Below the Base: foundation training for 2020
by Campfire Head Coach Chris Bagg
Hey! You survived your offseason. Nice work. Haven’t taken your off-season yet? Go back and read the first part of this series: Why you Need an Offseason (Even a Short One!). Once you’ve hit the goals of that slice of your training year (rest, enthusiasm, acute training load almost to zero) it’s time to turn your attention to the first part of the year, which I call Foundation Training. One issue with teaching in general, and endurance training specifically, is that few standards in vocabulary exist throughout the particular subculture. What I call “foundation” someone else might call “base.” What I call “base” someone else may call “early season.” The issue truly gets thorny once we begin discussing training intensity (I’m looking at you “tempo,” you chameleon), but as with any issue of nomenclature, the goal of any piece of writing that aims to educate and edify is to move past the labels and provide understandable frameworks so we all can move forward productively. It matters little that I call something foundation that someone else calls base—we both can probably agree that this type of training returns a resting athlete to motion safely, setting him or her up for a productive remainder of the season.
Campfire athlete Bridget F. rocking her off season in New Hampshire
OK, credibility lift out of the way, what does a season look like, anyway? Well, I like simplicity, and I think a season consists of at most two macrocycles that each include most of the following phases (the second yearly macrocycle most likely omits the phase we’re going to talk about today). Those phases are:
foundation—checking and preparing the engine
base training—building the engine
pre-competition—sharpening the engine
competition—maintaining and tuning the engine
transition—mid-season break or offseason
Depending on your particular level and your goals, the competition phase may be short or quite long, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Today we’re going to talk about part one, the Foundation Period. Some coaches may include this period in their Base Training. That’s fine, and I can understand why they would do that. I separate them because the Foundation Period carries with it more flexibility than the Base Training, allowing athletes to train as they feel on a given day, provided they hit their weekly targets in terms of number of workouts and volume of training. It is a more unstructured period that allows the athlete to discover his or her ideal, repeatable, and sustainable weekly structure of training, something that will become crucial in the heavier Base Training period.
Campfire athlete Becky B. re-entering with a cold run in Massachusetts
Frequency, Consistency, Fun
When you’re starting back up (or starting out for the first time) your primary goal is frequency—that is, the number of times you can engage each discipline over the course of your training microcycle. For some people this is the seven-day week, but for others it may be as short as four days and as many as ten. Let’s stick with a seven-day week for simplicity, and you can extrapolate in either direction, depending on your needs. I think 11 sessions per week is a good number for the vast majority of athletes, broken down as follows:
3 sessions of your strongest discipline
3 sessions of your second strongest discipline
4 sessions of your weakest discipline (for 90% of triathletes, this is the swim)
1 strength and mobility session
OK, now the question that’s already on your mind: how long should each session be? Here’s the trick about the foundation period: as long as its longer than 20 minutes, it doesn’t matter. Remember, the first goal here is frequency, which we’ve already established. The second goal is consistency, and to achieve that goal, the workouts must excite and engage you, rather than daunt you. Since an athlete’s weakest discipline is most likely the swim, here’s how you decide how long those are: as long as you can swim while still enjoying yourself (and making it over the 20-minute time boundary). So if that means four 20-minute swims during this period, I’ll take it, as long as the athlete is enjoying him or herself in the water. If that’s too much time in the pool, it may be time to consider duathlon, or…checkers. For me, the run has always been my weakest sport, so here is what my foundation week looks like:
bike (or skate ski): three one-and-a-half to two-hour sessions
swim: three one hour swims, totally around 10k per week
run: four runs: one 30-minute, one 45-minute, one 25-minute, and one 60-minute
strength (another weakness): one 45-minute session, outlined at the bottom of this article
What if your enthusiasm is through the roof, and you want to do four-hour rides and 15-mile runs right off the bat? Remember, again, that our second goal is consistency, both now and later in the year, and starting off aggressively only leads to burnout later. Here are some limits I would impose upon my more gung-ho athletes.
