Autumn sees the end of the sportive and racing season, and with it a drop in intensity as many riders return settle down into a winter of base training in order to build fitness and form for next year.

But what exactly is base training and how do you it? James Spragg, a professional cyclist and coach, is on hand with six things you need to know to make the most of your winter training…

Base training is the name given to the training that teaches your body to utilise oxygen as efficiently as possible. Base training rides are typically long and steady, undertaken at a moderate intensity which allows your body to make the necessary adaptations. Winter, therefore, is the perfect time to build you base. The name comes from the idea of looking at form as a pyramid. Just like the building blocks of a pyramid, all the training you do builds on top of the training you have already done, growing towards a peak of form. However, base training actually serves two purposes.

[series align=”left”]

Firstly, it puts in place the first big foundations for everything else to build on – it essentially teaches you body to deal with a given amount of training and this means that later on in the spring or summer, when you are doing harder training sessions, your body will be able to cope and you won’t become too tired. Just like in a pyramid, the bigger and stronger the foundation, the higher the peak of form can be, and the bigger your base, the harder you will be able to train further down the line to make those adaptations.

The second purpose of base training is to improve the efficiency of your body in order to increase the power, and therefore speed, at which you can ride without becoming fatigued. As a simple example, this means that if two riders are riding together then the one with the biggest base will be the freshest at the bottom of the last climb in the Etape du Tour. At the end of a big event this is often what makes the difference. Also, as outlined above, by having a bigger base they will have given themselves the opportunity to build a bigger peak of fork.

It should be noted that base training takes time and there is no quick fix – but put the foundations in place and you will reap the rewards. We’ll cover how to do that on the next page.