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If your easy winter rides feel like a waste of time and you’re tempted to make every session a sufferfest, this one’s for you. Zone 2 training — long, steady efforts at an easy-to-moderate intensity — is everywhere in endurance coaching conversation right now. The “off-season” or base training phase is when you will see large amounts of Z2, and for good reason.
The pitch is simple: ride easier, more often, and for longer — you’ll build more efficient mitochondria, learn to use fat, and get “fitter”. The reality is a little more nuanced, but the bottom line remains: slowing down, done intentionally, is a powerful way to get faster.
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By the time autumn rolls around, most endurance athletes are running on fumes.
You’ve trained, raced, traveled, and spent months chasing that edge. Then, as the season ends, you’re faced with an awkward but essential task: the off-season. A break from formal training. That can feel strange — even stressful. You’ve lived by structure all year, and that little voice creeps in: What if I lose my fitness? What if I rest too much? Should I keep training? That voice can make rest feel like regression. But the truth is this: the best athletes in the world take real off-seasons — and the science supports it. Many athletes stress about the taper. They have put in the work for weeks or months and the “big one” is here. They either panic train a bit too much or take the lead-in too easy and fall flat on race day. Should you do less volume? More intensity? What about openers?
These are the questions. A taper isn’t necessarily rest — it’s not “losing fitness”. It’s a planned reduction in training load to intentionally bring out peak form. I just returned from my second Swiss Epic, five days of ridiculous climbs, technical descents, and unbelievable views in the Alps. By the finish of this year’s race, I was both shattered and sharper — because stage racing has a way of compressing an entire season’s worth of lessons into one week. It's like taking a training time machine.
This year, it felt like the field was on another level. Maybe it was just that my partner (Tyler Clark) was, maybe not. Either way, I suffered like never before in honor of holding up my end of the bargain and finding new limits. Here’s what it taught me this year How inversing your approach to training may be the ticket to unlocking big gains...and enjoying it.
As I’ve gone through the ebb and flow of seasons with athletes, I’ve noticed there is a theme that is becoming more and more evident: hard work is not an issue. With improvements in fueling options, access to information, data tracking our every move, and the tidal wave of social media…everyone wants to work. I’m stoked on this, don’t get me wrong. We are raising the competition to an unprecedented level and it’s exciting. However, energy spent is energy lost and (as a wise old friend once told me) we are ultimately just energy dealers. Each and every day. As coaches or athletes, we have to learn how to spend it (energy) in the right direction at the right time. So, the analogy of “earning your training” is something that has allowed me to enable athletes to make the most of their training, including myself. It’s getting more out of the good days and respecting the bad ones. As race season approaches, most MTB racers will be chomping at the bit to get between the tape and see where they stand. After a long winter of training, the transition from base to race is one that is exciting as you see your fitness sharpen. This time includes a focus on speed, power, and technical skills that are all important in this prep phase. You can use the analogy of transforming yourself from a big, broad butcher knife into a precise steak knife.
While your traditional intervals and workouts are still essential to how this transition works, certain overlooked practices can make a huge difference to how well you apply your fitness on race day. Here are five ways we can make that leap from base to race. In the world of endurance sports, it’s easy to get caught up chasing marginal gains and the “special sauce”. But the truth is, the biggest improvements come from nailing the basics: consistency, sleep, fueling, and recovery.
The best training plan isn’t the most complicated one—it’s the one you can execute consistently and effectively. In an industry filled with optimization strategies and "the next best...", there is a lot to be said for maximal gains, and there are only a few of them. Just pedaling circles won't cut it for long-term development. See why a balanced and simple strength program is a big piece of the health and fitness puzzle for cyclists.
Click in to read more! Unbelievable views, wild routes, unique landscape, historic villages, and one of the toughest weeks of racing you could ask for. This was the 2024 Swiss Epic.
I learned an immense amount – being one of the first partner races I’ve completed at the (UCI) highest level. The aspect of competing as a unit –not just by yourself– and navigating five days of racing as one was actually pretty rad. Jerry Dufour and I were partners, and as you probably know, we fit like a glove. We were both on the same page in a variety of ways: fitness, abilities, and skill. But even more important was the similarity in our mentality, durability, and stress response. We’d spent a lot of time together over the last decade of racing and know how each other ticks. I feel that each time I line up to a challenge like this I expect to suffer, to get out of my depth, and have a general anxiousness about how I’ll “do”. This time, it felt a little more like curiosity; more excited about the opportunity than nervous about it. With the wealth of information on how to fuel, hydrate, recover, etc…athletes can still struggle to have a successful training session. Maybe they struggle to do it consistently and just expect that a good day will come around every now and then.
However, instead of worrying about all the things you need to do to improve, how about you think about what you shouldn’t do? One unique way to develop better habits or accomplish your goals is to think, “What would I do if I didn’t want to accomplish X, Y, Z?” I came across this idea (probably from a podcast) where you essentially inverse your goals to develop clear direction. If you are stuck in a rut or can’t seem to be consistent, check this out. |
AuthorCarson Beckett | Coach, Pro, and Co-Founder of Dirt Camp Racing | Beckett Performance Collective, LLC. CategoriesArchives
September 2025
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