bike: no longer than 90 minutes on the weekdays, and up to three hours of easy riding on the weekend (but only one of those)
run: no longer than 45 minutes on the weekdays, and up to 90 minutes on the weekend (but only one of those)
swim: no longer than 60 minutes, with a possible exception of up to 90 minutes if I’ve got a real swimmer on my hands
Finally, our third goal is fun, and to most athletes this means their weekly dose of intensity. Intensity is enjoyable, because most people are drawn to this sport in order to go fast and to feel fast. Intensity also feels hard (well, it is hard), and many athletes correlate that feeling with improvement and with the endorphins that hard exercise releases into our bodies and brains. The problem with intensity is that it is tiring, and we want to be careful with anything that makes us fast in February but jaded in June. What’s the upper limit on intensity during this period, and just what constitutes intensity? This is a far more nuanced topic than I can get through here, but the whole point of an article such as this one is to avoid complexity, so here goes. First of all, how intense? There are many ways to calculate intensity, but many studies show again and again that an athlete’s own rating of “hard” correlates closes to his or her second lactate threshold. If you’re a numbers person, “hard” usually shows up at seven out of ten on the standard rating of perceived exertion scale (RPE) or 15 and higher on the more useable 6-20 Borg scale of perceived exertion. For each sport, limit yourself to no more than ten minutes per seven-day microcycle at or above 7/10 or 15/20.
Gettin’ re-entry rides done on the Wahoo Fitness® KICKR trainers
How Long and What Order?
I would suggest 30 days of this style of training, which is enough to ease you back into the sport, give you a chance to reconnect with your training partners (which is probably the most important part of this period), and touch some of those higher intensity windows. At the end of those thirty days, you’ll be able to look at your training log, and you’ll be surprised at how much training time you’ve racked up, with ideally little logistical effort or stress. In terms of when the workouts fall during the week? I don’t really care. As long as you’re hitting the number of workouts required, you can put them in whenever they work. At the end of thirty days, look at your log for patterns—this is most likely your regular sustainable training calendar, arrived at organically based off of your schedule—not an arbitrary decision imposed upon you by your coach. For me, here’s what my sustainable foundation week looks like:
Monday: strength, 30-40’ run (Mondays are usually my second-busiest day of the week, and this is about all I can get in)
Tuesday: 60’ swim, 90’ ride
Wednesday: 45-60’ run, 60’ ride
Thursday: 60 minute swim, 90’ ride
Friday: 60-90’ swim (Fridays are my busiest day of the week, spent all day on the phone talking with athletes, and all that is possible is an early morning swim)
Saturday: 90-180’ ride or skate ski, 25’ run
Sunday: 60-90’ run, 60’ recovery spin
Once you’ve settled into your schedule over the course of a month, you and your coach can simply begin to turn the dials of duration and intensity as the year progresses and your fitness builds, all while sticking to the skeleton you’ve established here in the foundation period. The goal is to make training habitual and easy to begin (if you start a workout, you’re likely to finish it), and routine goes most of the way to achieving that goal.
This dynamic warmup is essential for the following strength training sesh
Keep the Strength Simple
I’m not a strength coach, but I’ve had the privilege of working with many great physical therapists and conditioning coaches over the years. Strength work in the foundation period focuses on improving durability of connective tissue and waking up dormant or unused muscle fibers. Coordination is key, as movement quality in your strength sessions will make for improved movement quality in your swimming, cycling, and running. Every session you do should have a warmup, some lower leg pushing actions, some lower leg and upper body pulling actions, and some work designed to improve your core’s ability to limit rotation during action. Here is a sample session, below, with vid links to demo the more unusual ones:
2x8 Romanian dead lift or hex bar deadlifts
50-100 med ball rotations
2x8 front squat
3 sets of pull-ups to failure (you’ll very likely achieve a total number in the single digits, even over three sets)
Campfire athlete Annick A. religiously practices the above routine
So, remember that lethargic feeling you had during your off days, when you panicked you were losing water-feel or speed? Find new, fresh, excited energy for your first workouts of 2022. Envision your first race (do you know the course?), and remember: frequency, consistency, and fun!
No Arm Warmers, No Regrets: dress perfectly to train in any weather with your own personal guides
by CBCG athlete, Amy VT
You’ve got to get out the door for a ten mile run, but you have an inner chill. A glance out the window revealing a gray drizzle is uninviting, to say the least. So you bundle up in layers and a shell, a hat and gloves, and thermal tights only to be cooking yourself five minutes into the sesh. You didn’t need the gloves or shell at all, and now you’re stuck carrying them awkwardly.
