Whether you took the winter off to heal an injury, dodge burnout, or simply enjoy a well-earned break, there’s something about the promise of summer racing that stirs the legs back to life. The air’s warming, the days are stretching longer, and event calendars are filling up fast. As you’re considering spring training and summer race prep, it is essential to take the proper steps to get back in shape and race-ready. You’re not alone if your fingers are hovering over that race registration button, stomach churning with a mix of excitement and “am I ready?” truth-checks. Now’s the time to shake off the rust, find your rhythm, and rebuild the engine because race season is calling, and your race season comeback ride starts here.
Step 1: Reflect and reset
You can’t improve unless you know where you’re starting from. It’s time to take a real, honest look at what kind of cycling shape you’re in. Did you find time to ride, or stay out of the saddle completely? Did you do any cross-training or any training at all? How’s your fitness and strength? Do you have an injury to treat delicately as you ease back in?
Being realistic about your current state of training will be a lot better for your body than jumping into the deep end. What you were capable of three months ago just might not be possible after a break, so make sure to ease into spring training.
Start thinking about a plan for both short- and long-term goals. It’s easiest to work backward from your long-term goals. In five years, who do you hope to be as an athlete and a cyclist? Can you conjure up a visual in your mind? How fast and strong do you want to be? Do you have particular race goals in mind? A trip you’d like to have the stamina to take?
Long-term goals represent where you’ll be at the end of this training season. At the end of the summer, you’re likely to be at peak strength for the year. Where were you last summer, and what new benchmarks do you have for this year? Do you have metrics from the previous year, so you could anticipate making a similar improvement this year? For instance, if you cycled at an average of 13 MPH last year, can you bump it up to 15 MPH this year?
Short-term goals are the milestones you’ll hit between now and the end of the summer. They are day-to-day, ride-to-ride goals. Remember, don’t assume you will start at 13 MPH this spring if you ended last summer at 13 MPH. Be realistic with your expectations and not too hard on yourself. Your first milestone is to work your way back to where you ended. Establish your baseline by taking one or two leisurely rides before challenging yourself. Once you start increasing your effort, aim for a 1 MPH improvement every four weeks.
Step 2: Assess your obstacles
Whether last season was a breakout year or left you feeling flat, it holds the blueprint for your next breakthrough. It’s time to get honest about what stood in your way of meeting or exceeding your goals last season.
What are your strongest and weakest training points? Give yourself a rating from 1-10 in these categories, where “10” means you have the category mastered, and “1” means there is ample room for improvement.
- Physical strength
- Endurance
- Mental strength
- Consistency
- Technique/Skill
- Nutrition
- Recovery
Reflect on what held you back last year. Were you always feeling sluggish because of poor nutrition choices? Sustaining multiple injuries because you pushed too hard? Missed too many rides because of poor scheduling? Get too much “in your head” on race day?
Choose no more than three of these categories to focus on improving during this training season. This doesn’t mean you won’t improve in all areas—learning new habits this year, such as schedule tweaks or new recovery routines, will carry over into years to come. And focusing on one category may lead to improvements in another you weren’t focusing on. For example, when training, you may emphasize consistency, which could equate to building consistent habits around proper nutrition and recovery.
If you don’t have a training log, consider starting one, whether it’s in an app or an old-fashioned notebook. You’ll feel that much better about your progress when you can quantify it. Apps like Strava, TrainingPeaks, or Garmin Connect make tracking progress and analyzing data easy. If you tracked data with an app, it is now time to dig into it and turn those numbers into action.
Step 3. Pick your races and put them on the calendar
Now that you’ve reflected on last season and pinpointed what needs work, it’s time to lock in your targets. Planning for events and the right races and assigning them proper priority is essential for building a training plan that makes sense, keeps you motivated, and protects you from burnout.
Creating your race calendar ahead of time will help you build them into your race training strategy as benchmarks for progress.
You can classify races as A, B, and C:
A races
Start by identifying your “A” races—these are your peak events, the ones you want to crush, not just survive. These are significant events; those that you’ve always thought: “Man, it would be so fun to do that….” Think Gran Fondos, state championship, or that ultra-competitive crit you’ve been dreaming about. When planning for events like these, you’ll want to schedule them as far out in the season as possible, as it will give you time to improve and become a more competitive racer.
B races
B races are important, but more for marking progress on your long-term goals (areas you’d like to improve by the end of this training season). While you won’t want to perform poorly, it isn’t the end of the world if you are a bit worn out for these events, as you essentially view them as a part of your race training strategy. However, it is vital to check your race calendar, making sure to include time for complete rest and recovery before any A races.
