster Plans

  • April 8, 2020
  • Blog

Changing Times, Changing Plans

In light of the current worldwide health crisis and cancellations of at least the Spring racing season, everyone’s plans have changed… and so should our training!

Many riders are choosing to be on their indoor trainers utilizing online training apps while others are willing to venture outside to keep racking up the miles. However, instead of smashing yourself with high-intensity training or epic long rides with no events in sight on the calendar, take a step back and target your Aerobic Threshold energy system. Take this opportunity of ‘no racing’ to build your most powerful aerobic base yet!

What is Aerobic Threshold?

The first of two metabolic thresholds, the Aerobic Threshold (AeT) relates to fuel utilization. Put simply, this first threshold is a theoretical metabolic balance point of fuel utilization between fat & carbohydrate. At AeT you’re at the highest power you can sustain while burning equal parts fat & carbohydrate fuel sources. In other words, you’re maximizing your power while still utilizing at least 50% fat for fuel. Go beyond this threshold and you begin to burn more sugars than fat; go below this threshold and fat utilization goes up, carbohydrate utilization goes down.

From an endurance athlete standpoint, the more work (power) you can do while utilizing fat for fuel and sparing glycogen (stored carbohydrates in your muscles and liver), allows you to ride longer and faster before running out of glycogen. It is well known that riding long and slow (HR< 75% max heartrate) is how you maximize fat utilization. However, to be most effective with this type of training you must ride long durations. Train above AeT and you become more ‘anaerobically fit’, capable of going really hard for short durations (often followed by dramatic slowdown!). Short, high-intensity interval training is effective for this, as is simply riding just a little too hard, too often… a common pitfall for most amateur cyclists (aka ‘sugar burners’).

How do you find this Aerobic Threshold?

For utmost accuracy, you should be tested in a lab by a physiologist. Much like a Vo2 Max test, you wear a mask, you pedal from easy to hard, they collect the expired gases from your lungs from which the ratios are used to pin-point the exact moment you cross that ‘fat vs. sugar’ threshold. Keep in mind, we’re always burning a mixture of fat and carbohydrate for movement. Think of it as a sliding scale of usage: when one goes up, the other goes down. Slower movement relies on fat. The faster you move the more carbs are brought it. Raise the effort further and you’re using carbs almost exclusively.

What if you don’t have access to a lab and physiologist? You can estimate! For most reasonably fit individuals, your AeT falls around 75-80% of maximum heart-rate. Being a metabolic threshold, training by heart rate is the most effective method by which to train. However, you can identify a power value corresponding to the HR-based effort through testing and training. This power level is typically between 80-90% of Anaerobic Threshold power (FTP) depending on one’s level of aerobic fitness.

How do you Improve Aerobic Threshold?

Targeting the specific 75-80% of HR max range in your riding is among the best ways to improving your AeT. Depending on your current level of aerobic fitness, this pace may be slow and easy or it may be somewhat challenging. The more anaerobically fit you are, the slower (less power) you will likely have to ride to stay in this zone; whereas, the more aerobically fit you are, the harder (more power) you will ride.

Begin by performing sets of shorter intervals of say 5:00 in duration. Then progress to more intervals and longer intervals over subsequent training sessions and weeks. Here is an example of an Aerobic Threshold training progression:

  • 6-8x 5:00 (1:00 recoveries)
  • 3-6x 10:00 (2:00 recoveries)
  • 3-5x 15:00 (3:00 recoveries)
  • 3-4x 20:00 (5:00 recoveries)
  • 2-3x 30:00 (recovery as needed)

With the intensity of these intervals being not particular hard, you can perform 2-3 sessions per week while recovering with ease between sessions. Keeping intensity levels lower helps boost your immune system keeping you healthy, consistent and making gains. These sets of intervals are also equally effective both indoors on the trainer or outside on flat, rolling or low-grade climbs.

Get Started Honing Your Fat-Burning Engine.

Try one of our 6-Week Aerobic Threshold Booster Plans available for download in the Training Peaks Plan Store. We offer a Low-Volume version ideal for the indoor rider, and a High-Volume option for the indoor and/or outdoor rider. Not only are these plans great for this particular time in history, but they are perfect for anytime in your annual program when you’re looking to maximize your aerobic fitness base.

 

WE Development Donations Month!

  • January 31, 2020
  • Blog

Share the love in February by supporting the WE Devo Team.

