Cyclo-Cross: Setting Up the Training Plan

© 2005 Andy Applegate

Cyclo-cross racers can benefit greatly by using the principles of periodization to set up a structured training plan. This allows a steady progression of fitness before and during the season, leading to a fitness peak for the most important races of the year.

 Since a true fitness peak usually only lasts a couple of weeks at most, it is necessary to choose the most important race or races of the season to aim for, and set them as “A” priorities. An A-priority race might be the National Championships, a State Championship or a series final race. Races that are important, but that you will not be “peaking” for should be considered B-priority. These might be other series races or your hometown race. All other races should be considered C-priority and will be used more as training than for results.

 The A, B, Cs of Racing

When competing in a season-long series, it is best to set the series final or last two races as A races, and allow your fitness to improve as the series goes on. This typically allows results to improve race by race along with fitness, while other competitors often have difficulty holding their form until the end. Many series finals hold double points making this strategy even more intelligent.

 One of the ideas of periodization is to stress energy systems, then allow recovery over time. This concept goes from the weekly plan (microcycles) up through three or four week training blocks (mesocycles) and ultimately to the entire training and racing season. The idea of the weekly microcycle is detailed in the example weeks (see sidebars). Mesocycles are composed of two or three progressively harder weeks followed by a recovery week. Many experienced cyclists favor the four-week block, but for cyclo-cross the three-week block has the added benefit of more frequent recovery, often needed while racing most weekends during the ‘cross season. If you find the quality of your workouts suffers during the third hard week of a four-week block, consider switching to a three-week program.

 Periodization Backwards

After prioritizing races the next step is to work backwards from your first A race and lay out the training blocks. The weeks of your A races are “race” weeks. The two weeks preceding these weeks are “peak weeks.” Next, plan your mesocycles leading to the peak weeks. The plan might look something like this:

 Monday of Week

Sept 12          Build week 1

Sept 19          Build week 2

Sept 26          Recovery week

Oct 3               Build week 1

Oct 10             Build week 2

Oct 17             Recovery week

Oct 24             Build week 1

Oct 31             Build week 2

Nov 7              Recovery week

Nov 14            Peak week 1

Nov 21            Peak week 2

Nov 28            Race

Dec 5              Race

 The example above assumes that you have completed a normal progression of base training, working on skills, endurance and strength. You may have competed in road or mountain bike events or used group rides as intense training.

 “Cross Abilities

The most important abilities to work on for ‘cross are:

● Muscular Endurance (ME). Intervals at or near your lactate threshold (LT). These workouts are the corner stone of cyclo-cross racing fitness.

● Anaerobic Endurance (AE). Shorter, all-out type intervals that stress the anaerobic energy system. These efforts are necessary for the start, finish, hills and other bursts of speed needed throughout the race.

● Force (F). Build the muscular strength that will allow you to get over rough ground and through mud or sand as well as getting over hills and accelerate quickly after turns and obstacles.

● Skills (S). Dismounting and remounting quickly, shouldering the bike, hurdling barriers, sprinting run-ups and navigating turns, off camber and downhill sections are just a few of the skills that need to be practiced regularly.

 Workout durations will vary from rider to rider. Before starting the ‘cross specific part of the program you will want to go through a progression of increasing volume. As the ‘cross specific training begins and the workout intensity increases, the duration of workouts should decrease. Since ‘cross is a relatively short event, the duration of endurance rides during the race season does not need to be any longer than two to three hours at most. Workouts that target a specific ability or skills could be one and a half to two hours in duration, while recovery rides and pre-race day rides should only be about an hour.

 You may want to incorporate running into the program as well. It is a good idea to build a small running base, and then add ‘cross specific sprint workouts as the race season approaches. Some riders will be unable to do any sustained running, in which case the running portion of training can be limited to specific drills during skills workouts such as practicing run-ups and barriers.

 “Cross Workouts

Below are a few ideas for workouts that could be incorporated into a ‘cross program.

 ● Cruise intervals. Intervals between 5 and 30 minutes long done at or near lactate threshold with recoveries about one-fourth as long. Vary the difficulty of the workout by increasing work interval duration or decreasing the recovery interval. Try this progression: 4 x 6 minutes, 2 x 15 minutes, 2 x 20 minutes, 3 x 15 minutes, 3 x 20 minutes.

 ● Anaerobic Endurance intervals. Intervals between 1 and 4 minutes at the highest intensity possible for the duration of the work interval. Recovery interval duration should be about the same as the work interval or slightly less. These can be done on flat road or hills. An example would be 4 x 3 minutes with 3-minute recoveries.

 ● ‘Cross starts. From a standing start go all out for 30 to 60 seconds. Use terrains that you might find at your races. Recover 5 minutes between each effort. Start with about 5 repetitions.

 ● Taper Reps. 4x 90 seconds all out with 3-minute recoveries between efforts. These work well as a race- and peak-week intensity workout to maintain top end fitness.

 ● Force repetitions. Done on a flat road or a trainer. Use the big chain ring and a gear that allows only about 50 to 60 rpm. While in the saddle drive the pedals down as hard as possible for 15 to 20 revolutions of the cranks. Do 6 to 10 of these starting a new one every 3 to 5 minutes after warming up.

 ● Force Intervals. Ride 2 x 15 minutes in your hardest gear (53x11-12). Recover for 15 minutes after each effort. Stay seated and try for a smooth cadence of 50 to 60rpm. Keep your upper body still and spin circles. This can be done on a slight upgrade or soft surface such as grass.

 ● Pre Race workout. On race bike set-up, do 7-10 x 8-12 second, max-effort sprints (3-minute recoveries). Include a good warm-up and cool down. Otherwise ride easily.

 ● Race simulation. Do 2 to 4 cruise intervals near LT on a cyclo-cross practice course. Include obstacles, run-ups and various surfaces. The total length of the work intervals should be equal to, or slightly longer than actual race duration. Recovery intervals should be 50 percent or less of the work interval.

 If you set up a cyclo-cross training program using some of these ideas you will avoid the tendency to plateau or even lose fitness through the ‘cross competition season, and instead see an increase in performance leading to peak performance during goal races.

 Andy Applegate heads a2 coaching and is an elite-level road, cyclo-cross, and mountain bike racer. He may be reached at aapplegate@ultrafit.com. For more information on coaching go to www.ultrafit.com.

Originally published VeloNews Fall 2005