Peak for Cycling

The question below came in about peaking for a bike race, and how to know what to train and how to train when you aren’t trying to peak. But really, we first need to look at what a peak for cycling is, how one achieves a peak, and if we even need it!

Thanks, Michael for submitting the question; it’s a great one that isn’t discussed much when we talk about peaking and achieving top performance for a bike race.

In this post we’re going to discuss:

What Is a Peak for Cycling?
How do you taper before a cycling race?
8 Week Training Block To Peak
How To Train When Not Peaking
Falling From A Peak
Overtraining
How To Avoid Peaking Too Early

Hey dude, I've been wanting to know a lot more about everything that has to do with peaking throughout different points in the year for different A races, and how to train when you're not trying to peak for a race. And also knowing when you're at a peak or falling from it. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like that's more of an uncovered topic. So I thought maybe you could inform other people who follow EVOQ on it at the same time if you haven't done this already haha.

I've just been worried about peaking too early, or not knowing when I'm peaking and overtrain, or not peaking at a race because I've been training too much. Also don't know how to kinda take time off and then build to peak by the next race.

florida cycling training — I LOVE TRAINING.
Now Let’s Talk Peaks!

What is a Peak for Cycling and Training Through “B” Races

Let’s first discuss what a peak cycle is. There is some confusion, as someone asked, “How do you peak in a cycling race?” It’s not so much that you peak in ONE race, but over a period of time; traditionally, a few weeks.

When do cyclists peak? Usually they try to peak the week or two weeks before their big block of the most important races of the year. Depending on their race calendar, it could be in the Sprint, Summer, or early Fall!

Anecdotally, a peak is when you are flying, feel invincible, and just can go out and crush your workouts and races. From data standpoint, you might set personal bests or see your repeatability flying through the roof! You are on the top of your game.

A peak is what you want to achieve if you are targeting one big event within a window of a couple months.

Peaking requires a large and CONSISTENT training load to be applied to the athlete which requires them to “train through” some events, meaning that you show up and race, knowing that you aren’t at your best. You are at that race for RACE STIMULUS and physiological gains that you will cash in on later down the road.

This is up for discussion, but newer cyclists don’t need to worry about peaking as much as the experienced rider. Why? A newer cyclist should be focused on training consistently, improving weaknesses, getting race experience, and just LEARNING as much as possible in the race (learning the race craft). While they are still overreaching in a periodized manner, the reach can’t be too big or their bodies won’t be able to handle it, and they’ll crack, or overtrain.

Related Reading: Cycling Training Plan for Beginners

Therefore, telling a Cat 5 that she’s going to peak is kind of BS. She’s not “peaking”, she’s just improving from continued training. She’s so new, she’ll get better simply by riding more.

The Cat 2 peaks because she knows how much training she can handle before she cracks. She trains right up until that point with event specific training, then backs it down into a taper, where she then flies and stands atop the podium!

All that said, if someone wants to disagree about peaking and being a new cyclist, consider this. A newer cyclist can practically gain more and have more fun by coming into all of the races with 95% fitness rather than putting a ton of eggs into one basket and trying to peak. Remember, to peak, you need to train through some races, and newer cyclists can gain more by actually having some legs to perform well at each event.

So really ask yourself: am I training enough to actually peak? Can I add more hours to raise my fitness enough to be tapering for a cycling event? If you’re training 10 hours, peaking might not be a concept you want to wrangle with. Keep improving through your intervals, and just freshen up the legs with Race Week prep…don’t worry about peaking.

But technically speaking, how do we achieve this peak cycling, or peak performance for cycling?

Related Post: Maintaining Your FTP Gains

Peaking For A Cycling “A Race”

Simply put, a peak is achieved when you overreach, or drive up your CTL with hard workouts over a period of time, and then rest and recover from that training, so that your body adapts and comes back stronger.

In the video that follows, I was driving up my CTL to 120+ and then letting it drop into Joe Martin Stage Race. Unfortunately, JMSR got cancelled due to coronavirus, but I still wanted to see how well we executed the training phases.

My build of CTL for 2020 Joe Martin Stage Race

Time Needed For A Cycling Peak

A solid 2 blocks will be sufficient, assuming you have gone through a solid Base and one or two Build periods. The two blocks will total around 8 weeks: 3 weeks on, 1 week rest, 3 weeks on, 1 week TAPER. You can do a 2 week taper if rolling into a stage race or criterium, otherwise 1 week should be fine for the cycling taper week.