WE Development, Inc. is now a Colorado 501c3 Non-Profit Youth Sports Team. Your donations are tax-deductible!*

Our young riders have been training consistently all fall & winter to prepare for their upcoming 2020 race season. With that nearly upon us, we’re accepting donations to support our squad of hardworking athletes to get them to more races across the country! All donations go towards equipment costs and travel expenses, so our riders can flex their muscles at some of the biggest races in the country. Every dollar counts and makes attending these events possible.

For the entire month of February, we’re rewarding donors with WE schwag!

Your donation dollar amount scores you cool WE logo’ed items to show your support of the team when you’re out training, cruising around town or at the races. So share the love all month long by bolstering our mission of developing these young riders into the future stars of our sport with an easy tax-deductible online donation and grab some gear before it’s gone.**

Learn more about the WE Development team and make a donation today via credit card & PayPal links below…

 

Donate $25

 

A $25 donation earns you a WE die-cut sticker to affix to your car window, water bottle, or notebook.

Donate $50

 

A $50 donation gets you the WE sticker AND a WE water bottle (by Specialized).

Donate $100

 

A $100 donation gets you the sticker, bottle AND a soft 50/50 blend WE Devo t-shirt (men’s and women’s styles).

Donate $200

 

A $200 donation gets you the full kit & caboodle of the sticker, bottle, shirt AND fleece-lined, super cozy, WE Devo hoodie!

 

* you’ll receive a thank you email with your donation containing the tax-deduction information.

** stickers & bottles ship in February; shirts & hoodies ship in March once we complete the order w/ sizes.

 

  

 

 

 

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

Would you like to donate more than $200?

...or not interested in the schwag?

You can donate any dollar amount you prefer, set up a repeating monthly donation, or pass on the schwag by clicking this donation link…

Donate Now

Creating Your Annual Training Plan

  • November 27, 2019
  • Blog

With your goals set and events selected, you’re ready to dial in your Annual Training Plan for your season ahead. In part 3 of our Planning Your Season series of posts, we’ll layout the process of your Annual Training Plan. This road map of your training program is often referred to as your Annual Training Plan. It sets the foundation of your training progression allowing you to know ‘when you should be where’ in your build up. It also helps you stay on track and progressing towards your end goals.

 

Building Fitness & Accumulating Fatigue: Managing Both

Training is a balancing act. As you train you gain both fitness and fatigue. Doing a big block of training takes a lot of energy. You’re expected to be tired (and slower) upon the conclusion of training blocks. With rest and recovery you absorb the load you just applied. Within time you recover, adapt, and bring freshness back to the body leading towards a stronger (faster) you than before the training load was applied.

Your Annual Training Plan should repeat this process in a gradual & appropriate manner for you. Then repeated over and over to apply stress and continue to accumulate fatigue followed by recovery. All of this allowing for the right amount of recovery and absorption of fitness you will see an upward trend of progression.

Do too much training (or do not allow enough absorption time) and you become rundown and progression slows. Or worse, you get sick, injured, or simply burnt out on the process and are forced to take a break. A proper training plan will have progressive training loads and include the right amount of recovery and absorption. Balancing these two elements can allow for a well timed peak of fitness and freshness for your “A” Race.

The Fitness / Fatigue Equation

The tricky part of this equation is that in order to gain fitness you must acquire fatigue; and to gain freshness means you must reduce fatigue, which means lose fitness.

Understanding these concepts can be a bit confusing, or at least require a bit of experience. The training application Training Peaks, along with the makers of power meters, HRMs, smart trainers, and cycling computers, such as Wahoo Fitness, have helped to create (relatively) easy to use & follow training metrics that can be extremely helpful when creating your Annual Training Plan. The metrics of Training Stress Score (TSS), Chronic Training Load (CTL), and Training Stress Balance (TSB) can all be utilized to create an effective plan (learn more here).

Of course one must know exactly how these metrics relate to one another. These metrics fall right in line with this fitness vs. freshness concept by measuring your training loads, fatigue models, adaptation rates and overall training progressions. Combined with frequent (and effective) testing to establish and maintain accurate training zones you have access to some helpful tools that allow for better precision in your structured planning.

All this said, to reach a high level of fitness without fatigue is the challenge for both the coach and athlete to figure out. This takes time and practice. Often over several years to figure it out just right for the individual athlete. However there are some basic concepts to help get your annual planning process started.

1.  Allow for the longest Base Builder (base period) you possibly can.

Don’t wait, start your training program early, right after a short break following your previous season! This allows for a gradual & steady progression of training, fatigue accumulation, and absorption of fitness to minimize overall stress application and minimize odds of illness or injury, while maximizing your fitness gains and year-to-year improvements.

