The Training Plan

When we started this race team we acknowledged that 2009 would be a learning year for most of us. With only a couple of riders on the team with race experience, we were forced to come up with our own training schedules, tactics, and course reconnaissance. Now that the first year is behind us, it is important that we take a moment to reflect on what we learned and be sure we apply that knowledge to the next year.

One of the best pieces of information I gathered from last year was the race calendar. I had no idea that the race schedule would be comprised of 2 blocks of racing. The first block occurs in the Springand is made up primarily of road races while the second block is in the Summer and is made of criteriums. The types of events and when they occur in the season are important pieces of data for developing an effective training plan. But I am getting ahead of myself...

This is the first of several posts designed to help develop an effective training plan for next year. The information I will be sharing is borrowed heavily from The Cyclist's Training Bible by Joel Friel. I have mentioned this publication before and I want to repeat myself, "If you don't own this book, you owe it to yourself to purchase it."

Before we get started, you need to download the Annual Training Plan worksheet from trainingbible.com. Don't be alarmed if the worksheet is meaningless to you upon initial review. In upcoming posts, I will help explain the worksheet as well as provide some guidelines for filling it out.