8 Week Training Block Before Peaking

Check out the following video where I walk you through my two blocks before Joe Martin Stage Race.

This 8 weeks comes after a solid base of endurance miles, weight lifting, and a build incorporating threshold workouts and threshold burst workouts. I completed one long gravel race which was the first bout of intensity of the year.

In the 8 week block we utilized VO2Max efforts to push out my FTP ceiling and have me ready for the hard efforts that are involved in a stage race. I was going to be looking to get in some breaks and be able to survive the final day’s criterium which includes a leg ripping, punchy climb each lap.

My 8 weeks is really broken into 2 four week blocks.

I start by periodizing the first block, increasing time and intensity as I move into the rest week.

In the video, I do make mention that I should have taken a more deliberate rest week, and really let the ATL fall lower than the CTL. This was a good learning experience looking back on it, as I felt a bit fatigued down the road, but know my training pretty well, so we tweaked some things here and there to stay on track.

The second block starts with big volume and intensity. I then follow the next two weeks with slightly less intensity and making sure that the workouts are race specific.

My taper week for cycling then is all about staying sharp and race specific. What is tapering in cycling? You can learn more about that here. Threshold work and a race simulation has always been great for reducing fatigue while keeping the body prepared for the physiological demands of the upcoming race.

***Once coronavirus cancelled the race, I took a rest week and then did some testing, then continued on with race specific type intervals and a MEGA WEEKEND. I did not complete the full taper! I want to give you a heads up on that in case you are mimicking the training calendar.***

When should I start tapering for a bike race? While I normally taper for just one week into a road race, I was going to taper for two weeks in order to really be fresh for the entire stage race. Coming off the first taper week, I’d use threshold intervals to keep me sharp and ready to race, along with some opener type efforts.

Related Reading: Road Race Prep Guide

How Do You Taper Before a Cycle Race?

“How long should I taper for?” “When should I taper for a bike race?”

This is a very common question and a very inexact science. There is not empirical research that says what the best taper week for cycling is. Classically, it was thought that volume would be significantly reduced by 50% 1-2 weeks leading up to an event, while intensity was maintained.

However, how to taper for a bike race really depends on the length of your race and what kind of training you did before your taper week. The longer the event, the shorter your taper should be. This might seem counterintuitive, but after a week or two of reduced volume, it’s amazing how quickly you can lose the “feel” for aerobic efforts that you would see in a long race.

This is the same phenomenon that people experience going into their first hard workout after a rest week… legs might be a bit heavy or heart rate and breathing a bit more labored.

If you have a short, explosive event (like a crit, MTB race or cyclocross), you will want to taper for longer. You will require a greater level of freshness to reach peak form for explosive efforts and will be less likely to suffer from staleness since there is less of an aerobic component.

Take the science with a grain of salt and consider your personal experience when tapering before a race. It’s important to come in rested but not stale. I’ve always found that taking a rest week two weeks before my event and then having a more normal training week on the week of the race allows me to achieve peak performance for cycling. That way I’ve recovered from my training block but have the engine running hot.

back in TN cycling — Back in TN Training

How To Train When Not Peaking

When you aren’t taper training before an event, you’re probably going through a Build Phase of some sort, or you’re in the middle of the season where you’re just racing and recovering.

If it’s early season and you’re still coming into race form, you want to keep your training schedule “normal”, without specific rest period before a race. This is referred to as Training Through, which we mention above.

When you train through, your schedule would still be something like:

Tuesday: high intensity and volume
Wednesday: moderate intensity and volume
Thursday: endurance
Friday: recovery
SAT/SUN: RACE

You’re getting all the intensity from Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday. Three days is enough!

If you’re in the middle of the season, you might have a really high CTL and are simply maintaining your fitness weekend to weekend, so I’d keep Tuesday the same as above, but shift endurance to Wednesday and some Openers on Thursday.

It’s athlete dependent but you don’t want to overdo the training. More on that later.

So, what exactly should I be training during this time?

What To Train When Not Peaking

You still want to focus on weaknesses that are applicable to upcoming races. Said differently, what is your weakest physiological system, or what training seems really hard to complete, but that you’re going to need down the road.

Or, what have you not focused on in a while? I’ll make another post in the future on this, but 90% of us in America need to be well rounded, all around, cyclists. If you haven’t spent much time at threshold, now might be the time for a block of it. Only doing sweet spot? Do something else!

Haven’t done VO2Max in a while, hit it twice during the week with a hard group ride.