2.  Race Preparation Phase (build period) is only as long as needed for your event.

You will be in very good shape upon conclusion of your Base Build. The Race Prep gets you towards your peak. Top-end fitness comes quickly following a well trained base. Don’t drag it out. Train the energy systems that are required within your target event (specialization). Shorter events require short Race Prep phases; longer events require a bit more.

3. Rest & Repeat.

Multiple “A” races in one season? Take a short break after the first. Then get back into next Race Prep that builds towards your next event. Longer seasons of racing may require longer builds through a second Base Builder & Race Prep phase to not overdo time spent in Race Prep (ie. Base Fitness can be maintained year-round, Race Prep Fitness can only be maintained for a couple months).

4. Use Metrics to track your progress.

Training with HR & Power not only allows you to train with more structure, but it allows you to set up your entire season with more structure. Set weekly training goals based on Training Stress Score (TSS), track fitness through Chronic Training Load (CTL), and you can create your whole Annual Training Plan up based off fitness & freshness to maximize your progression and time your peak.

5. Your Plan is NOT set in stone.

Spend time to create your annual plan, but realize that plans often (almost always) change. That is okay. Use your plan to provide with direction. Have Point A (start of the new training season) and a Point B (your “A” race), and a reasonable plan to get from A to B. If something comes up as a disruption in your training, you can always edit your plan to make the most of what have to work with. Use it as a map of your season, and know that there are different roads that can get you to the same location.

 

Annual Training Plan Example

The example below is provided to give you a visual of what a (very simplistic “text book”) annual plan might look like for a two-peak season; with the first peak being a shorter power based event, and the second event being a longer endurance based event.

  • The grey bars represent weekly TSS (training load) goals.
  • The blue “mountain” in the back ground is your fitness… the more you train the bigger the mountain.
  • The yellow “peaks & valleys” represent your freshness… as you train your freshness dips into the valleys; coming off recovery weeks freshness shoots up to a peak.
  • Base Builder is October through March, gradually building fitness in 4 week blocks (3 build, 1 recover).
  • Race Prep 1 is April through mid-May (6 weeks), descending TSS in two week blocks allowing fitness (blue) to remain high, and freshness (yellow) to gradually rise.
  • During Taper (mid/late May) fitness declines gradually while freshness rises to allow for a peak performance (ie. highest fitness & freshness you can simultaneously achieve at “A” race.
  • Following the week off at end of May freshness rises to it annual high points to allow for complete “refreshness”.
  • Race Prep 2 begins June, starts with high intensity (Anaerobic Power), descends through each energy system while building volume, TSS, and fitness (blue) to a high point of the season.
  • A sharp drop in volume for the recovery & taper allows freshness to rise rapidly while minimizing loss in fitness, ideal for a peak performance over a long course event.
  • Following the second peak, in the end of season Transition period freshness is restored to highest levels (while fitness descends to low levels) and you’re ready to get back to structured training for the next year.

When life get complicated…

Of course this is a very simple and easy example of an annual plan. Throw in family and work commitments, holidays, additional “B” & “C” races, and other complications and the annual plan layout becomes a bit more tricky. This is where a coach can come in handy; although if you think through it all and lay it out on the calendar you can plan around the tricky spots in order to make the most of what you have to work with.

With your annual plan in place you have a better grasp of where you’d like your fitness to be a different points throughout your base and race prep build, and now you’re ready to really dig into your training and begin working towards your goals.

 

Let Us Help You With Your Annual Training Plan

We have 12, 18 and 24 week Base Builder Plans to fit your annual training plan programming needs, as well as Race Prep Plans for mountain bike, road, gravel, and triathlon. You can easily create your Annual Training Plan on Training Peaks (Premium account required), count out the weeks you have to work with, and then drop in the Base Builder & Race Prep plans that fit your timing needs. These plans will populate your weekly training schedule and follow the fitness building schemes referenced in the above examples.

Need more help? Or want to get your complicated schedule just right? Send us an email and we can get you dialed in. Happy to answer questions for free or do the planning for you as part of a low-cost Custom Plan option.

 

Written by Cody Waite, professional endurance athlete, endurance sport coach, and founder of Sessions:6 Sport Performance. Looking for help with your endurance sport training? Check out his Stock Training Plans, Custom Training Plans, and  Personal Coaching options created to fit your needs and budget.

