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Winter Cycling Training: Follow this Winter Cycling Training Program and be stronger, more flexible and have greater endurance next Spring.

For many cyclists training through winter is difficult due to local weather conditions, lack of motivation and the timing of the festivities over Christmas and New Year.

By following these structured training plans from The Sufferfest you can emerge from winter in your best shape ever ready to build those base miles in Spring when the mercury rises and the days get longer.

Winter Cycling Training Plans

Sufferfest Training Plan - Winter Cycling Training

Our Partners over at The Sufferfest have Winter cycling training plans for novice, intermediate and advanced riders. Don’t forget to take advantage of our exclusive discount by using the coupon code “CHSUFFERS”

The Sufferfest: Downloadable cycling workout videos.

The Sufferfest Winter cycling training plans are realistic and effective for the realities of fitting training into a busy working life with the novice plan requiring just 6.5 hours per week at the peak of the training plan.

Check out the training plans over at The Sufferfest now.

New to The Sufferfest? Welcome to Sufferlandria

p.s. looking for an indoor training video that is a little bit longer?

Credits: Images, video and workout all courtesy of our Partners The Sufferfest and DigDeep Coaching.

Comments (7)

  1. DaveB

    Reply

    Hey Tom,

    Always good to discuss this kind of stuff as there are so many ideas bouncing around; thanks for opening up comments for discusion. I’ll check out the reverse priorisation stuff as sounds interesting 😉 I too have the intermeaditate plan and think its awesome.

    You’re correct I live in UK and have been doing plenty of weekend & night-time L2 base training over last month (cheap chinese lights) , mixed up with strength work and a bit of Tempo. and lots of Pilates – which I’ve recently discovered and is fantatstc for cyclists. 😉 As time goes on I’ll be switching in more longer Tempo efforts – then moving into Threshold/Hill work end of Jan time – ready for bigger miles and real hills as clocks change. (mostly following advice from Base Building for Cyclists and Hunter Allen’s power meter book).

    Now the ice is arriving here too, I’m starting to use a mix of videos on trainer – lots o Spineravals Aerobic base mixed with Temp workouts from Sp and CTS – and the odd Sufferfest video before using them more often when Hill/Th workout time comes – they are much more entertaining – and painfiul (especially when mixed with Trainer Rd and Rubber Glove data – ouch :-))

    I’m not that good, just like following a structured plan so I’m sure i have much to learn and am always open to new ideas – guess I just love riding.

    I suspect living living year round in Switzerland at 1,000m has plenty of benefits that outweigh the difficulty of getting base miles in – and I suspect you do good on it so maybe there are better ways than freezing on long base rides 😉 Still, if you can stick it the Aerobic Base Building series from Spinervals are decent substitute – not as much fun as Sufferfest though.

    Thanks again for replying much appreciate and I’ll look forward to more great articles and info from you.

    Cheers,

    D.

    Base Building for Cyclists

      • Anth.

        Hey Tom,

        Yep, pretty solid so far but I’ve been reading some interesting stuff about block training in Cutting-Edge Cycling, by Hunter Allen & Stephen Cheung. Definatelty worth a read as a review of what works and what doesnt after reviewing the available research.

        Incidently, I think I mentioned before I am a huge Sufferfest fan and have all but one of their videos and the new ones with dig deep are just getting better – I recommend them to anyone who’ll listen.

        On the subject of training plans – The free Spinervals Super 6 program is a great progam which works inside a free Training Peaks account and covers all energy systems – plan runs from October right through to March – I use this a rough outline but susbtitute in more road rides where I can along with Real Rides and Sufferfest (for more intense sessions).

        I found your site while searching for Alpen Brevat while looking for another challenge after La Marmotte – and got to say Platinum route looks mind blowing.

        If I can ever stump up the cash I’ll be there – still that might be a convenient excuse as I agree it looks about as scary as it gets 😉

        bye for now,

        “Dave” my real name is Anth, Davie is just a web pseudonym

  2. DaveB

    Reply

    Are you really recommending this as a “winter training plan?” – I’m a big sufferfest fan and use their videos a lot – but this is not a “winter training plan”

    Lots and lots of Threshold, VO2, and Anerobic training combined with the bare minimum of Base miles? Now at other times of year this would be a great plan – but c’mon chasing affiliate commsions like this devalues all the other great info you’re putting out.

    Dave.

    • Tom Eeles

      Reply

      Hi Dave – Thanks for the comment! We never get comments so I appreciate it!

      I think you’re right in the sense that it isn’t your typical loads and loads of base miles type of training plan. Two issues with that traditional approach though:

      1) Reality – have any of us really got more than 10 hours a week to train?
      2) Reverse periodization – now this is a much debated topic. Team Sky are said to swear by it. The basic premise is train at high intensity and then when the outdoor riding becomes more feasible you can increase length of session and keep intensity high. This wouldn’t be for every session, clearly you need balance it with some base endurance.

      I only recommend what I personally use and I’m in the Intermediate Training Plan right now mixed with a strength training programme. As soon as more snow arrives that will be supplemented by ski touring and cross country skiing for the “outdoor rides” in the plan. Living year round in Switzerland at 1,000m putting in base miles outdoors just isn’t reality.

      What’s your winter plan Dave?

      I’m guessing you are lucky enough to live somewhere in the UK where you don’t get snowed in much?

      Thanks agin for the comment – more debate welcome!

      Cheers,

      Tom

      • Stephen

        Hi guys,

        My name is Stephen Gallagher and director of Dig Deep Coaching and creator of the training plans alongside the guys at Sufferfest.
        I know there is always lot of debate on what is a good ‘winter plan’ and I think it is a topic we need to explore more as a cycling community and see what really works and what does not (everyone is different of course). I am of the mindset that what people see as winter training is a bit too much removed from year round development – working on essential areas of performance that bring around peaks and raise in performances in months/years down the line after continual development. I would agree that you need to build some longer rides when practical but the focus must be on development of specific areas like cadence, FTP, strength, etc etc which. What we have seen with people using our plans during the winter is perhaps dropping a level (i.e dropping to a Intermediate plan from an Advanced plan that was completed during season) but including a longer ride at the weekend if possible to fit in anther ride time wise along without comprising there training mid week. This seems to of worked for many people so far. Again these are generic plans and still do not cover individuals specific areas of developments that certain people may need but are great to get you on the right path towards a strong 2014.
        Hope this might explain a bit of our thinking when making the plans.
        Happy and safe cycling guys

        Stephen

      • Anth.

        Hi Stepehn,

        Thanks for taking the time to reply, in true Sufferlandrian fashion I hate your work so much I can’t stop sobbing – Those last three 4 minute intervals in Blender! Ouch!!! ;-D

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