C races
C races are low-stakes events for practice. These could be local time trials, charity and group rides, or even casual weekly races put on by friends, a local bike shop, or a bike club. These local weekly rides and races serve as a great way to test new products or equipment, or to keep your head in the right mental state. Think of them as casual practice under pressure—a great place to get the fire started for the season and get excited about the sport again.
As you’re putting together your race calendar, match race timing with realistic training capabilities. You don’t want to push yourself so hard that you overtrain or succumb to an early-season injury. That said, injuries to your confidence can be almost worse. Your race training strategy should match your training goals. Making sure you have proper planning for events can be key.
If the long-term goal is to compete in a 100-mile Gran Fondo race in July but you only have 4 hours per week to train, that’s a mismatch. When race day arrives, your training and fitness minutes will fall far short of what you need for a ride of that magnitude. Adjust expectations or race distances accordingly. Matching your calendar to your lifestyle is the key to showing up strong and confident on race day, not stressed and underprepared.
Step 4: Assess your fitness and establish a baseline
Before diving into a complete training plan, take the time to gather some hard data on where your fitness stands today. If you’ve taken any breaks or significant time off the bike or from training, you may not be at the same fitness level you were at during last season. No longer putting in the long, hard days on the bike can cause strength and endurance to wane deceivingly fast. Looking at some data ensures that your workouts are consistent, intentional, and personalized.
Having a clear, realistic snapshot of your current fitness makes it easier to:
- Design workouts that target your limiters
- Prevent injury from doing too much, too soon
- Keep your confidence high with measurable progress
In addition to the areas you rated above, you can also use both FTP (Functional Threshold Power) and LTHR (Lactate Threshold Heart Rate) to measure your progress. One of the most effective strength training tools for cyclists is the FTP test. An FTP test will inform you of the highest power (measured in watts) you can sustain for roughly an hour. Knowing this number allows you to:
- Set accurate training zones
- Monitor improvements over time
- Avoid over- or under-training
The FTP test is best done indoors, on a trainer—most indoor training software, like Zwift and Peloton, have built-in protocols to guide you through this test.
Your lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR), often just called heart rate threshold, is the highest heart rate you can sustain for a prolonged period (usually around 30–60 minutes) without fatiguing. It closely correlates with your Functional Threshold Power (FTP) but is measured using your heart rate rather than watts. You don’t need a trainer equipped with an ergometer to execute this test – it can be done on an old-school trainer or rollers, or even a gym stationary bike. Because you’ll be performing this test on a regular basis, controlling for as many variables as possible, such as the equipment, ambient temperature, and humidity, doing this test indoors will provide the most accuracy. With that said, if the only equipment you have is your bike and a heart rate monitor, you can still pull it off if you perform it on the same route and on days with similar weather conditions.
Setup:
- Use a heart rate monitor (chest straps are most accurate)
- Choose a steady, uninterrupted route (or an indoor trainer)
- Warm up for 10-15 minutes at an easy pace
Test:
- Ride as hard as you can sustain for 30 minutes—not a sprint, but a time trial pace
- Try to pace yourself evenly—start slightly conservative and finish strong
- Record your average heart rate during the final 20 minutes of the effort
- That average is your Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (LTHR)
Measuring progress regularly keeps you motivated, lets you keep a pulse on your progress, and helps avoid overtraining. Seeing a 10-watt increase in FTP or noticing that your recovery heart rate improves gives you tangible proof that your work is paying off, while an inability to match the numbers from the previous test may signal that you were too ambitious in your training and didn’t focus enough on recovery.
Step 5: Create a flexible training plan
Now that you’ve assessed your fitness, dabbled in beginner race training, and locked in your races, it’s time to build a “return to cycling” plan that balances structure with flexibility. Remember, this training plan should be focused on your A races as they are your priority events, and your training should be designed to help you peak for them specifically.
An effective training plan is rooted in SMART goals to keep ambitions realistic and focused.
- Specific: Define exactly what you want to achieve. For example: “Increase my average speed by 2 MPH by July” is better than “Get faster”
- Measurable: Put a number on it. If it can’t be measured, it can’t be tracked
- Achievable: Stretch yourself, but make sure your goal is within reach
- Relevant: Your goal should align with your race season goals—no sense in focusing on hill repeats if your main event is a flat crit
- Time-bound: Give yourself a deadline. “By July 1st” makes a difference
Setting SMART goals ensures that every ride has a purpose. Your training becomes a ladder of progress rather than a scatterplot of half-hearted efforts.
