4 Common Training Plan Mistakes You Can Fix

As a professional coach, I've seen it time and time again. At the end of the year, a cyclist comes to me to discuss what went wrong. He or she rode plenty of miles, did interval training and maybe even some strength training in the offseason. So why didn't all the hard work add up to good results?

The problem is that a lot of cyclists spend plenty of time training, but not nearly as much effort goes into planning. Since not every cyclist has the luxury of a coach to map out a plan for them, the self-coached athlete will need to make a thorough and detailed training plan to be successful.

Use these tips to avoid common self-coached athlete mistakes in order to design a training plan that leads to success.

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What You Need to Get Started

When I consult with a cyclist to build a plan for the entire year, I request that he or she bring me the following information (usually on an Excel spreadsheet) to discuss, at minimum:

• A line for each week between now and the last race of the season.
• Planned and prioritized races. A-races are most important, B-races are less important and C-races are used for training.
• A plan weekly training hours.
• The three most important goals for the season.
• Daily training details (actual workouts) for one week within the next month, one week that's roughly three months out and one week that's six months out.
• A list of questions.

Once you have the above information recorded, let's take a look at how you can avoid common errors in order to fine-tune a detailed plan for the season.

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Too Many A-Races

My preference is that athletes select two or three A-races. The rest of the training plan is designed around these events and your three most important goals for the season.

You might think that the A-races are the most important goals for the season, but this isn't necessarily true. For some athletes, they are the same. For others, A-races only play a role in achieving their goals. For example, a cyclist has a goal of to stay with the lead pack in six races. Some of the races necessary to achieve this goal are B-events.

If you plan to race a series of events and your goal is to achieve an overall title ranking by gaining points in each race, the planning can be tricky. If the A-races are close together in the timeline, I might suggest an A-race block rather than one A-race.

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In all cases, training volume is reduced (tapered) heading into A-races in order to peak for the event(s). If done correctly, there will need to be a recovery and a rebuilding phase after these A-races are complete.

For cyclists who race often, the temptation is to consider every race an A-race. After all, who wouldn't want to be on the podium at every single race they enter? The problem with this kind of thinking is, that more often than not, you will lose focus of the events that are most important. The result will be mediocre performances at all of your races.

Recommendation: Plan no more than three A-races. Keep your focus on your season's goals. Plan to taper and be in peak fitness only for these events.

Not Looking Far Enough Ahead

Let's assume that you've laid out your annual plan. You've slotted in the races and appropriate priorities. You've even managed to plan detailed workouts for the next two weeks.

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This is an important step towards reaching your goals, but for many cyclists this is where the planning ends. Cyclists begin the workouts and start logging data. The next week of training may already be planned, but more often than not, workouts beyond this point are planned right before the ride. This shortsighted approach can leave you without the race fitness necessary to perform at a high level in the most important races of the year. By the time you realize you're short on race fitness, it's too late.

Recommendations: After you outline your plan for the year and detail one or two weeks worth of workouts, the next thing that you need to do is write down specific workouts for each 3 to 8 week block for the next 3 to 6 months. Give some thought to the progression that needs to occur. What will the workout progression look like between now and your first A-race of the season? Will you do 2 x 20 minutes at lactate threshold power (or heart rate) every week of the season, or will you need more variety and intention in your workout schedule?

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Lack of Race-Specific Training

Let's say your first A-race has a hill that's a half-mile long and has an average grade of 6 percent. The event repeats the hill five times, and during our consultation, you tell me that every time you've done the event you get dropped on the same hill during the third lap. This is great information that tells us what you need to work on so that it doesn't happen again.

On the other hand, your good friend is training for races that include long climbs that are 6 to 10 miles in length. The two of you do nearly all of your training together or with the team, which is great for motivation. However, if all of your training sessions are done together, one of you will not get the race-specific training needed to reach your goals.

Recommendations: Plan your training sessions to mimic the course of your A-race 3 to 6 weeks ahead of the event. If you haven't done the race before, go online and look for elevation profiles of the course. If training partners will help you during key workouts, ask others to join you but make sure not to deviate too much from the plan.

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Unwillingness to Change Your Plan

When something comes up (and it's bound to) and throws a wrench into your well-thought-out plan, you'll need to modify it to work around that unplanned business trip. Sometimes you'll only need minor modifications; others may require larger changes.

When a significant replanning effort is necessary, self-coached cyclists often throw in the towel and resort back to unplanned workouts because it's too much work to redo your entire schedule.

Recommendations: Yes, it is time consuming to rework a training plan. Skip watching a night of TV or cruising social media in your free time. Instead, sit down and spend some time planning for your success.

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