Rosanne Kelley knows when it’s time for tights and an earband
It’s the first sunny day in weeks and you’re stoked to get out and ride. You surely only need a basic kit with a simple base layer, right? Rounding the corner from your house, though, you wish you had full-finger gloves. Hitting 20-mph on the open road, you wish you had your arm warmers. Descending a steepie in the shade, you wish you had all the above, and a wind vest.
Jeff Lam is glad he wore his neck gaiter
Hej! You’re all waxed up and you just got a new Swix® ear band for Christmas. Nordic skiing sounded like a rad idea, but staying in to watch The Godfather trilogy under a blanket sounds much better right now. Yeah, it’s sunny, but it’s negative 13-degrees Celsius out there! You decide to psych yourself up with a few burpees, and sport a full parka, tights, wind pants, your impossibly huge gloves, and a pom-pom beanie. Sho ‘nuff, five minutes into your skate ski (you know, the sport that utilizes every muscle and spikes your heart rate?) you realize you don’t need your hat or jacket.
CBCG athlete Annick Chalier found the perfect conditions for a Wattie Ink. Thermal Jacket
It’s impossible to judge precisely what to wear to train outside when you’re sitting around inside. An inner chill can be deceptive, as can a glance out to the sunny street glimpsing scantily clad passers-by.
Thus, I created my own formulae to help me dress for any sport in any weather and avoid regrets. My guides are super-specific to me (I run cold), as well as super-specific to conditions and types of workouts. They can be hard to trust when I'm bracing myself for those first steps in the cold wind, but I’ve continued to refine each guide to precision, and now I simply cross-reference them with my weather app and workout type, and have faith.
Here’s my running guide. Would you believe it took me over a year to refine? I kept tweaking and adjusting as I observed when I shed my gloves, or stripped down to a sports bra. Note that one key variable is workout intensity, since I dress differently for sprinting on the track versus jogging an easy reco run.
And, voila, my cycling guide. So many variables here, especially when it comes to whether I’m riding in the sun or not. There’s a ton of wiggle room with cycling, too, as shells are easily stuffed in burrito bags, and arm warmers are designed to come off while you’re in the saddle. I don’t get into the different genres - MTB, gravel, TT, easy group ride, etc. - but I am familiar enough with my own personal guides that I can extrapolate.
Skiing is my latest addition to my lists, since I believe it can be the hardest apparel to judge. Sun exposure and wind are crucial variables, especially since I often ski high in the sky in Colorado. Last year I spectated my coach, Chris Bagg in the Birkebeiner, the largest and most famous Nordic ski race in the world. I was shivering on the sidelines in a parka as I watched racers skate by in tank tops and no hat! I mostly need my guide to convince me to not add that extra layer since I’ll regret it when I get going, but it’s also useful for the most important wardrobe choice any skier faces: beanie, earband, buff, or no hat at all.
You should make your own! My personal ones actually reside in the notes app on my phone, so I’ve always got ‘em. I contemplated printing these prettier ones to post on the fridge, but that would be selfish as someone else in my household runs hot, so our layering standards are totally different. I recommend being patient as you create, change, and refine yours for specific conditions, and you should totally extend to other sports. I’d love to see what you draw up for paddling, snowboarding, golfing, or cornhole. Next up for me: rollerblading.
My coach, Chris Bagg and I love to ski in our neck gaiters and Wattie Ink. Thermal Jackets
You can, too! How to Race Online with Zwift®
by CBCG coach Molly Balfe
Travel might not be possible right now, but I’m happily rolling through my big gear intervals in the countryside around Yorkshire. A local cyclist is giving everyone cool historical facts about his town, which I’m only slightly distracted from by the exclamations of “ojisjsdjlsdjoijiosdjsdfljlsdjkljsdfjlsfidnzfnssd” from another nearby rider. Thankfully, a third cyclist jumps with a mildly annoyed, “DUDE. You’re sweating on your phone!” Like many of you, my experience with social distancing has been punctuated by a LOT of indoor training. There was a time when my trainer gathered dust for most of the year; now it has a near-permanent setup in my small apartment’s living room.