Race Selection: Your Events for Next Season

  • November 21, 2019
  • Blog
Originally published November 8, 2018. Updated and republished November 21, 2019.

Daylight hours are shortening, leaves are falling, and temps are dropping… You’ve set your goals for next season (previous post: Goal Setting), and even resumed some base training. The next step in the planning process is race selection and choosing your events for next season. Sifting through the potentially large amount of events in which you are interested is the second step in the planning process. 

Planning your race season around a target event(s) is crucial to setting up an effective training program.

As part of the race selection process, you must first know the “what” & “when” you plan to race your best. From there you can work out your specific training program that will get you there with the fitness you desire. You don’t need to know every single start line you plan to roll up to next year. You do however need to know what your top targets are before you begin more detailed planning. The first step of the race selection process is sitting down and creating a list of events that interest you. Have fun with this. Don’t filter your thought process just yet. Once you have your list of events, long or short, it is then time to narrow things down. 

Most endurance athletes will compete in multiple events within a season. Why would you train so consistently for a long time to race only one or two times per season? Also, racing can be some of the best “training” you can do. On the flip-side, you cannot race every weekend all season long (or even every-other week for that matter). Racing takes a toll and interferes with an overall training progression. Racing too frequently degrades your fitness over time and does not allow for an adequate build of training load. Fitness gets lost in these situations and the results you desire are hard to find.

The ABCs of Race Selection

When you do choose to race, you want to race hard and give it your best effort on the day. That said, you cannot be in “top form” for every race you enter. For some races you enter you may recognize that you won’t be at your best, but the benefits of racing are still present. Your fitness and “race-readiness” ebbs and flows with your training phases and your lifestyle demands. Therefore, different events must take on different levels of priority. This allows you to reach higher levels of fitness for specific events (peaking). It is a well known practice when laying out your next racing season to assign priority levels to your events as: A, B and C.  The following is a breakdown of this concept that will help you in your season-planning process: 

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Goal Setting: Your Season Ahead

  • November 14, 2019
  • Blog
Originally posted October 31, 2018. Updated November 12, 2019.

Goal setting begins the planning process towards your next season. Organizing your thoughts and creating a formal written outline of what direction you want to go with your training, fitness and competitive results is a key piece of the Mental Fitness puzzle. If you don’t know what you want to achieve… then how do you know what you need to do to get there or if you are making progress in the right direction along the way?

Going beyond simply thinking about what you want to achieve and further developing a strategy on how you are going to achieve is the process of setting goals.

Make Goal Setting work for you

The idea of setting goals is something many people are familiar with, but few take the time to formally address. It can be difficult for some athletes to write down goals. However meeting your goals is often more difficult if they are not written down in the first place. Once you have decided upon your goals, take it a step further and write out exactly how you plan to meet those goals (use a pencil here because you may change things a bit as you discuss with your coach or support structure). If you’re not sure of exactly how you are going to meet your goals, obtaining direction from a coach, or friend, can help you talk it out and make the right decisions. Knowing what you want is one thing, but outlining a plan that gets you from where you are now with your physical and mental abilities to where you want to be is what makes goal setting an effective tool in your mental fitness tool box. 

Goal setting is a multi step process that is extremely valuable for all athletes. The following are some helpful steps and techniques you can implement to help make your own goal setting more effective.

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Nutrition Periodization

Nutrition Periodization for Endurance Performance

  • September 20, 2019
  • Blog

As your physiological training demands change with your training objectives, your nutritional demands change as well. The basic principle of Nutrition Periodization is simply that: changing your dietary consumption to match that of your training efforts. Periodizing your diet can be achieved on two levels. The first is the larger training block level of macro-cycles. The second is the smaller weekly level of day-to-day training in micro-cycles. The goal of periodizing your nutrition is to improve your cycling training program in two primary ways:

  1. Better Fueling for Improved Performance (increasing fitness)
  2. Maximizing the Quality of your Nutrition (improving health & body composition)

Proper fueling will allow an athlete to maximize their training efforts and adaptations making their training more effective. Similarly, maximizing the quality of your nutrition will enhance an athlete’s recovery from training. In other words, more effective training and enhanced recovery lead to improved body composition and increased fitness. Achieving a lean body composition is critical for maximizing performance in an endurance sport such as cycling. In fact, for many riders carrying an extra 10 pounds or more, it can be the single biggest performance booster there is! For this reason, periodizing your diet around your training program can be a big help in working towards your fitness goals.

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