If you’re a block away from an 8 week block coming up, you can always train your strengths before a rest week if they are going to be applicable to upcoming events. Make those even stronger (let’s say threshold), then hit your first block of the BIG BLOCK as VO2Max, then settle into threshold again in the last block before the taper starts.

There are many ways to approach this, but periodizing and focusing on systems that you’ll use are the most important things to remember.

Falling From A Peak

That sounds so dramatic. Ha.

When you’re coming off a peak for cycling, you’ll slowly notice that you’re just not as sharp and the efforts aren’t all popping off completely at 100%.

Yes, the amazing fitness has to end at some time, but some athletes can prolong this high for a good amount of time but dipping down with rest and throttling things back up again before a big race.

It’s the art of coaching and really takes some time to learn how to do it.

That said, once you’re falling from a peak for cycling, you could try two things: either rest a little bit more and layer on some high intensity to increase the sharpness of your efforts. You’ll lose some depth or repeatability, but at this point, you’re trying to hang onto that top end fitness for just a little bit longer.

A longer solution would be to take on a full rest week, then circle back with a focused block of either Intensive Aerobic (FTP work) or VO2Max. VO2Max can work really well, but the intensity can also make some athletes just a little too tired, and the peak is gone. Unfortunately, there isn’t really one answer for this one.

Overtraining

It happens. Whether you overtrain or just plateau yourself, when the gains stop, you need to stop. Or change things up (if it’s a plateau).

Overtraining is way worse.

You’re tired, cranky, maybe not sleeping well even though you’re tired; you can’t hit the workouts, you just feel run down, but at the same time, we think that we might need “just one more workout” to get ourselves back.

REST. REALLY REALLY REST.

Nip this in the bud before it becomes a serious overtraining situation that can have health consequences. Yes, even if it means missing some races and feeling like, “WTH just happened”, get off the bike and/or go really easy.

Don’t clock any intervals and get mentally fresh again. Get the fire back in your belly to WANT TO RIDE AND TRAIN.

Training has to be enjoyable and fun. Crushing your goals should be a big motivator to continue to improve, drop your friends, and be competitive in races that you used to think you had no business being in…that’s what I’m still trying to do!

Let’s level ourselves up and keep getting after it!!!!

How To Avoid Peaking Too Early

A common concern when athletes are figuring out their peak cycle training is “peaking too early.” We all know them, the riders who show up to the group ride in January absolutely ripping, but by July they’ve not gotten any stronger, or they’re getting spit out the back!

What happened? This usually happens for a couple of reasons:

1) The athlete did not take a proper offseason— In this scenario, the athlete just kept training the whole winter without taking any sort of break and kept hammering the high intensity. Sure, they were flying in January, but eventually this took it’s toll and they became stale and mentally burnt out when racing season rolled around. If you just finished a hard season of racing and training, it’s a good idea to take a couple of weeks away from any hard riding or even totally off the bike. Go for a hike, go play some golf, just switch off and let your body restore itself.

2) The athlete did not establish a proper base— In this scenario, the athlete took an offseason but was perhaps a bit over-ambitious when returning. They did not take enough time to establish their base fitness and started their build phase too soon. As a result, they achieved some good fitness really quick, but their peak was not very high, and they hit it too soon. It’s really important to take time to establish your base fitness before you begin to build. This will allow you to achieve a higher peak for cycling and perform more consistently the whole year.

Conclusion & Self Questions

First ask yourself, do I really need to peak and do taper training? Or am I better off being 95-98% going into each race and not sacrificing race experiences by training through 2 months of racing?

Drive the CTL up and then TAPER. Make sure you figure out which taper is best for you based on the upcoming event and your own body’s reaction to rest. The biggest mistake is getting nervous and then riding too much before the event. STICK TO YOUR SCHEDULE!

If I am trying to peak, have I fully committed to training through B level events? It’s hard to check the ego at the door and show up tired, trust me! But, reaping the bigger reward down the road is so worth it. Just don’t be the guy that gets dropped and says right away, “Oh I’m training for Race XYZ”. DUDE NO ONE CARES, WE ARE AT RACE ABC; be a gracious loser. I’ve made that mistake looking sour in 3rd place in a podium picture; LAME OF ME!

If I’m not peaking, have I laid out what physiological system I’m going to work on, and why? What am I gaining from this. SEE THE FOREST!

When the peak is over, can I shut the door on that or do I need to extend it a bit?

Have more questions? Contact us online to learn more about how EVOQ can help you with our training programs for cyclists.

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Peak Cycling and Tapering Training for a Bike Race | EVOQ.BIKE