Sign in Subscribe
5 min read

Training Plan Guide

Let me start by saying thank you for purchasing a training plan from Winkler Cycling. I try hard to distill my 30 years of knowledge and experience into the workouts to help you reach your goals and enjoy your time on the bike.

You may find my training plans look a little different than some of the other you may find on Training Peaks or in other services like Zwift, Trainerroad, SufferFest, etc. I have reviewed those workout libraries and training plans and believe they are not the “best” way to proceed.

In my experience, you will find my workouts and plan more “doable” than many others while still improving your fitness and making you stronger on the bike

Tips for Interval Workouts

In this section, I'd like to share a few interval training suggestions that will help you execute higher quality workouts when it’s time to up the intensity. 

Here’s what I’d recommend giving a try:

  • For outdoor rides, use an intensity ‘range’ and not a single number 'target' for your interval power or heart rate. Trying to hit a specific number on the open road is quite difficult. Also, you may tend to overshoot the target and perform the efforts too intensely. This may change the nature of the workout and/or lead to an abbreviated session because of fatigue. Using a range ensures you are working at the right effort level to achieve the workout’s purpose and intended adaptation(s).
  • Terrain is an important consideration for interval sessions. Rolling terrain or segments with downhills will make it hard to hold a steady effort. Uphills can be good options for the ON effort, however, avoid climbs with variable gradients or very steep grades (unless you specifically are working on riding these types of climbs).
  • You rarely will want to finish an interval session completely exhausted. It is better if you feel like you could achieve 1 or 2 more quality repetitions. At select times in the year or stages of your program you can push to complete exhaustion, but for the majority of sessions leaving a little left in the tank will support faster recovery and maintaining a high level of training consistency. Don't hesitate to cut repetitions to achieve this outcome. 
  • Finally, pay attention to the recovery breaks that are paired with the work intervals. Not all recovery periods (the OFF) are intended to be a pause or complete rest. In fact, recovery is usually faster if you keep the muscles working and processing the metabolites created during the ON effort (recovery on a downhill w/o pedaling is usually the least effective recovery). In any case, some times recovery is intended to be complete, i.e., the workout emphasis is the ON effort and getting the maximal output on each repetition. Other times, the recovery is purposely incomplete and focuses some of the strain and adaptation goal on the recovery mechanisms directly (or the mental ability to get back on the gas when you don't feel 100% ready to do so).

Tips for Endurance/Low-Intensity Workouts

In this section, I'd like to share a few endurance training suggestions that will help you execute higher quality workouts when you "up the duration". 

  • For "pure" endurance work, you should avoid activating the anaerobic system as much as possible. The goal is to encourage the body to utilize the aerobic systems including a high degree of fat combustion. Very few of your other workouts will give the aerobic energy and fat combustion systems a sustained opportunity to engage so make the most of these workouts. Save the higher intensity efforts for the scheduled interval workouts.
  • Usually, these are longer rides and it can be beneficial to insert various drills to help pass the time and get multiple benefits for the time on the bike. Here's a few good options:  1) single-leg pedaling (keep overall effort level similar and alternate between legs), 2) focus on pedaling technique ("scraping mud off the bottom of shoes", pulling up on backstroke, etc.), 3) position drills (blocks of time out-of-saddle, blocks of time in the drops or aero "praying mantis" position), 4) cadence blocks (high, low, preferred). Just remember to keep the effort level relatively low.
  • While the focus of these workouts is lower intensity aerobic metabolism, it can be a good time to insert some short, maximal, seated "sprints". The goal of these efforts is to improve neurological function and muscle recruitment. Keep the efforts under 10 seconds and allow complete recovery between efforts. A few efforts at the beginning and end of ride should do the trick. (Note this is technically NOT anaerobic work so it is not in conflict with the first suggestion)
  • Finally, this is the best workout type to experiment with "fasted training". "Fasted training" involves the purposeful restriction of carbohydrates during low intensity activities to force the system to prefer fats as an energy source. The science is not unanimous on whether there is a real benefit from this technique, however, done properly there is no real downside or risk to adding it to your training program.

Tips for Rest & Recovery

In this section, I’d like to share a few suggestions that will help you execute higher quality workouts by making sure you are getting enough rest and recovery. 

  • It is generally accepted that you can only "train" so many days in a week. If you keep piling on training days without rest and recovery, 2 things happen: 1) the overall intensity of your training drops (too tired to go "hard", and 2) you get diminishing returns from time spent training. The standard approach involves taking at least one day out of seven as "easy" or "off" (although 2 out of 7 is probably better). Many athletes also introduce a light week for deep recovery every 3-6 weeks. A good coach can help you find and continually tune the recovery routine that work best for you.
  • Most athletes go too hard on an "easy" day. An easy day needs to be super easy, like "walk in the park" easy. The rides also need to be short. They should be "short" for you and probably never over 90 minutes regardless of how long your average ride is.
  • It is certainly true that "more" training is better, however, there is a catch. More of the "right" mix of training is better, not just more training time. As you get stronger, you will be able to handle more training with the right mix of high and low intensity. If you add more training before you can handle it, you end up doing more training time with the wrong mix of intensity (too much low to middle intensity).
  • The improvement process embodies a concept referred to as "super-compensation". In simple terms, this involves introducing a novel stress which causes the body to break down. If given time to repair and rebuild, the body comes back stronger (adapts to the stress applied). This process is repeated over and over again which leads to incremental change throughout the body that makes it perform better. This process only works if the body has time to recover from the stress imposed. If one keeps loading more and more stress on the body it struggles to keep up and eventually has a catastrophic breakdown that requires extensive rest to bounce back from (overtraining).