Periodization
Periodization is a proven training strategy for cyclists because it breaks the training season into manageable phases—like base, build, peak, and taper—each with a distinct focus that targets different aspects of fitness (endurance, strength, speed, and recovery). This approach prevents burnout and injury, ensures steady progression, and aligns your peak performance with your most important races. By managing fatigue and mixing up workouts, periodization helps you stay motivated and continuously improve, making it the gold standard for cyclists aiming to hit their goals come race day.
A periodization block, also called a mesocycle, is structured around a specific training focus and typically lasts 3 to 6 weeks, depending on your goals and experience level. Here’s how it’s generally set up:
Week 1-2: Progressive Overload
- Training intensity and/or volume (duration, distance) gradually increase each week
- Workouts target the key fitness component for that block—like aerobic endurance, strength, or race-specific speed
Week 3-4: Peak Stress & Consolidation
- The hardest week or two in the block, where training load is at its highest
- This is where adaptations are triggered; expect to feel challenged, even fatigued
Week 4-5 (Recovery Week)
- Volume and/or intensity drop by about 30-50%
- Focus shifts to rest, recovery, and absorbing the training stress
- Recovery weeks are essential to avoid overtraining and allow your body to rebuild stronger
Here are a few sample training plans, tailored to specific events.
10 hour x 12 week Granfondo training plan
8 week HIIT crit training plan
12 week century training plan
After the recovery week, the next block begins, often with a different focus or increased difficulty. Stacking these blocks creates a macrocycle that builds fitness progressively and safely toward peak performance on race day.
How much improvement can you expect? When done right, training 3-4 days per week at 2-3 hours per session, one can expect a 5-15% increase in aerobic endurance (time to fatigue at moderate pace), 3-8% increase in FTP, a 2-5% increase in VO2 Max and 2-10% gains in speed and power output for each training block lasting a month.
The core focus early on should be aerobic base building—longer, easier rides that lay the foundation for endurance. As your A race gets closer, layer in intensity with intervals, tempo sessions, and event-specific simulations, and don’t be afraid to cross-train, especially to help build strength.
Skill drills
Racing is almost never a steady, predictable effort; instead, it’s a dynamic test of responding to attacks, surges, and unpredictable strategies. By practicing accelerations, sprinting, cornering, and quick recoveries, you prepare yourself to handle every twist and turn that competition throws at you, making you ride faster overall. These drills sharpen your reflexes, build confidence in tight situations, and train your body to adapt to changing paces and strategic moves—whether it’s a sudden sprint, a surge in the pack, or a technical corner at high speed. Incorporating them into your training makes you not just fit, but truly race-ready.
Openers — short, high-intensity efforts performed the day before (or two days before) a race or key workout. They “open up” your legs and prime your cardiovascular system. Typically 3-4 efforts lasting 1-2 minutes each at or just above race pace, with full recovery in between. They should feel controlled but challenging.
Sprint intervals — short, all-out efforts usually lasting 10-20 seconds. They are used to develop explosive power for breakaways and race-winning sprints. Improve your ability to accelerate quickly, build leg speed, and anaerobic capacity.
Over-unders — intervals that alternate between slightly below threshold (just under FTP) and slightly above threshold (just over FTP). They improve lactate clearance and tolerance for efforts like attacking, bridging, and responding to surges in races. Train your body to recover quickly from high-intensity efforts. 8-minute efforts alternating 2 minutes at 95% FTP (under) and 2 minutes at 105% FTP (over). 4-6 minutes between intervals.
Sweet spot — a steady-state effort at 85-95% of your FTP. They help develop a strong aerobic base with manageable fatigue and increase muscular endurance efficiently. A set is usually 2-4 intervals of 8-20 minutes each at 85-95% FTP, recovery between intervals is typically 5 minutes of easy spinning.
Accelerations and corners — short, powerful bursts from low speeds or near stops, often from corners or in a group ride scenario. They are essential for closing gaps, exiting corners, or responding to attacks through improved leg speed and neuromuscular coordination. From a low speed or slow roll, accelerate as hard as possible for 10-30 seconds, rest 3-5 minutes between efforts, and repeat 4-6 times.
Get a real or a virtual coach
Hiring a coach can be a great way to keep yourself accountable and bring light to your blind spots. A coach can help you make a solid training plan for a summer race by customizing the training for your body type, skill level, and even your bike and gear. This kind of bespoke service is invaluable, but it typically costs $400+ per month. Some elite coaches charge as much as $1,000 per month. If you have the funds and are serious about leveling up your cycling game, it could be worth it, especially for beginner race training.
That said, coaches are an additional cost in an already expensive sport. Plus, a personal coach may not be necessary in this new age of AI. Technology has made receiving personalized coaching and training much more accessible and affordable, with training sessions that work around your schedule completely. AI has genuinely changed the training game.
