Building a Solid Base

Khafre Pyramid near Cairo, Egypt

You've likely heard it discussed before: it's time to build up a good "base" for the coming season. So what is this base? Why do you need it? When do you start it? How do you get it and how do you know when you have it? I won't pretend to be an expert on training, but I'll offer what I've gleaned from others as well as my own personal experiences with the Base period.

What is Base?

"Periodization" is widely accepted and utilized for training. Periodization is simply breaking down a training year into different periods: usually Base, Build, Transition, Taper, and Peak. The Base period is the first "step" in a training year and is meant to be the aerobic fitness foundation for the rest of the training (and therefore is considered to be the most important component of training). Without a good base, one will likely not reach their full potential and may even experience injury when training at higher intensities later in the year.

When Should I Work on My Base?

Since the Base period is meant to be the beginning of a training year, when it starts depends on what you are training for. If you are training for the Colossal Cave road race in April your Base period will start earlier than if you are training for El Tour de Tucson at the end of November. If you aren't training for a specific event, your Base period will want to coincide with what you would consider your "off-season" (perhaps the winter months when you might ride indoors more often). The Base period requires the most time on the bike compared to the other periods, so ideally you would build your base over the time of year when you are able to devote the most time to training.

What Workouts Should I Do?

According to many training guides, the Base period is mainly about increasing Aerobic Endurance (AE). Simply put, AE workouts are riding for extended periods of time in heart rate zone 2. The minimum ride length is probably 30 minutes, and the maximum depends on the individual. For the first four weeks of Base (Base 1), you'll mostly be doing AE rides -- but it is a good idea to include some Speed workouts too. For weeks 5 through 12 (Base 2 and 3), adding some Force and Muscular Endurance (ME) workouts is recommended. The following general time percent breakdown can be used as a template:

	AE	Speed	Force	ME
Base 1 (weeks 1-4)	90%	10%	--	--
Base 2 (weeks 5-8)	70%	15%	10%	5%
Base 3 (weeks 9-12)	55%	15%	20%	10%

Everyone's heart rate zones are different, so you will need to determine your own zone 2. There are a few ways of doing this. My recommendation is to perform a 30 minute LTHR (lactate threshold heart rate) test. This test is difficult but well worth the time and effort. If you have a power meter the same 30 minute test will give you your LTHR and FTP (functional threshold power). Click here to learn how to perform the 30 minute test.

Once you know your LTHR, you can determine your heart rate zones. They are as follows:

Zone	Percent of LTHR
1 (Active recovery)	< 80
2 (Aerobic threshold)	81 - 89
3 (Tempo)	90 - 93
4 (Lactate threshold)	94 - 99
5a (Super-threshold)	100 - 102
5b (Aerobic capacity)	103 - 106
5c (Anaerobic capacity)	> 106

For example, if you find that your LTHR is 175 bpm, your zone 2 range would be 142 - 155 bpm. Aerobic endurance training will mainly utilize your slow-twitch muscle fibers. These muscle fibers produce most of the power in cycling, with the fast-twitch fibers only utilized during the very high intensity efforts associated with attacking and sprinting. Training in higher zones will be less effective at strengthening your slow-twitch fibers, so during Base training, the more time you can remain in zone 2 the better. With aerobic endurance training, fat is the primary fuel used for exercise (not carbohydrates). Make sure that you fuel your body appropriately.

If you are fairly new to training, the amount of time you should spend riding in zone 2 during the Base period depends on just one thing: how much time you have available. It doesn't matter if you are training for 100-mile road races or 30-minute crits -- the more aerobic endurance miles you can rack up during the Base period, the better. Realize, though, that it is possible to overtrain even when riding at this low intensity. Pay attention to your body and take recovery days to avoid building up too much fatigue. If you have a power meter you can monitor this with your Performance Management Chart (to be discussed in a future blog post).

How Long Should Base Last?

