Do you ride a road bike just for fun, or do you already train? And what's the difference? Don't we all cycle for fun? Training begins when planned action plays a role. The transition from cycling for fun to training is fluid and has a lot to do with the goal you want to achieve. Because only goals that are sufficiently challenging and not something that can be achieved just like that will motivate you to keep at it. A distance that you have never mastered before, a competition that would completely overwhelm you here and now? That's the stuff that good goals are made of. They need to entice, but also instil a certain respect - this mix always makes training more attractive than a cosy hour on the sofa.
Good training: regular, sometimes calm, sometimes fast - but not always the same! - Robert Kühnen
Endurance training is not particularly complicated. You don't have to do anything crazy to increase your stamina. What you need above all is diligence and consistency. Most of the training should be done at a relatively steady pace, not with your tongue hanging out. The workload should increase slowly. The easiest way to do this is to make the distances longer. Little by little, the radius increases and the miraculous things that make our body more efficient happen along the way. The number of cellular power stations increases, more oxygen is metabolised and the muscles work together like a good orchestra. To avoid stagnation after a few weeks, the stimuli for the body need to be varied. So don't always ride the same lap and at the same pace, but alternate. Once the basis has been laid, you can increase the speed - but not always at full throttle, as that would be counterproductive. It is best to differentiate clearly: mostly easy and occasionally really fast.
The things that play a role should be practised in the direction of the destination. If you are heading for the mountains, you should practise riding uphill in preparation. If the route is flat against the wind, this should be practised. Logical, isn't it? If you achieve the desired form, fun and happiness are guaranteed on day X.
The annual plan
The rough annual plan begins with a calendar check: Which goals fit into your personal annual plan? Where is there room for an above-average amount of training? Can and should holidays be used for this? How should the sports year be organised once the goals have been set? We show three examples of different levels of preparation for the highlights.
Step 1: Set target(s)!
Goals are the key to motivated training. Without a goal, nobody stays on the ball. Good goals are ambitious, but not utopian, and ideally measurable. Finishing a marathon within a certain time would be such a goal. So sign up and share this fact with the world. This helps you to seriously pursue your goal.
Step 2: Sketch out the plan
The way there is planned backwards from the goal. Minimum duration for the physical adaptations to work: eight weeks. More won't hurt. The goal should be coordinated with the other milestones of the year such as holidays, business trips, etc. It helps to identify favourable time windows for training focal points (weekends/training camps), see below.
Step 3: Keep a record
Sounds stuffy, but it helps to stay on track: Training documentation is the reality check to see whether the plan is being implemented and everything is going in the right direction. Digital helpers such as Strava & Co. make this easy and clear today. In principle, it should be recognisable that you are constantly training towards your goal. Large gaps in the build-up are poison for your form.
Training bag of tricks: How to achieve your goals
Good endurance requires diligence and continuity - and more training time brings better form. But how do you do that? There are a few tricks for training more and prioritising.
Continuity
Non-negotiable. Continuous training is the most important building block of all. Doing nothing means going backwards. This does not mean that you have to train every day, recovery times are important. But regularity is more important than individual feats of strength. The basis is therefore a weekly plan with at least three, but preferably four or five sessions per week.
Training camp (1-2 weeks)
The ultimate form booster and the most efficient method of focussing training time and initiating adaptations. Main advantage: 100 per cent focus on the sport. Spring camps are the classic way to rack up the kilometres and get into shape. But training camps always make sense; the focus changes over the course of the season and becomes more and more specific towards the competition.
Weekend endurance camp (2.5 days)
The most concise form of training camp starts on your own doorstep and goes beyond the usual home territory: Friday afternoon on the bike and off towards the horizon. Overnight stay in a hotel. The next morning, a long day's stage to the second hotel. Back home on Sunday. The whole thing can be done with minimal luggage - rucksack or saddle bag. If you prefer the purist approach, you can sleep at the roadside (overnighter). In any case, you can make serious kilometres this way. Two such camps in a row, plus a training block in between, are on a par with a normal training camp.
Commuting as training
Integrating training into everyday life saves time and makes more training possible. Cycling to work? Why not! Easy to get there, with an extra lap back - that way you can cover plenty of kilometres and the extra time required is manageable.
Heat training (1-2 blocks)
Training means pushing the body out of balance and creating new stimuli. Heat is an artificially created training stimulus for advanced athletes. Eight units with increased body temperature within two weeks form a block. Each session lasts a maximum of one hour at low intensity (45-50 per cent of FTP) on the roller - in warm clothing. This complements normal training, ideally after pre-fatigue, i.e. in the evening. Effect: Adaptation to summer heat, increase in VO2max and threshold performance.
Training from day to day: the plan
The plan incorporates different tempos and the roller makes it possible to train during the week. Longer training sessions are on the programme at the weekend - preferably outside.
Weekly schedule
How often, for how long and in what order should you train? The weekly schedule sets the rhythm. Training starts with three training sessions per week. More is better; if you ride a lot and incorporate short units (commuters), you will get significantly more training sessions per week. One rest day per week also makes sense for frequent cyclists. In principle, the hardest intervals should be completed when you are as fresh as possible. Endurance training sessions, on the other hand, can follow one another with pre-fatigue. The training duration is increased slightly over three weeks, followed by a recovery week. For older athletes, the rhythm of two weeks of exertion to one week of recovery may be more suitable.
Sample plan winter week with roller training
What is the right training pace?
The intensity, combined with the length, determines how demanding a training session is. The basis is a moderate basic tempo, into which sections with more speed (intervals) are embedded. The intensity of the training can be read from the pedalling power in watts and (smoother) from the heart rate. There are models that are very finely divided into training zones, see belowbut basically a simple model will do.
The speed traffic light
An example of how training is distributed according to such a model is provided by theWeekly schedule with five hours per week.
Training zones according to FTP
If you train according to watts, you can divide up your training more precisely and customise your intervals. The training zones can be defined using the FTP (see explanations) can be defined.
