Shifting Focus: From Base to Build Phase

With base training underway, it’s time to focus on your 2026 race calendar and plan around your most important events. Analyze each key race—the course profile, distance, how long you’ll be riding, and what physical demands it will place on you—then design your training to develop the specific abilities you’ll need to perform at your best.

Small Improvements Add Up

Focus on what you can control: your training type, how much and how hard you ride, managing your weight, and your nutrition both during rides and for recovery. Improving just one area won’t transform your performance, but making small gains across several areas—your aerobic capacity, threshold power, sprint ability, and riding efficiency—creates significant overall improvement.

Test Your Fitness and Target Your Weaknesses

Start by establishing where your fitness currently stands through FTP testing, lactate testing, or a maximum power test. Then identify what’s holding you back for each event type—whether that’s holding steady power for time trials, being able to attack and recover repeatedly in road races, or having the explosive power for criteriums and sprints. Once you know your limiters, you can train specifically to improve them.

The Final 8-Week Push

Count back 8 weeks from each key event—this is your race-specific training window. Eight weeks gives you enough time to sharpen your peak fitness through high-intensity intervals and race-pace efforts that match what you’ll face on race day.

Build on a Solid Foundation: 12-16 Weeks of Base Training

This focused race preparation only works if you’ve built a proper aerobic foundation first. That means 12-16 weeks of base training to improve your endurance, riding efficiency, and overall engine. This foundation is what allows you to handle the harder training later and reach the performance level you need for your race goals.

Late Season Training: Making the Most of Your Final Push

Late Season Training: Making the Most of Your Final Push

It’s August in the UK, and the end of the racing season is fast approaching. Hopefully, you’ve been consistent this summer, maintaining your aerobic fitness between events and incorporating one or two structured sessions in each mesocycle. The good news? You may still have time for one last focused training block leading into your key events.

Timing Your Final Block

Most cyclists start feeling noticeably stronger and faster after 2-3 weeks of consistently hard training, with peak benefits typically appearing around 4-6 weeks. For those of you—like myself—who have one or two target events in mid-September and early October, we still have one opportunity to lift our fitness and race pace.

Two Paths Forward

Option 1: Late Season Peak (September/October Events)

If your key events are still 4-6 weeks away, you can commit to one final focused training block. This is your chance to:

  • Sharpen race-specific fitness
  • Fine-tune power output for your target events
  • Build confidence through structured progression

Option 2: Season Wind-Down (Early September Events)

If your season ends in early September, it’s now time to gradually reduce volume while maintaining intensity. This approach will help ensure you:

  • Don’t lose any top-end power
  • Carry minimal fatigue into your final races
  • Arrive at the start line fresh and ready

The Recovery Reality Check

Recovery is crucial in both scenarios. Without adequate recovery within each mesocycle and microcycle, your body won’t have time for adaptation. If you’re feeling flat and your fitness has plateaued, chances are you need more recovery—not additional hard sessions.

Key insight: The fitness you have today reflects what you did 4-6 weeks ago, and the fatigue you feel today comes from what you’ve done in the last 7 days.

Smart Training for Late Season Success

Focus on SMART training that is:

  • Specific to the type of racing you’ll be doing
  • Matched to the duration of your target events
  • Appropriate for the terrain you’ll be competing on

Remember, this final phase isn’t about building massive fitness gains—it’s about optimizing what you’ve built all season and arriving at your key events in peak condition.

Make these final weeks count through intelligent training choices, and here’s to finding some excellent late-season form!

 

Beat the Heat: Why Every Cyclist Needs a Hydration Strategy

Training in the early morning hours to escape the scorching afternoon heat has become the new normal for many of us. But this shift in our riding patterns serves as a stark reminder of just how crucial it is for cyclists to maintain stable blood glucose levels and avoid the dangers of hypoglycemia.

The Changing Risk Landscape

Traditionally, hypoglycemia was primarily a concern for ultra-distance athletes and those tackling multi-stage events. However, with soaring temperatures across Europe becoming increasingly common, the risk of blood sugar imbalances now threatens every cyclist, regardless of distance or experience level.  As we know even mild dehydration will lead to a drop off in your power output.

The Science of Individual Sweat Rates

Eight years ago, I had the fortune of discovering Precision Hydration at a TrainingPeaks conference. Their demonstration was eye-opening – they revealed the enormous variation in sodium loss through sweat between individuals. What struck me most was their approach: following a comprehensive sweat test, they develop a completely personalized hydration plan tailored to your unique physiology.

The best part? This test is a one-time investment. Your fluid and electrolyte loss patterns remain remarkably consistent throughout your life, meaning the insights gained from a single test will serve you for decades to come. Sweat Test Details

Personal Results and Peace of Mind

Following my own sweat test, I was relieved to discover that while I’m certainly a heavy sweater, my electrolyte losses fall within the normal range. Armed with my personalized Precision Hydration plan, I now have complete confidence in managing my fluid intake to maintain peak performance, even in challenging conditions by consuming the correct amount of sodium the night before and again about 90 mins before the event starts.

Why This Matters More Than Ever

The extreme heat patterns we’re experiencing this summer aren’t anomalies – they’re becoming our new reality. As temperatures continue to rise and heat waves become more frequent, having a scientifically-backed hydration strategy isn’t just beneficial – it’s essential.

Take Action

If you haven’t already explored personalized hydration testing, I strongly encourage you to investigate this area. Understanding your unique hydration needs could be the difference between a podium place or fighting to hold a wheel.

To learn more about sweat testing and personalized hydration plans, visit Precision Hydration or similar specialized companies to discover their comprehensive range of testing services and tailored hydration products. https://www.precisionhydration.com/us/en/