{"id":6343,"date":"2024-12-26T15:03:43","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T20:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wahoofitness.com\/?p=6343"},"modified":"2022-02-22T08:45:58","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T13:45:58","slug":"winter-base-miles-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wahoofitness.com\/blog\/winter-base-miles-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Base Miles? Do Them or Not?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conventional wisdom holds that winter is the season of base training, also known as\u00a0Long Steady Distance\u00a0<\/strong>(LSD). This means countless hours riding at a steady mellow pace for weeks on end in order to lay a \u2018foundation\u2019 for the more intense training sessions in the spring and summer. Without all those base miles, the thinking goes, your body can\u2019t possibly handle all that intensity later on. But is that true?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fortunately for the\u00a0<\/i>time-crunched\u00a0athlete,\u00a0<\/strong>the supposed benefits of high-volume, low-intensity training is more about tradition and less about science.\u00a0Don\u2019t get us wrong: doing long, steady base miles\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0improve your overall fitness if you have plenty of time to spend in the saddle, but for those of us that don’t have 20+ hours a week to train, it’s not the best way to structure your winter training.<\/p>\n

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THE MYTH OF CREATING A “BASE”<\/b><\/h2>\n
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The problem with the traditional \u201cbase phase\u201d<\/a> of many training plans is the time commitment required to see any real benefits.\u00a0To see any substantive return from LSD rides you need to dedicate a minimum of 16 hours a week, with some weeks requiring upwards of 25 hours of training. Do you really have that much time?<\/p>\n

While that might be an option for full-time professional cyclists, chances are you\u2019re not able to get out and train that much.\u00a0For you, LSD riding is a waste of time — time you don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

Numerous studies have shown that when athletes with a fixed amount of training time switch from training that includes high-intensity efforts to only low-intensity training, they actually see a\u00a0decrease\u00a0in critical metrics like VO2 max (your body’s maximum ability to utilize oxygen). Training stress triggers adaptation and improvements in fitness. Only when you present your body with a different challenge will it make changes to become stronger and more efficient. If you are a rider with a few years of\u00a0training\u00a0in your legs\u00a0then\u00a0<\/strong>doing a few 10 hour weeks of nothing but Long Slow Distance rides will only de-train you.<\/p>\n

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You are riding a lot, but you are getting\u00a0slower.<\/i><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Many unfortunate\u00a0riders have convinced themselves that doing low-intensity, high volume weekends during the winter is enough to get those benefits from LSD riding. Sorry to break it to you, but that’s not going to work.\u00a0For LSD\u00a0training to really work you need to be hitting those big days at least five times a week.\u00a0So hitting your weekends hard and riding once or twice during the week for an hour isn’t going to cut it.<\/p>\n

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WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING IN THE OFF-SEASON?<\/b><\/h2>\n
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The question then becomes, \u201cHow should I be\u00a0training over the winter?\u201d\u00a0 Your off-season training should include:<\/p>\n