Here are a couple of tools to consider checking out:
TrainerRoad — Automatically adjusts your training based on ride performance, missed workouts, or fatigue. AI detects the threshold without needing an FTP test.
Xert by Baron Biosystems — Real-time training optimization based on power data. Uses AI adaptive training algorithms to predict how hard you can ride at any moment. Adjusts workouts dynamically, even mid-ride.
Wahoo SYSTM (formerly The Sufferfest) — Four-Dimensional Power (4DP) profiles. Goes beyond FTP to assess sprint, threshold, anaerobic, and VO2max power-personalized workouts based on your unique physiology.
AI Endurance — AI-generated endurance training plans based on your goals and data. Dynamic plan generation based on Strava/Garmin/Fitness syncs, race targets, and historical fatigue/load data. Adjusts automatically as you train and provides pacing and race-day predictions.
Today’s Plan — Advanced coaching + performance analytics. Machine learning insights for coaches and self-coached athletes. Analyzes training load, strain, readiness, and adaptation.
Humango.ai — AI coaching for endurance athletes featuring “Hugo” — an AI coach that adapts your training plan daily. Takes into account performance, recovery, availability, and upcoming races. Popular with athletes with complex schedules or who want a more conversational AI experience.
Practice… racing
To make the most of your training progression, try to schedule B races at the end of each training block. These events serve as shakedowns: they test your fitness, highlight gaps, and give you a chance to experiment with pacing, fueling, and gear. They also help boost motivation and provide natural benchmarks before a recovery week.
Step 6: Fuel and recover like a pro
Too many athletes don’t prioritize fueling and recovery. They’re so focused on watching their strength and speed numbers climb that it doesn’t feel very impressive to track sleep or nutrition. It is important to remember that eating and sleeping right are just as crucial to your training regimen as strength, endurance, and fitness. As you age, recovery becomes even more critical.
Hydration for cyclists
As spring temperatures climb, it’s easy to get behind on fluids, especially on longer rides. If you’re not keeping up on your hydration, you’ll be smoked once race day comes. Aim for a regular intake of water and electrolytes before, during, and after training. Water alone is great, but it’s not just water you lose when you sweat. You’re losing essential electrolytes like sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. These minerals help with: regulating muscle contractions and minimizing cramping, improving nerve function and making your muscles more responsive, and managing fluid balance that supports circulation and thermoregulation.
Staying on top of electrolyte intake will help you feel less sore, experience fewer cramps, maintain stable energy levels, and stay more mentally alert, feeling less foggy or lightheaded. It’s good to drink 16-24 oz of electrolyte fluid 1-2 hours before your ride. Once you start, a good rule of thumb is to sip one bottle (another 16-24 oz) per hour, or more in hot or humid conditions. Make sure you’re sipping every 10-15 minutes to avoid a deficit. You may have a hydration issue if you start noticing a dry mouth, a feeling of heaviness, sudden fatigue, or a drop in performance.
Humans are surprisingly well-adapted to function even when mildly to moderately dehydrated, thanks to a suite of evolutionary, physiological, and behavioral mechanisms. Our bodies have redundant systems to maintain critical functions, effectively masking dehydration until the problem can no longer be ignored. If you often catch youself getting dehydrated, train in hot weather, suffer from cramping or have a history of bonking, consider developing a cycling hydration plan.
Nutrition basics for rebuilding endurance
Spring training is a great time to dial in your day-to-day nutrition: focus on balanced meals that support energy, repair muscle, and replenish glycogen. Carbohydrates are going to be your friend here, and there’s a reason so many athletes talk about “carbo-loading” before a race. You can find good sources of carbs in oats, rice, sweet potatoes, fruits, pasta, and energy gels. Don’t neglect to fuel up before you go—even if you’re trying to focus on losing a few pounds, underfueling can lead to poor recovery and burnout.
Proteins should be your focus post-ride, but they should also be spread out throughout the day. About 2-3 hours before your ride, you should focus on a meal that contains sufficient carbohydrates, lean protein, and fiber. Foods like eggs, tofu, chicken, Greek yogurt (or non-dairy alternative), legumes, and protein powder are great for post-ride refueling.
Don’t shy away from healthy fats like avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil, fatty fish, and flax. These support your joint health and your endurance.
Pro tips
- As you start training more heavily, listen to your body. You should expect to feel hungrier the more you exert, as your body will need more calories to build muscle
- Don’t try a new fueling strategy on race day. Though most bodies have similar nutritional needs, every person’s body is also different. You don’t want to be thrown off when it matters the most. Keep a nutrition log to note how different food combinations make you feel during and after training
- Fuel proactively—if you fail to prioritize this, you may find yourself bonking
Sleep, mobility, and rest days
Recovery isn’t just about food. Your sleep, mobility work, and rest days are where your body actually adapts to the training load. That means taking easy days seriously, making room for stretching or foam rolling, and ensuring you get enough sleep each week.