There are a few methods to determining how long your Base period should last. Some training programs simply set it at 8 or 12 weeks. Some individuals I've talked to simply go by weight loss (they have a set racing weight that they shoot for). The methods I'll describe here are not meant to be the rules for ending your Base period -- I provide it because I believe the more information you have about your fitness the better you'll train. So if you want to stick to the 8-week program that is great -- you can still monitor the other techniques described here.

Efficiency Factor

Efficiency Factor (EF) is defined as the average power you produce divided by your average heart rate over the time you spend in zone 2. EF does not apply to time spent outside zone 2, so it is important to maintain a somewhat steady heart rate within your appropriate range. Typical rides require some time to warm-up, so when calculating EF you'll want to make sure you exclude that warm-up time.

EF =	Average Power (watts)
	Average Heart Rate (bpm)

Since EF is dependent on your personal LTHR, comparing your EF with other athletes is of little use. Comparing your own EF from one ride to another, though, is very useful for assessing your aerobic endurance (or generally speaking, fitness). An increase in EF from one ride to another signifies an increase in aerobic endurance. A decrease suggests you have built up significant fatigue and should utilize some recovery. A plateau suggests you have increased your Aerobic Endurance as far as you can with your current training and it may be time for you to move into a Build period.

You will find that your EF for indoor rides will be different from outdoor rides. Typically, due to insufficient body heat management, indoor rides will have lower EF values than outdoor. Additionally, if your indoor rides utilize both rollers and a trainer you will likely find that roller rides have higher EF values than trainer rides. This is because trainers provide constant resistance throughout the pedal stroke while rollers have slightly better "road feel" characteristics.

In the above example, you can see that significant gains in aerobic endurance were achived in the first three weeks. The forth week should have been more of a recovery week to eliminate some of the fatigue that had been built up. By not resting, this example shows a decrease in EF that needed another two weeks to re-gain. With very little change to EF in weeks six through eight, little aerobic endurance was gained during that time and it may have been better to move into the Build period. By monitoring your EF, you can analyze your training to ensure your time is spent wisely.

Decoupling

Another method of determining one's aerobic endurance is by taking a look at Decoupling. When you lack sufficient aerobic endurance, on longer AE rides with steady power output your heart rate will increase over time. Or alternatively, with a steady heart rate your power output will decrease over time. This is referred to as being decoupled, meaning your heart rate is not tracking with your power output. Below are examples of a decoupled ride and a coupled ride.

You can see how the heart rate in the Decoupled ride on the left steadily increases over time even though the power output is held constant. This indicates low aerobic endurance, suggesting additional Base period training in heart rate zone 2 will be beneficial. The Coupled ride on the right indicates good aerobic endurance.

Speed-based Efficiency Factor

If you do not have a power meter, get one. For $700, Stages Cycling has Shimano, SRAM, and FSA offerings. Go order one from Chris at ProBike and tell him Buzz sent you. He'll give you a great deal and reward me with a free valve stem cap for the referral.

If you still don't want to buy a power meter, you can employ an alternative equation for EF to use for your aerobic endurance training. Instead of average power, you can look at asverage speed (and then multiply by 10).

EF =	Average Speed (mph)	* 10
	Average Heart Rate (bpm)

In order to use this method, though, you will need to ensure the following:

• Identical route each time with no stops
• Identical hand position (e.g. on the hoods)
• No wind
• No drafting

Keep in mind that there are still factors that will affect speed-based EF like temperature, tire pressure, position on the bike, clothing, weight, etc. For accurate values you want everything to be as identical as possible. It is almost not worth the trouble and there are so many benefits to training with a power meter I hate to suggest this as an alternative. Seriously, just cancel your cable for six months and go buy a power meter.

A Quick Review

1. The Base period is mainly about increasing your Aerobic Endurance (AE).
2. A generic AE training ride consists of 1-2 hours of steady riding in heart rate zone 2.
3. Determine your personal heart rate zone 2 via the 30-minute LTHR test.
4. Calculate EF for each AE ride to get a feel for your aerobic endurance.
5. If you don't have a power meter, get one.