Road Race Training Plans

This 8-week plan is for a cyclist or triathlete that has a power meter and a threshold wattage of about 170 watts. The athlete can train from 9 to 13 hours a week and has been cycling for at least 8 months to a year, and is excited about improving. You can put in between 2-4 hours on one of your weekend days. Your goal is to increase your threshold wattage and also increase your endurance in the 8 week period. Before beginning you should be able to complete a 40 mile ride and you would like to be able to compete a 60 mile ride in the near future. You are currently riding your bike from 4-7x per week, but lack direction, and exactly how to best use your power meter. To get the most out of this plan, it's important that you go through the testing protocols first, in order to make sure of your threshold wattage. Please read the accompanying documents in order to review the testing protocols.

This Cat 1-2 Build-Peak-Race period training plan was created for the serious cyclist by Joe Friel. It is designed to prepare you for the stresses of a Category 1-2 road race using the principles described in his book, The Cyclists Training Bible. Start this plan 11 weeks prior to your first A race of the season. It may be repeated for subsequent A races during your season. To start this plan you should be training about 18 hours a week. Over 11 weeks you will increase your training intensity while volume stays at about 18 hours. The exception is the R&R weeks every fourth week when volume and intensity are significantly reduced for 5 days culminating with a hard group ride or race at the end of the week. The plan uses common language to describe the workouts and is easy to follow. It provides optional power workouts for the rider with a powermeter. By the end of 11 weeks you will have excellent race fitness, little fatigue and be ready to for your A-priority road race.

This plan is for the competitive cyclist who has a full 3 months to devote to improving their sprinting and attacking ability and maximize their preparation to bring themselves to a peak for their goal event. It is for those who wants to really improve their ability to win primes, win or place higher in field sprints, be able to sustain the surging in crits and road races or bridge across and make the break. This plan will improve your top end, anaerobic endurance and short term power.

PURPOSE OF THIS PLAN: The Spinervals Cycling 8 Week Intermediate Distance Base Building Training plan is a generalized program intended for the competitive age group cyclist or triathlete preparing for cycling events up to 60 miles or four hours in duration with up to 10 hours per week to commit to indoor bike training.

PLEASE NOTE:
***This plan comes with the DVD's recommended for use during the training process. You'll need to contact us at heather@spinervals.com to receive your DVD's. Please allow 72 hours for a response.
- Spinervals 8.0- Recovery and Technique
- Spinervals 12.0 - Recharge
- Spinervals 13.0 - Tough Love
- Spinervals 16.0 - Aero Base Builder I
- Spinervals 17.0 - Aero Base Builder II
- Spinervals 18.0 - Aero Base Builder III
- Spinervals 21.0 - Aero Base Builder IV
- Spinervals 23.0 - Time Saver I
- Spinervals 25.0 - Aero Base Builder V
- Spinervals 28.0 - Aero Base Builder VI
- Spinervals 30.0 - Muscular Endurance PLUS
- Spinervals 31.0 - Endurance BOOSTER
(For complete descriptions and video previews of each title, please visit www.spinervals.com.)

You can download the Promo Code document by clicking on the Promo Code workout in day 1 of the plan OR by contact us at info@spinervals.com or calling toll free, 1-888-288-0503 during regular business hours, EST.


The target race events for this program include criteriums, metric century rides, 40K Time Trials, Sprint, Olympic and Half Iron Distance events. After completing this program using the Spinervals Cycling Workout series, the cyclist will be better prepared to transition into a competition training phase, incorporating higher intensity 'race specific' work.

The key to success in this Base Building Phase is consistency. Cyclists must do their very best to adhere to the training method prescribed with 95% accuracy in order to achieve the desired results. Upon successful completion of this phase, please refer to the race specific training programs offered by Coach Troy Jacobson using his training video library designed for your goal event or acquire the services of a professional coach.

Before starting this program, please note the following recommendations:
1. This program is intended for use by intermediate level (2+ years of cycling training experience) athletes who are in good general aerobic conditioning after the post season.

2. Athletes are advised and encouraged to monitor their training progress closely and track training metrics using TP.

3. This program does not take into consideration the cross training requirements of triathletes, including running and swim training… nor does it take into account the need for strength or flexibility training. Furthermore, nutrition is not covered with this plan. Please consult with a coach if you wish to add supplementary and other sport training to your program or incorporate the StrEndurance 12-Week Progression 2-3 times/week. The focus of this plan is building an aerobic foundation for intermediate level age group cyclists.

4. Athletes will get the most out of this program if they have an understanding of their Functional Threshold Power and Anaerobic Threshold Heart Rate. It is recommended that one establishes these benchmarks before beginning the program by performing the fitness test found in Spinervals 27.0 – Threshold Test and Suffer Fest (http://www.spinervals.com/products/item10.cfm)

5. The success of this program hinges on being consistent with your training, day after day, as well as adhering to a performance oriented diet designed to help you maximize recovery while leaning down to competitive race weight. Performance Nutrition consulting is available by emailing info@coachtroy.com

6. This program incorporates workouts that focus on skill development, aerobic energy system development and even some anaerobic training for that ‘high end’ maintenance. A wide range of video workouts have been selected in order to maintain interest and prevent boredom inherent to indoor training.

This criterium Build-Peak-Race periods training plan was designed by Joe Friel to prepare you for an A-priority race in the last week of the plan. It is based on the the principles described in his book, The Cyclists Training Bible. It is best started about 11 weeks prior to your A-priority race. This plan is intended for the under-age-50 cyclist who has been racing for two or more years. To start this plan you should be able to train about 12 hours a week. The weekly training hours vary from 11 to 9 hours depending on periodization. There is an R&R/adaptation week every fourth week. The emphasis is on power for sprinting but there is variety each week to develop all race-specific abilities. Strength maintenance workouts are included once each week. The plan uses common language to describe the workouts and is easy to follow. By the end of 11 weeks you will have excellent fitness and be ready for your A-priority criterium race.