Sleep doesn’t feel like active work, but it truly is. Philosophies like “sleep when you’re dead” or “sleep is for the weak” will annihilate your progress. Even a small sleep deficit can impair reaction time, decision-making, and endurance. Prioritize sleep like you prioritize intervals—protect it in your schedule, reduce screen time before bed, and treat naps as a tool, not a luxury. There is nearly an infinite number of sleep trackers on the market; if you own a smart watch, it probably offers that feature. Knowing how much and the quality of the sleep you get can help you optimize it and move the needle on your recovery.
Don’t sleep on stretching, either. Tight muscles and poor joint mobility can reduce your efficiency on the bike and increase injury risk. Just 10-15 minutes of foam rolling, dynamic stretching, or yoga on rest days or after rides can improve circulation, reduce soreness, and help your muscles return to optimal length and function. Focus on cycling-specific tight spots: hips, hamstrings, quads, and upper back. Multiple studies have shown that athletes who did 15-30 minutes of yoga 3 times per week for 4 weeks had a 11-21% increase in Heart Rate Variability (HRV), a key recovery marker linked to better autonomic nervous system balance. Static stretching post-exercise has been shown to reduce muscle soreness by 15-25% within 24-48 hours.
Proper rest is a training tool; it’s when your muscles heal, glycogen stores replenish, and mental fatigue resets. On rest days, let go of performance metrics and give your body a chance to fully recover so your next hard workout is productive, not punishing.
Smart recovery also means paying attention to subtle warning signs: unusual fatigue, low motivation, poor sleep, elevated resting heart rate, or irritability. These signals aren’t weakness—they’re data. Use them to adjust training load, take an extra rest day if needed, or dial back intensity. Even the daily stresses of life can have an impact on your training, so make sure to be kind to yourself during trying times.
Step 7: Train your brain too
Don’t forget that your brain is a muscle that needs to be trained, too. Mental training for athletes is essential. You can’t expect to maintain the same motivation levels throughout the season, the week, or the day. When motivation dips, habit and structure take over. Fighting to get up for that early morning ride becomes less of a fight once it becomes a habit. The key is to figure out how to stay motivated to train.
Make sure you have a strong “why” behind your training season. Practice visualization of where—and especially who—you want to be in three months. Make sure this picture is realistic, not fueled by others’ expectations or falling into comparison traps. Focus on improvement rather than using someone else’s capabilities as your bar. Putting your attention on your next target rather than focusing on being as good as the pros is the best way to combat self-doubt.
Your most important goals will focus on physical strength, protection from injury (including normal injuries associated with aging), and mental strength. Those are the real accomplishments, not podium finishes. Revisiting the “real” reason for your training in a journal can help you refocus your mindset.
When you have a bad day, don’t let that lead to a bad week. Try not to let your perceived failures compound into discouragement, leading you off track. Failure is always a part of the path to any success worth pursuing. These mental hurdles you face in spring training will help you off the bike as well, helping you realize that you’re capable of achieving challenging goals. Pressing through obstacles in one area of life almost always increases your ability to handle the barriers in other areas.
Foster your love for cycling
Kick off summer race prep with an event, trip, or excursion that rekindles your love for cycling. Whether you do it solo or with your riding buddies, spring is a great time to feel the wind in your helmet and feel the strength and freedom you feel on two wheels. When things get hard, remember you’re doing this because you love it, and improvement is worth making. Have a great season out there!
Consider bike insurance
Let’s be real: in the middle of a breakaway or a final sprint, safety is the last thing on your mind, and that’s exactly when chaos strikes. One split-second lapse from another rider can send you to the pavement, and maybe to the hospital. Competitive coverage from specialty bike racing insurance exists for this exact reason.
Beyond racing, our policy can be customized to create a comprehensive umbrella of protection that includes crash and accidental damage coverage (even when not riding), theft protection at full declared value without depreciation, travel and transit coverage for race trips (with optional worldwide coverage for those racing internationally), medical gap coverage for cycling-specific injuries with today's high health insurance deductibles, uninsured motorist coverage for road training, and liability coverage up to $500,000 for incidents involving other cyclists or pedestrians. It's a small investment compared to replacing a high-end race bike or covering medical expenses, allowing you to train and race with confidence, knowing you're fully protected whether pushing limits in competition or logging base miles on quiet roads.