Thanks to a fortuitous Christmas present from my little brother, I’ve been lucky enough to explore the virtual worlds of Zwift® while suffering through my indoor workouts. The platform’s graphics and achievements are pretty motivating, but the real benefit for me was the feeling that I was meeting up with friends for a group ride. It was a lot like my NYC training days of riding loops of Prospect Park - even the random dudes who hang on your wheel were there! In the early weeks of the pandemic, I signed on to train with thousands of people from all over the world. I started to recognize names, I made virtual friends, and I chatted with my real friends through the Zwift® Companion App.
Regular training led to some fitness increases right at the same time as races started to get cancelled. I’m not sure what came over me - perhaps a touch of perceived scarcity syndrome wherein people panic when they fear something might not be available, like toilet paper - but I was suddenly yearning for racing more than ever. I wanted to get out and suffer with friends and strangers and get an idea of where I was after a long winter of indoor rides. I had seen Zwift races through promotional emails, but I wasn’t sure what it entailed or if it was something that was within my reach. Without giving it too much thought, I decided to dive right in and sign up for something. Here is a recap of what I learned after making a whole lot of mistakes:
1) Connect your account
Anyone can sign up for a Zwift race, but if you want your results listed you need to sign up for and verify an account with Zwift Power. You can find good instructions here, make sure to read them carefully to ensure your results get posted.
2) Pick an event
Before you settle on a specific event, select a category in which you want to race:
A: 4.0 w/kg FTP or higher
B: 3.2 w/kg to 4.0 w/kg FTP
C: 2.5 w/kg to 3.2 w/kg FTP
D: Under 2.5 w/kg FTP
Once you’ve determined your category, head on over to the Zwift Companion App and click on “events” to find a list of upcoming races. Make sure you check out the race descriptions to see what the rules are and learn a bit more about what to expect. For additional information and more filters, check out the event listings on Zwift Power.
3) Know the course
There is a lot of variation in terrain on Zwift. Tempus Fugit is flat and fast, but the climb in Innsbruck features over 1300 feet of vertical gain in less than 5 miles! You don’t want to be surprised by the fact that your 16k race is straight up a hill, so go ahead and check out the course description before your race starts.
4) Set up your gear
Because all of this racing fun is virtual, it relies pretty heavily on technology. I recommend signing in early so you can get a good warm up and make sure everything is working properly. Plug in your laptop, ensure your heart rate monitor and smart trainer are connected, and open up the Companion App so you can chat with your fellow racers. Remember your real-world setup as well! Get a towel (seriously, get a towel), fill your water bottles, and establish and memorize your pacing plan of attack. Just like any race, it is crucial to have some idea of where your effort level and wattage should be.
As for my first Zwift racing experience? I made pretty much every mistake I just outlined. I chose a race by mileage alone, thinking it would last me about an hour (it was much longer). Midway through the race I had to get off my bike to plug in my dying laptop (thereby losing the group I was riding with). I started much too hard and pushed a few tougher sections thinking that the race would end with a downhill (it ended with a 4-mile climb). Luckily, no one can see the result of all this, because I failed to connect my account to Zwift Power. I hope you can benefit from my learning curve and avoid all of the above. My most salient takeaways, however, is that online racing is both an ideal outlet for some of that untapped race energy, and a gateway for a whole lot of sweaty fun. It can also be relatively anonymous fun, so go ahead and make some mistakes in the name of racing!
Coach disclaimer: think very carefully about how this type of racing integrates into your training schedule and your bigger goals. Online racing is very tough and could impact your next few days of training. Check in with your coach about how to structure a plan that includes this type of training stimulus.
Not interested in racing, but miss riding with friends? Think about joining an online group ride! The Endurance School offers a weekly ride on Thursdays at 6:30am PT. Zwift allows us to keep the group together so no one gets left behind. We write a structured workout for each session (more info on the CBCG Facebook page), but you can also do your own workout. Chat with us live on Twitch, just make sure to stash your phone somewhere dry!
