Training in Base 2 and 3

I sometimes see confusion among athletes about the Base period of training. This is the time of year when you train to train, not train to race. That means in Base you are preparing the body for the greater stresses that will follow in the Build period. Build starts immediately after Base ends about 11-12 weeks before your first A-priority race of the season. In the Build period you will be training with workouts that are very much like the stresses you will experience in racing. This is training to race.

There is a big difference between training to train and training to race and yet I see athletes in Base doing the very same workouts they will be doing a few weeks before their first big event, such as anaerobic intervals, lactate hill repeats, and hard group workouts. These are all workouts intended to prepare you for the stresses of racing, not training.

So what should you do differently in Base period workouts? I explained that in some detail in my four-part series on Base 1 (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4). The training stress in the following two periods gradually increases so that by the end of Base 3 you are much more generally fit than when you started Base 1 and you are ready to begin training for the specific stresses of racing. This process takes somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 weeks. Here’s a quick look at the typical changes I make from Base 1 as the athlete progresses to the Base 2 and Base 3 periods.

Base 2

Base 2 starts about 19-20 weeks before your A-priority race. There are two changes that I typically make now. The first is that I have the athlete cut back on weight training, not only in terms of the number of days assigned to it each week, but also the stress applied with loads, sets and reps. Strength maintenance is now the goal. “Functional” strength training may continue as before.

The second change is to introduce sport-specific muscular force training with hill work incorporated into steady, moderate effort bike and run workouts. I described these here. For swimming paddles and drag devices will help to create more force.

I’ll also include some 3-zone muscular endurance training now. This could be something such as 2 x 20 minutes (5-minute recoveries) or 3 x 12 minutes (3-minute recoveries). The hard part here is getting the athlete to hold back and stay in zone 3. Many want to bump it up to zone 4. There will be lots of time for that later on.

Aerobic endurance and speed skills workouts continue as before. The endurance sessions continue to get longer as the skills sessions continue as in Base 1.

Base 3

The last Base period begins about 15-16 weeks before your A-priority event. Two more adjustments are made to the training now. Weight training is cut back even more to just once a week. In fact, if pressed for time it’s now ok to stop strength training altogether (I’d rather see it continue, but specificity is now starting to trump general fitness).

The second change is that muscular endurance training is increased. This involves long intervals in the range of 6 to 12 minutes done at about the lactate threshold (zone 4) with very short recoveries that are about 25 percent of the work-interval duration. Twenty to 40 minutes of cumulative lactate threshold training within one workout each week (per sport for triathletes) is generally quite effective. Build from low to high volume in this workout over the course of Base 3.

Aerobic endurance, speed skills and force training continue as in Base 2.

Other Matters

It is usually best for athletes who recover slowly, such as older competitors and novices, to do four, three-week periods instead of three, four-week periods (the last few days of each of these multi-week periods is for recovery). So these slower-recovering athletes will follow a plan including Base 1, Base 2, Base 3 and Base 3 again. Each period is three weeks. They will still end up with 12 weeks of Base training but will have more frequent rest.

And as for rest, both groups, whether doing three-week or four-week periods, will recover with short and low-intensity workouts for three to six days in the last week of each Base period. This will help to prevent overuse injury, illness, burnout and overtraining.

By following a Base training program such as this you will arrive at the start of the Build period some 11-12 weeks before the first A-priority race with good general fitness. In the Build period the workouts will take on the characteristic stresses you expect to encounter in racing. I’ll discuss that more at a much later date.

Comments

[Douglas]

Joe,

How do recovery weeks affect strength training? Do you recommend cutting out the lifting, and does your recommendation change with the period of weight lifting? Specifically, if I have one more week of Maximum Strength lifting and this is a recovery week, is it ok to lift now or should I do it next week?

Thanks

[PieterVuylsteke]

Hi Joe,

I am a marathonmountainbiker that also has the problem of too much base to do : due to a kneeproblem I aborted racing in summer, had a superfine rest in september, had a nice preparation period in october (my hartrates are now back to normal after they were skyrocketing in october), i started base1 in november. Base 2 is planned for december, base 3 for januari and repeated in februari. Half march I leave for a trekking-hike up to 6150m in Nepal, and so real racing is only planned from june on.
I wanted to go from tempo/level3 over sweet spot (low level4) over level4 to VO2 max training, but the problem is : "when has there been enough of a certain level of training ?" or otherwisely stated : "how does one detect plato-ing and know it's time to go one with other stresses of training?"

Ow yes, mostly I'm on a bike with a powermeter, and - due to the hike - plan a three to five (and later to seven) hour hike, every week. A five hour hike seem to create the same training stress as a five hour level2 training... Also any comment on that ?

Fully appreciating your blog, having read almost all of your entries, they are o so helpfull for an even better understanding your books !!!

[Joe Friel]

Douglas--I generally have athletes back off on 1 or 2 MS sessions in a R&R week. They reduce loads or reps or sets. Depends on the athlete and what I know about them.

