6/3 Nutshell Plan
* 7 days in a week, 1 day off = 6 daily sessions
* Winter: 3 long sessions, 2 medium sessions, 1 hard session per week
* When clocks go forward, or six weeks before your first race: 2 of each per week
* Hard sessions must be followed by rest day or long session.
* Long = 2hrs+ steady pace, sweating but chatty, stop to eat as needed. Should finish tired and hungry but able to do another hour if required.
* Medium = 15m steady then either 2*20min, with 5m easy between; or 40-60m, at fast but sustainable pace - not chatty, but able to talk, and not 'hanging on'. Should finish the session out-of-breath, with your legs hard-pushed, but able to carry on for 10-15m without really suffering. Emphasis on very consistent effort+cadence. For the longer workout, the pace will be slightly slower but the effort will feel the same towards the end.
* Hard = 10-15m steady with a couple of fast bursts; then 8-20 * (15-40s very fast sprint, 2-6 min easy) focusing on a high cadence and smooth action; no more than 5m total sprint time. In summer also use same warmup plus 6*(3m 'race', 5m easy). Race is highest sustainable pace: should be hard to complete the last two but not the first few.
More details
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Not enough time: If you can't commit the time, drop a long session; then a medium; then alternate a hard with a medium each week (winter) or drop it (summer). If you're tight for time one week, you can shorten the medium/hard sessions but don't shorten the longs - better to drop one and do the rest properly.
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If you have to miss or abandon a session: it's gone! Never try to squeeze it back in, just do the next one properly. Rest is part of the program – if you pack everything in, you aren’t doing it properly any more.
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Riding form: a good cadence (pedal rotations per minute) is around 85-95. Most beginners (and me!) tend to ride lower. Get used to lower gearing and build the cadence, trying to keep a 'light' feeling even when the work is on. On every ride, try to keep a steady, relaxed posture, don't rock or wobble around.
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Easing in: the winter program assumes you are already fit, with plenty of miles and some speed work or TTs under your belt.
But if you've just got the mileage, and not the speed, leave the hard sessions for a month or so until you are happy with the Medium level.
If you haven't got the basic fitness, just do steady sessions ("long" pace, building up the distance) with days off between until you are comfortable with 2hrs+; then bring in the Medium, and finally the Hard sessions a few weeks later.
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Progression: in the winter, you should feel fresher after long rides by end of month 1. Increase distances steadily if you can. In the summer season, you can increase the number or duration of hard repetitions by ~10% every 2 weeks if you are completing the sessions consistently. The pace of the medium sessions should rise as you gain fitness, but the duration remains the same.
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Competition month: imagine an important event is at end of week 3. To produce a performance peak for it:
Week 1: overload. Stick in extra reps in hard sessions, 3rd rep in medium. Only do this if you feel up to it, or you risk getting sick.
Week 2: normal.
Week 3: all sessions half duration, keep sprints near start of week.
Week 4 (after event): winter pattern with first session as a half-length easy recovery ride (a little easier than Long), or other form of light exercise.
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HR version: calculate your 'threshold' heart rate (HR) by doing a 10mile flat time trial and taking your heart rate after 10m and again at the end. This is easiest if you have a Heart Rate Monitor (see...). Your 'threshold' (which relates to the maximum effort you can sustain for more than a few minutes) is the average of the two rates. You may have to repeat this if you feel you paced it wrong (failed to maintain hard+even pace).
Then HR guides for the different sessions are:
Long - 85-95% of threshold for most of the ride after warming up.
(So if your threshold is 170bpm, you should aim to be between 144 and 162 for the majority of a long ride. Generally, your HR creeps up even during steady work, so you should be happy to stay near the lower end of your range for the first half.)
Medium - 95-100% of threshold for most of the ride after warming up.
Hard - 105% of threshold; for sprints, not relevant. Rate may take a while to climb during first few hard intervals.
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Hills: Hills add excitement to rides; and you need to get used to them if you're going to race over them. So use them - but be careful, because hills tend to push up the intensity.
- A long club run with some big climbs in it almost combines a Medium and a Long session. Consider a day off or an easier Long session the next day.
- An hour+ ride with some rolling hills in it makes a great Hard "race" session. Attack each hill and keep pushing right over the summit; aim to put in 15-20m hard climbing in total. Keep nice and steady on the way back.
- Include hills in a Medium session but don't attack them - stick to the HR/effort guides.
