What Is The Build Phase?

You have invested in a solid base training phase, and over the last 3 to 4 months, you focused on your strengths and weaknesses and prepared your body for the higher intensities and the season. Up next is the build phase.

The goal of the second phase is to prepare you for your specific race requirements. During the build phase, at least 2 weekly workouts should be specific to your goal/event, and all of the other workouts during the week are dedicated to recovering and maintaining the more basic forms of your cycling fitness.

Where/when to start?

The build training phase starts 2 to 2.5 months before your race season. The duration is generally 6 to 9 weeks of focused specificity and quality workouts to improve your fitness. Longer than 9 weeks, and you might start to lose the gains while creating a high fatigue cost.

Adequate rest and recovery is a must!

To get the most out of the build phase it is essential to get enough rest and recovery to generate the power and speed that are similar to the demands of your goal or event. Look for good indicators of recovery – positive attitude, feelings of health, motivation to train, high-quality sleep, normal resting and training heart rates and balanced emotions.

What should the focus of this training phase be if you are not training for a specific event?

If you are a beginner and not training for a specific event, then your primary focus for this training phase could be to increase your threshold power.

If you are an experienced cyclist and not training for a specific event, then your primary focus for this training phase could be to improve your weaknesses or maximize your strengths. Your choice could be determined by your natural abilities, the type of cyclist you are and how much your weakness limits you.

What comes after the build phase?

Up next is the peak/taper phase. Here, training volume is reduced, and your workouts simulate the intensity and condition of the goal event but are not as long as the race/goal duration.

That is it. Thank you for reading. I hope you found it to be a useful resource. Questions, comments and high fives! Drop them here.