How To

Five essential items for your winter training plan

Goal setting, endurance vs. intervals, increasing training load, off-the-bike workouts, beating boredom

Goal setting

Summoning the motivation to get out and ride is often the hardest part (Pic: Deborah Malin/Media 24)
Write down your goals and remind yourself of them on a frequent basis
Even if you’re training for speed, never underestimate the importance of a solid endurance base. pic: ©Deborah Malin
You can use a polarized training programme to improve your VO2 Max (pic: Media24)
It’s not all about the bike. Many cyclists vary their training programme through winter (Pic: Winning Health Solutions)
A training diary will help bring some consistency to your preparation (Pic: Media24)

Goal setting

It’s all very well riding regularly, being a gym class hero, circuit training and generally getting a sweat on, but while being active will help maintain fitness, without a goal to work towards after a few weeks you may find yourself asking the question ‘why am I doing this?’ Setting goals and seeing progression are two key ingredients to maintaining motivation.

The first step in planning your winter training is to determine some basic goals. Are you looking to improve your endurance, speed, and efficiency on the bike? To lose weight? Improve strength? Write them down and keep them in a prominent place to act as a reminder. Although it may not seem natural, often setting goals that challenge your weaknesses will provide the best results in the long-run.