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Nutrition: You need to eat and drink enough to fuel your work, and go heavy on the carbs. Always take a bottle; on any long ride you need food (starchy, sugary stuff like bananas, cereal bars, etc) or sports drink too. Always eat something sweet and starchy within 15m of finishing a session; it helps recovery. If you manage to train each day you will be continually hungry and you need to eat often to keep your strength. Sugar is good during exercise but go easy on it otherwise.
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Self-regulation: Take waking pulse rate each morning + record. If rate rises >=3 beats 3 days in a row, ease off or rest. If you feel rubbish, don't go riding. If you can't stick to the work, just ride home; do the next session properly. If it happens again, take a couple of days rest, and come back at a lower intensity until you feel stronger. Always try to give yourself time and sleep to recover; if you're under pressure elsewhere, you have to moderate your training.
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Develop awareness: One of the most useful things for any athlete training or racing is a good sense of how you feel - both before and during exercise. Use HR etc as a guide, but think how tired/fresh you feel before a session and adjust the work if required. Also, pay attention to how you feel during the session, and try to pace yourself properly. As you get more experience in linking how you feel to the work you manage to do, you will develop a better sense of pace, which will help you train and race more effectively by working as hard as you need to, but no harder. Pay attention to what's happening around you as you train as well; for your safety and to build general "road sense".
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Don't train alone: Use the club's rides in your training. It's good for company, advice and your group-riding skills. The Tuesday Chain Gang in Summer is a great Hard session; the Thursday Spoco a tough Medium; and the weekend rides are good Longs. Details are all on this website.
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Assessment: If you want to check your progress, once per month, replace a Medium with a ~10 mile time trial (=30m at roughly medium pace, sprinting at the end). Choose a flat circuit with clear start/finish markings. Pick a calm dry day if you can, record time and HR. Use the HR to update your threshold figure. Don’t panic if it doesn’t improve much the second time…
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Illness and Injury: don't train when you're ill AT ALL - it can be dangerous, especially if you have any fever symptoms (see pulse guide above). You can train with a head cold if you feel up to it. Never train the first day you feel better, give it at least an extra day or you'll relapse...
For injuries: if a pain or niggle starts to worry you, see a doctor and/or sports physiotherapist. Optimism is expensive in the long run, so get help early. Listen to their advice, and make sure you stay away long enough to recover properly; then start back gradually. You may be surprised how little fitness you lose during a lay-off, especially if you've been training hard.
Example Weekly Plans
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Example week - Winter:
Sunday - Long: 3-4hr club run.
Monday - Off
Tuesday - Hard: Sprints 20*15s/2m Easy.
Wednesday - Long: 2hr solo ride
Thursday - Medium: 45m fast sustainable pace
Friday - Long: 2hr30
Saturday - Medium: 2*20m fast sustainable pace
[Total 10.5-11.5hrs including warmups]
That plan makes sense physiologically by spacing out the work; but for most people, keeping longer rides at the weekend is useful - so move Saturday's Medium to Tuesday and shuffle Tue-Fri forward one day.
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Example weeks - Summer: In summer it's more of a challenge to space the sessions correctly to allow recovery.
1. Standard Week
Sunday - Long: 3-4hr club run.
Monday - Medium: 2*20m
Tuesday - Hard: Intervals 6*3m Race/5m Easy
Wednesday - Off
Thursday - Medium: 45m
Friday - Hard: Sprints 10*30s/4m Easy.
Saturday - Long: 2-3hrs
[Total 9-11hrs including warmups]
2. Sociable/Hard week
Sunday - Long+Medium: 4-6hr club run with hard climbs.
Monday - [Recovery: 75m/Off/Medium 3*20m]
Tuesday - Hard: Chain Gang
Wednesday - Off
Thursday - Medium: Spoco time trial
Friday - Long: 2-3hrs
Saturday - Hard: Sprints 8*40s/6m Easy.
[Total 10-14hrs]
Tries to incorporate as many club rides as possible. Unfortunately it's difficult to keep both Long rides at the weekend if you want to ride the Spoco, because following a flat-out TT with a Hard session on Friday is not sensible. I would not recommend this scheme week after week unless you have built up a serious training capacity, and are able to get plenty of rest and sleep.
Normally you would take an extra day off or recovery ride on the Monday after a long hilly Sunday ride; but in an Overload week (week 1 of competition month) you can put in the Medium session and keep going.
Enjoy it, focus on what you want from it, and go out and race when you're ready.