The importance of base building is often overlooked by many cyclists, especially those who have ignored or ill defined their season goals. Your aerobic base is the foundation for all future interval workouts, and without it, the risk of injury and/or burnout is distinctly higher than in a cyclist with a proper aerobic base. More importantly, poor endurance will ensure you falter before the end of your chosen events, so while it may be boring and redundant, it is one of the most important parts of your training.
Long steady distance
It may not sound like fun, but the truth of the matter is you need to spend some time doing long, steady distance riding early in your training in order to build your aerobic base. Most training plans will call for eight to twelve weeks of base building (if the season goals allow for that extended amount of time.) Often, base building can be shortened if the athlete carries over sufficient fitness from the previous season, but it should not be neglected.
Base building is the time during which building endurance should be the primary goal. Since endurance is the primary concern, it should account for about 65% of training hours during early base periods, and approximately 50% of training hours in later base periods. It typically calls for several hours per week of steady riding in an aerobic heart rate/power zone. Generally, most endurance workouts are performed in the 65-80% of maximum heart rate (MHR), which basically equates to an intensity that allows the athlete to maintain a conversation with a training partner or coach without pausing for deep breaths. These endurance workouts are also best completed at a higher cadence (around 90-105RPM) in order to integrate the speed skills that are developed concurrently during the base period, and duration of endurance work should increase to at least the length of the longest goal event scheduled on the athlete's calendar.
And yes, I know that riding mindlessly on a trainer inside can be difficult, and riding mindlessly flat roads outside can be just as difficult. It's ok to throw in the occasional short higher intensity interval (such as a short hill climb or a few very short sprint intervals) just to spice things up. But intervals during the base period should not leave you drained or hurting in any way; if they do, you've gone too hard.
Endurance physiology
So, why is endurance riding so important? Riding at an “endurance” pace stimulates slow twitch (type 1 or aerobic) muscle fibres. These are the muscles that allow you to pedal for long periods of time, as opposed to fast twitch (type 2 or anaerobic) fibers which are responsible for quick bursts of power (such as sprinting.) Stimulating these type 1 fibers causes them to work more efficiently, which means they contract with greater force for the same amount of oxygen utilized.
Anatomically, endurance work increases the efficiency of the respiratory and vascular systems. Stressing these systems causes an increase in the number and complexity of capillaries transporting oxygen rich blood to the working muscles as well as increasing the efficiency of the heart's pumping action. Stroke volume and contractile strength of the heart increases. On a cellular level, it also actually increases the number of energy producing mitochondria in the muscle cells, allowing greater energy production (and therefore force production) for a given work load.
Aerobic training also adapts the body into conserving glycogen stores found in the muscles and vital organs. Preferential treatment is given to fat as aerobic fuel, saving glycogen for use by type 2 fibers. Not only does this generally translate into fat loss (not weight loss, but body fat % loss,) some studies have shown that time to glycogen depletion can be extended by up to 75% in athletes with high levels of endurance training. Practically, this means you're going to be much less likely to suffer a hunger knock or bonk during a high intensity ride or race (provided you remember to fuel properly during the ride…)
Finally, moderate endurance training (below 80% MHR) means that your body is not being overextended. Generally, properly executed endurance training should leave you feeling like you've made an effort, but that you are well within your limits. You're not completely cooked at the end of the workout, so you should be able to perform another workout the next day without having residual fatigue.
How much
So how much time should you be spending on endurance work? Breaking it down by base building periods of 4 weeks each you get:
Base 1 (weeks 1-4)- 65% of workouts are endurance. The balance should be force production work, muscular endurance work and neuromuscular skills should be integrated into your endurance base work.
Base 2 & 3 (weeks 5-12) – 50% of workouts are endurance. The balance should be split between force and muscular endurance work, again, withneuromuscular skills integrated into the endurance base work.
How many hours of training this equates to will depend upon the number of hours you expect to train annually, how soon your first goal of the season is and what your tolerance for mindless base miles is. But the key to remember is to go easy, go long (as long as your longest goal event) and be patient: the hard intervals will be there waiting for you.
Thoughts? Questions? Get the discussion started below.
A very interesting article and important to be able to understand this. Generally speaking, in mileage terms, what would you suggest a ‘long steady distance’ over mainly flat terrain is?
It depends upon where you’re at in your training. By the end of base period, you’ll want your longest ride to be the length of your longest competitive event (in duration, not necessarily miles.) In the case of a century, this will end up being 6-7 hours in length. In the case of a 65 mile road race, it may only be 4 to 4.5 hours in length.
Why that long? You’ll want to be able to sit on the saddle and continuously be pedaling and producing power for the duration of your longest competitive event. It’s very difficult to accomplish distances like that without training the body to do so prior to the event.
Keep in mind that you’ll not be going hard for that long, but just being on the bike and pedaling for that length of time is important. You can build on those rides by adding intensity as the season goes along and you get closer to your events.