[Joe Friel]

Madeleine--Just so we're all on the same page, plateauing means there is no change in fitness over an extended period of time more than likely due to full adaptation to the training methodology. WKO+ will help with this as CTL will plateau. Otherwise, we are largely talking about the athlete's perceptions during common workouts or field test results.

[Joe Friel]

Mattias--Could be done either way. I tend to come down on the side of more base training usually.

[Joe Friel]

Mark--I'd suggest a long Prep period (non-bike training) starting whenever possible doing whatever the med person thinks is appropriate. (I'm not in a position to recommend what you should do.) Then when back on bike the base training ramp up is probably best done gradually. But, again, see what he/she thinks.

[Marcus]

What about doing 4 weeks on and 1 week recovery? Any advice, tips? Am assuming like a mini recovery period after 2 weeks might be a good idea (maybe 2 days off instead of the typical 1 day off).

[Joe Friel]

Marcus--About anything is possible when it comes to periodization. Just depends on the individual.

[Rod]

Hello Mr Friel
Could you please let me know your thoughts on long periods of time ie two hour plus at zone 2 on the turbo.The weather in the UK is very bad at the moment and i will soon be starting the base3 period.Also on my rest week the total time is seven hours do i ride in zone 2 for the majority of this week to recover??

regards Rod

[Joe Friel]

Rod-Just posted something on how long to ride indoors. In a rest week just ride easy based on how you feel. That may be zone 1 early in the week and z2 a few days later. The idea is to rejuvenate.

[jonw9]

Joe,
Regarding Base 3 Cruise Intervals (M2), back on your blog (11/14/2009) you recommend "beginners" to do 3x4 min (12 mins. total, rest 25% of duration, once a week. Is this just for the first week, all of Base 3, or for the entire season?

My thinking is to start here, and slowly increase the time until I can do the 3-5 intervals of 6-12 minutes, as explained in the MTB Bible.

Thanks again!

[Joe Friel]

Johnw9--Yes, ME interval length should be increased over time to keep the body challenged to adapt.

[vadimdudnik]

Thanks Joe for a detailed analysis of the periods! But there is one question I live in a cold climate zone in Ukraine, as you suggest the transition from running to the bike? example I think this period will last at least 4 weeks.

[Joe Friel]

vadimdudnik - I don't understand the question. Sorry.

[Chris]

Hey Mr Friel.

I am currently in my base 2 stage in my 2011 season. However I have to spend my time on my trainer, because I live in Canada with right now average temps of 14'F. Any advice for training?

[Joe Friel]

Chris--To quote Eddie Merckx--"Train lots."

[Joel]

Hi Joe,

In base 1/2/3 what percent of workouts would you devote to HR zones 1/2/3? I hope that makes sense. I usually do z1/2 for base 1 and in base 2 and 3 start doing more zone 3 training. It has never been clear how much zone 3 I should be doing though. Any thoughts? This is for cycling/mtb. Thanks!

[Joe Friel]

Joel--The answer to all such general questions should begin with "it depends." I'll try not to say that but there are lots of variables here that I don't know anything about for you. The combined time in z1-3 will probably make up around 90% of your time in the base period. Variations on that come back to "it depends."

[Mike]

If a novice athlete has no intention of racing in the current season because they yet lack the ability to be competitive, but does intend to race the following season, which would you recommend:

1) an extended base period that includes the entire first season, the off-season, and the beginning of the next season, followed by a normal build-peak.

2) a normal base-build-peak with an arbitrary peak date with no race, followed by a transition and then another base-build-peak.

3) an extended base period that includes the entire first season, then a transition, and then a normal base-build-peak the next season.

4) None of the above.

[Joe Friel]

Mike--Any of the first 3 will work. If I was your coach I'd have to figure out which fits best with your goals, lifestyle, and temperament. There's is no periodization formula that works for everyone in every situation. Good luck.

[Mike]

Joe, your answer implies to me that you think all of the plans are likely to reach the same end state. This further implies to me that there is no obvious reason to train above power zone 2 (except for force reps) until 15-16 weeks before an A-priority race regardless of how far in the future the race is. Am I reading you right?

[Joe Friel]

Mi,e--The most important single thing is to build a lot of aerobic endurance in your long build update.

[Rahul]

Hi Joe, I have a question. I have missed 2 weeks of Base 1 training due to an injury (concussion). I'm going to start back to training now. In your book "The Cyclist Training Bible" you say to go back one mesocycle so although according to my plan I should now be starting Base 2, I go back to Base 1. My plan had me doing Base 1, 2, 3, then Build 1, 2 and Peak 1 before my Priority A race (the transrockies mountain bike race).

My question is, is should I know only complete 2 Base (Base 1, 2) then begin my build phase at 11 weeks out, or keep the same Base period (1, 2, and 3) and shorten the Build period by 1 cycle?

[Joe Friel]

Rahul--You'll need to shorten something. Hard for me to say what as I don't know your unique training needs. A common way is to reduce each mesocycle by a few days. For ex, peak may be one week instead of two. Build 2 may be 3 instead of 4. Etc.