The Basics of Build Training

Principals:

During the second phase of training, the Build phase, each type of workout takes on a more event-specific purpose where greater emphasis is placed on escalating the weekly stress load via workouts that are more event-specific than what was encountered during the Base phase.

This is where increasingly event-specific types of training are emphasized with the intent to improve more pertinent types of fitness while the more basic forms of fitness are mostly maintained. If you’re not training for a specific event, view this phase of training as the one in which the intent is to grow your Functional Threshold Power the most.

Not only does Build phase training allow athletes to heighten their level of training specificity, it also brings their fitness to a point where middle-priority events can factor into their weekly training.

Which Build Phase Training Plan is right for me?

 

The optimal Build Phase will vary from athlete to athlete depending on their goals for the season.  We recommend checking out the discipline-specific articles for a more in-depth recommendation that will relate directly to your goals and aspirations for the season.  You can view these articles from the "Training Questions" section of our Help Center.

Below is a brief summary of the three main types of TrainerRoad Build Training.

• Short Power Build includes a healthy balance of muscular endurance work but trades an increased emphasis on VO2Max and Anaerobic efforts with a reduction in sustainable power focus. Less muscular endurance, more repeatable aerobic power. This approach suits a rider who needs more explosive, short-punchy power capabilities. Criterium racers, cyclocross competitors, and nearly all MTB & track riders fall into this category.
• General Power Build is geared more towards the athlete whose discipline doesn’t require any more focus on short punchy power than it does sustainable power. Therefore, the General Power Build phase training plan fits a rider looking to capitalize on a well-rounded blend of abilities in both areas.
• Sustained Power Build is focused on developing greater sustained power through the use of strength endurance work (Sweet Spot), lactate tolerance workouts (Threshold), and a healthy dose of maximum aerobic power intervals (VO2max). These areas of focus translate to the ability to sustain high percentages of FTP for increasingly long durations.
• Polarized Build uses the 80/20 and 95/5 Polarized training models, where 80% of the training is done at low intensity and 20% is done at high intensity. These phases are designed to further increase an athletes aerobic capabilities, building on Polarized base. Polarized plans may require greater training volume to generate equivalent adaptions.
• Masters Build Phases provides more recovery time than their standard counterparts. These can be great for any athlete who need more recovery time, while still building on the base phase for greater adaptation. There are no more than two days of Sweet Spot, or higher-intensity workouts each week. 

How Important is Build Training?

Build Phase training is a critical step in developing cycling-specific performance capabilities and increasing your FTP which we do not recommend skipping.  

If you do not have enough time to complete the full Base and Build leading up to your target event, check out this article in our Blog on the methods to shorten your Training Plan.

Main Takeaway:

The aim of Build is not only to produce big gains in FTP but also to increase specificity as you get closer to your target event.