Main Focuses of Base Training  
Aerobic Training
This is the lynchpin of base training. It is usually defined by slogging through lots of hours on the bike at a Zone 1-2 effort level and can be monotonous. Your gaol is to keep the body in an aerobic state and avoid excessive effort/volume in an anaerobic (without oxygen, aka. hard) state. IF you have the time, then building volume over a 12 week period is ideal. However, many do not and have to accommodate jobs during the course of the week in addition to waning daylight. In that common case, utilize your week days for time-efficient structured rides and strength training and then open up the weekend days for big adventure days! 

Strength Training
I’m a huge advocate of strength training for all athletes, disciplines, and ages (especially masters level). I wrote an article focused solely on this topic earlier in the year and you can see that here. Contrary to belief, strength training actually serves both the endurance and strength aspects of our training. Not only does a proper strength plan make a stronger muscle, it makes a more “durable” one. Don’t think of the two (endurance and strength) as separable. Additionally, as you rack up miles, get into race season, or are aging, your body will thank you for the “insulation you have packed in the walls” to avoid injury and deterioration.

Neuromuscular/Power Work
An unsung hero of the base phase is the neuromuscular + power development work on the bike. This comes predominantly in the form of pedaling efficiency drills and PCr sprint work. I use both of these in the early season phase to help prepare athlete’s for the work to come. The cadence drills (both high and low) help to train your efficiency and “cleanliness” in the pedal stroke. The short, neuromuscular level sprints improve the body’s reaction + response to the call for effort (quite literally the brain-to-legs connection).

The base phase can be daunting to look at, but work within your means and keep it simple. This is one of the most beneficial periods of your year and can set you up for success. Ride “long and slow” when you can, keep strength training in the plan, and add in some specific intervals along with it all. A little structure goes a long way – contact me for coaching services or more information!

Sources:
    Hughes, D. C., Ellefsen, S., & Baar, K. (2017). Adaptations to endurance and strength training. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, 8(6). https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a029769 

    Stone, Michael H., et al. "Maximum Strength and Strength Training-A Relationship to Endurance?" Strength and Conditioning Journal, vol. 28, no. 3, 2006, pp. 44-53. ProQuest, https://login.proxy020.nclive.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/maximum-strength-training-relationship-endurance/docview/212586439/se-2?accountid=9715.

Targeting: Energy Systems
Zones are critical to training specifically for a goal, event, or purpose. We want to target the right energy systems at the right time. Lower levels of effort have a vastly different effect on the body than higher levels of effort and that’s why we have various “thresholds” to mark those physiological changes. For example: at low intensity we are mobilizing fat and utilizing oxygen to fuel our work in a reliable, efficient manner. Once you begin to dip into higher zones, the body reaches a point (“threshold”) where it begins to rely predominantly on glycolytic systems to produce energy – aka sugar-burning. This brings me to periodization…

Periodization 
Most proper training plans, when they’re focused on an event goal, are periodized to build from bulk endurance work (as discussed in my recent article here) to event-specific intensity work. Having zones allows us to accumulate the proper amount of work in the right energy system(s) as we go from base to race phases. Zones 1-3 get a lot of love during the base phase. Then you start chipping away at 3-4 in the build phase and finally high intensity (4-5) during the preparation phase.

Track Progression
Zones allow us to see how our fitness is changing over time. If you are beginning to produce the same power or pace at a lower heart rate (HR) then you can see your fitness has improved. This is because that workload is requiring less energy/effort. We can track our growth and development by monitoring our capacity to spend time in a specific zone. Additionally, we can re-test for Functional Threshold Power (FTP) or HR and see where our “new numbers” are over time.

Pacing
For endurance events that are a matter of attrition (think: long gravel race or marathon vs an XC race or 5k) zones can be particularly useful at pacing during it. If you have a grasp of where your FTP or HR threshold is, it allows you to be a bit more mindful about how energy is spent. Too much time spent above your threshold or upper-end zones means you are chipping away at the more “finite” energy system. However, they should be used to guide us but not direct or limit us in race scenarios. 

Developing Your RPE
Lastly, establishing zones can help you to develop a natural “feel” of energy output. This is often referred to as Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) in a lab setting but it still stands in the natural setting. I will even advocate that inexperienced athletes get used to what an effort “feels like” and reference their power/HR values on the backend so they develop a sense of awareness. Numbers are not the end-all-be-all of training and racing. At this point in my career, I could go out and ride off of RPE and be within 10watts or 5 BPM of my intention.

The Difference: Power v Heart Rate
Power and HR both have usefulness in training in different ways. Power is often the “golden metric” for cyclists (as pace is to runners) because it is constant, fixed metric. It represents direct workload being produced. Heart rate (HR) is the response to work that your body produces. HR can be affected by a variety of factors though, such as fatigue, temperature, caffeine, etc. I use power when it comes to nailing intervals and pushing limits on intensity. However, during the base phase, I often rely on HR more because I want to accumulate time in and/or below certain zones to stay aerobic.

Setting Zones
Now that we’ve dove into “why” we have zones, let’s discuss how to set them. This article is a great reference!

• The gold standard for power-based testing is a 20min time trial – simply sustain maximum effort for 20 minutes. Then, take the average power from that effort and subtract 5% to get your Functional Threshold Power (FTP). An alternative testing protocol is to do 2 x 8min efforts; for this you take the average power of both efforts and deduct 10%, since we assume someone can produce a bit more power relatively with the shorter efforts.
• Heart Rate (HR) is a bit trickier, as discussed earlier, because of it variability and tendency to be influenced by other factors. However, you can still use it as a great guide. Option one is to ride a mid-length climb (4-8min) 3-4 times at maximal effort; this assumes you’ll reach your HRmax in one of the latter efforts. Then, you can then build your zones out using percentages after identifying that HRmax. The second option is to complete the same FTP-establishing test that we would with a power meter: 20min TT at max sustainable effort. This will give you an effective “threshold HR” that you can build zones around using a guide or TrainingPeaks “zones” setting.