Off season training: Part 4- Aerobic Endurance +

This is part 4 in a series of how I've been training on the Morris Plan

Ok to recap:

Off season training Part 1 - Intro
Part 2 Macro View
Part 3 - Strength Training
Primer on Intervals

So at this point we've just finished our Power Phase in the weight room. And we are going to an endurance phase


As part of that phase we've been lifting lower weights at higher speed and started to get back on the bike and also do some sprint intervals to begin transitioning all that weight room strength into cycling specific strength.

Now Comes Aerobic Endurance. I added the (+) to the title because there is a little more here than just LSD (long steady distance) I always think of the movie Escape from the Planet of the Apes when Zeera called champagne Grape Juice +. But I digress.

This phase is what a lot of people think about when they think Off season. Long easy rides, never taking it out of the little ring. Some programs I've seen call for 3-4 months of this type of riding. This program calls for 3 weeks in this specific phase. That doesn't mean when you aren't ever going to be doing some long rides later in the year. Because if your races are X distance, then during the year you are going to be doing rides that distance and at race intensity.

But the actual LSD riding in this program is only 3 weeks. Which I like cause I just don't have the time or patience for 3 months of long riding. And the simple fact is to race mountian bikes at the Vet Sport level for 1.5-2.5 (maybe 3 hrs) I don't need lots of 4 hour easy road rides.

How long you need to ride depends on your events. Cat 1-2 are going to probably need some 6hr rides in there. 3-4 maybe 4-5hr. For me at vet sport mountain bike racing maybe 3-4hr.

The (+) part is making sure to do some sprinting, some High resistance-low cadence intervals (Muscle Endurance), and leadout intervals( like sprints but instead of 10 secs something like 20-30sec)

Why? Well you just spent all that time in the weight room making some serious strength, and if you only do LSD it's all going fade away. By doing the sprints, ME and Leadouts you are transitioning that strength to cycling specific power while at the same time doing some aerobic to get your body ready for the hard intervals to come.

So an example 10 schedule might look like this (*taken right from Dave's book):


Notice the 'blocks'. Successive days but where the duration is cut from day to day but intensity stays the same, then followed by rest.

Also notice how you do sprints at the start of a long ride one day and then ME work at the end of a ride the next day. This lets you do the hardest stuff when you are fresh, and then really work the legs for the ME stuff when they are already tired.

I've found this to work really well and be time efficient. The sprints are hard, really hard. But are doable when fresh. The ME work I love and is also doable when the legs are a little tired.

Of course, this phase always seems to roll around when the weather is the worst here in Virginia. And I always end up skimping on the long rides. Hopefully I can stick with it this year.