VT’s Rainbow Pancakes: a crazy easy way to transform veggies during sheltering
by CBCG Athlete Amy VT
Repeat after me: “two eggs” (repeat out loud) “one cup grain” (repeat out loud) “half cup dairy” (repeat out loud) “one veg” (repeat out loud). Congrats! You just memorized the easiest, healthiest, yummiest, and prettiest recipe of your culinary life. You’ve never met a formula that’s more adaptable to your preferences, as well as sheltering-friendly since I’m pozzy you have all the ingredients in the larder. Bust out your griddle and spatula, and proceed as follows:
INGREDIENTS
2 eggs
1 C grain (oats, flour, quinoa)
1/2 C dairy (yogurt, milk, dairy alternative, ricotta)
1 fruit/veg (large banana, sweet potato, 2-3 beets, avocado, 2 handfuls of spinach)
INSTRUCTIONS
Combine the above in a blender or processor. Obvi you should shred a veggie like carrot, or slice a fruit like apple. Add sweetener, salt, and spices to taste. If you’re using a watery ingredient like frozen spinach or citrus, add more grain and one egg yolk. Pulse until totally smooth. Add butter or oil to a griddle on medium-high, and make pancakes like a boss! Tip: flip the nanosecond you see bubbles to retain your pretty color.
EASY!
You’re a magical alchemist! During sheltering, we’ve all made creative strides in the kitchen to avoid going to the store. Chances are you already have the above ingredients, especially since there are countless substitutions. But the hands-down easiest part about this recipe is that you’ve already memorized it. Here’s a variation with high-falutin’ ingredients, as easy as cake:
VT’S PINK PARISIAN PANCAKES
2 quail eggs (OK fine, if you’re out, use regular)
1 C cooked quinoa
1/2 C crème fraîche
1 C shredded beets
1 T kosher salt
1 t nutmeg
1 t clove
3 T agave
Sauce idea: crème fraîche whipped with nutmeg
HEALTHY!
I love tricking children. Specifically, I love tricking children into eating their veggies by hiding them in something that looks cool. I am also vegetable-averse, and can only be coaxed into eating broccoli with accompanying vats of cheese. This recipe craftily engineers every food group in a gestalt that looks and tastes like a carb!
If you have a dietary restriction, making pancakes out of oats, or replacing milk with an alternative is so simple it’s like you’re not even high-maintenance anymore. If you’re vegan, maybe you want to try with a flax egg or whatever you use as an egg sub, and oat milk? Let me know how it goes, you no-longer-high-maintenance vegan, you.
VT’S GF GREEN DINNER PANCAKES
2 eggs
1 C oats
1/2 C sour cream + handful of shredded cheese or parmigiana
Several handfuls of spinach + handful of parsley or basil
2 T kosher salt
1 T pepper
1 t nutmeg
Sauce idea: yoghurt-tahini
YUMMY!
Another clutch benny of this recipe is that you can deftly cater to your taste. For savory recipes, salt and spice will be your tools. For the sweet ones, play around with sugars and sweeteners like maple syrup, honey, and stevia. If there are fussy kids or adults you need to lure to the table, why not add sprinkles? Here’s an old standby that’s gluten-free, sweet, and all-dressed-up:
VT’S GF BANANA DESSERT PANCAKES
2 eggs
1 C oats
1/2 C whole milk
1 large banana
1/4 C nut butter
1 T kosher salt
1 T cinnamon
3 T maple syrup
Toppings idea: chocolate chips, coconut flakes, whipped cream, sprinkles
PRETTY!
I’m obsessed with strikingly bright baked goods that are tinctured with natural color. Beets, turmeric, carrots, and greens are as potent as food coloring, impressing food stylists and children at once. Imagine making a rainbow stack of pancakes, pigmenting the spectrum with raspberries, carrots, turmeric, kale, blueberries, and purple potatoes. Here’s a variation with so much natural yellow that it glows, not to mention naturally reducing muscle inflammation:
VT’S SAVORY THAI PANCAKES
2 eggs
1 C coconut flour
1/2 C cashew milk
1 cooked sweet potato
3 T salt
1 T chili or Sriracha®
2 T turmeric
Sauce idea: peanut sauce with crunchy PB, soy sauce, fish oil, and hoisin
Can you recite the ingredients? Repeat “two eggs...one cup grain...half cup dairy...one veg” until you’ve memorized it, and you’re on your way to hiding vegetables into a rainbow of fruit flavors that are super easy, healthy, yummy, and pretty.