The 2021 OutSeason® Plan Launch Thread
Our OutSeason® Training Plans combine our focus on Quality Training with a commitment to Early Season Consistency. The result? In just fourteen weeks (14) you will build incredible bike and run fitness, setting the tone for the remainder of your season.
More than 7,500 athletes have taken the Endurance Nation OutSeason® challenge. Training together as group, the energy and motivation are contagious -- it’s hard not to get faster!
Official OutSeason® Start Dates are:
- 11/02/20 = November OutSeason® (Team Focus)
- 11/30/20 = December OutSeason®
- 01/04/21 = January OutSeason® (Team Focus)
- 02/01/20 = February OutSeason®
[Note: We Are Looking for OS Captains; Info here]
Overview & Coach Debrief
Join Coach Patrick on Wednesday 10/28 at 12pm EDT for a 2020 OutSeason® AMA session in our zoom channel: https://zoom.us/j/2572877525
2021 OutSeason Training Plan Availability
All of the 2021 plans will be available only on Final Surge as of Wednesday 10/28.
Overview
The plans have been updated again for 2021 with changes on both the micro and macro level. These are completely new plans and we're excited to see your improvements! There are Triathlon (Bike- and Run-Focused), Running and Cycling OutSeason® plans available.
PLAN UPDATES
Bike Edits
Note, for the run focused plans, the main bike workout on the weekend is on a Sunday; this will allow you to prioritize your quality run on Saturday. Swap that out if you want to.
Phase 1: Weekday intervals are the same. Swapped out the weekend work to make the Threshold work happen earlier in the main set portion. Zwift Alternative session guidance: Tuesday workout can be swapped out for a "Coffee" ride that is majority steady and "race finish" for 15 to 20 minutes. Thursday session can we swapped for a Pacer Bot or Steady Ride that is at your tempo Watts Per Kilogram. In the blob you are recovering/steady; on the Front you are at Sweet Spot effort. Weekend ride would either HangOn session with additional steady time.
Phase 2: Adjusted second VO2 session to follow the VO2 Ladder guidance from Best Bike Camp, a combination of VO2+Threshold work. Weekend ride is ABP effort plus endurance time at the end. Zwift Alternative session guidance: You can swap either Tue or The with a Crit City race event. Swap weekend ride with a PaceBot that will challenge you at ABP effort except for downhills / when inside the blob for a break. Sunday "pre-run" rides are critical infrastructure to your bike fitness - don’t miss these sessions (and you’ll notice the difference on those long runs as well).
Phase 3: Changed Tuesday to Primed Threshold workout from Best Bike Camp to add training stress without signifiant additional time. Saturday is now a Sweet Spot session with additional endurance time at lower cadence work. You can gradually move your lower cadence efforts down as you are able, don’t force them artificially beyond what you can sustain. Standing for brief periods at low cadence is 100% okay.
Added Long Ride day for the weekend of each test week. Weeks 5 and 10, week 14 is optional depending on run performance goals.
Run Edits
For the Bike Focused Plans, the weekend runs are majority at TRP pace. The preference here is to add more run frequency vs additional run intensity. Exceptions would be the occasional weekend 5k effort / fun run as you’d like.
Baseline running program remains the same as 2020. Optional modifications for you:
(1) Build Run Durability by adding additional runs to your week. You can follow the Monday "Coach Note" guidance or you can continue with your Run Streak / Run focus that you started pre-OutSeason. Note to make "room" for the harder run efforts on Wed / Weekend by reducing other close run workouts as needed.
(2) Increase pace of Weekend Brick run workout to Zone 2 to Zone 3 effort starting in Phase Two. You don’t need a ton of time at Tempo to make this workout effective. Off the bike makes sure you are ready for this effort.
(3) Include Monday and/or Friday strength training to improve your run strength.
PLAN TYPES
TYPE 1: Triathlon OutSeason® Training Plan: Bike Focus or Run Focus
In general, the rule of thumb is that in your ODD years of EN Membership (1, 3, 5, etc) you should pick the Bike Focus OutSeason®; and in your EVEN years of EN Membership (2, 4, 6) you should pick the Run Focus OutSeason®. This ensures a balance across multiple years of training, and it dovetails with our Three Year Plan Guidance for how you should focus.
- Run Focus Plan = Durability Runs plus One Quality Run. Two Quality Bikes.
- Bike Focus Plan = Three/Four Quality Bikes + Durability Running.
TYPE 2: Running OutSeason® Plan
For those of you that only run or will only compete in running events this season. This plan has three distinct phases to challenge you and help you improve your running.
- Phase 1 = VO2 work
- Phase 2 = Threshold work, Hills and Half Marathon paced long runs.
- Phase 3 = Half Marathon Tempo intervals, Threshold work and a long run that tapers you for the end of OS test.
TYPE 3: Cycling OutSeason® Plan
This for athletes who will only be riding the bike in the OutSeason®. There's a chance to cross train, but for the most part This is you, on your bike, working hard indoors. Maybe you'll join in on our Zwift events?
- Phase 1 = Build Intervals, Sweet Spot, Tempo and Recovery rides
- Phase 2 = VO2 short and long intervals during the week, with some "Spicy" endurance rides on Saturday.
- Phase 3 = A return to threshold work in both weekday sessions and long ride with a Sweet Spot main set to maintain your endurance .
PLAN LEVELS
Training Plan Levels: 1, 2 and 3 (3 being the Most Challenging)
You can choose your plan level off of your relative strength within the context of that plan. The higher the level, the harder the plan. In general, we recommend:
- Level One = Newer Athletes to the Sport or Athletes Returning from a layoff / injury
- Level Two = Consistent Athletes with 1 to 2 years of experience, continuing to build.
- Level Three = Experience / High Performing Athletes looking for a breakthrough year.
Rather than three separate plans by ability level, we have combined them into a single plan -- aka no more toggling plans just to see what other folks are doing. This is great for athletes who are a Level One Runner but a Level Two Biker. Or for athletes who want to start with Level One in the First Cycle, then move up to Level Two as they regain fitness.
Three Phases of Work/Testing
- 4 Work + 1 Test as 1-4 (5)
- 4 Work + 1 Test as 6-9 (10)
- 3 Work + 1 Test as 11-13 (14)
Each “work” phase will have a training focus; each “test” phase will give 3 days for recovery before testing the focus discipline and returning to a regular training weekend. Bike and Run disciplines will both test in the final OS week. The "end of OutSeason" test for the run is ideally a 13.1 / half marathon.
Please Note: You do not HAVE TO test; we recommend it but it is your call!
Aggregated Resources
We have heard the call for help with our training plans, and we Will be updating our OutSeason Plan resources on the Plan Descriptions page here.
There you will find links to the most relevant instructional resources, Tracking documents, etc.
Swim and Strength Options Remain Monday / Friday
- The OS Swim plan Is separately listed in Final Surge; you can "layer" it on top of your OutSeason Plan as you see fit.
- The Endurance Nation Functional Strength Routine and Core Strength routines Are also available as an add-on to your training plan. Mix and match as you like!
- Bonus Work: We encourage folks to do some core and strength work on these days as a compliment to the hard work of the outseason.
- Swim Slower Than 2:00 Per 100 Yards? Or Can’t Stop Swimming? Don’t worry, we have maintained our Swim Supplement to add swim workouts to your OutSeason®, which is in the resource area (). For those of you who want to / need to continue working on the Swim, we encourage you to explore the resources we have available to you:
- Swim Clinic eBook
- Swim Faster Ebook
🎉Thanks for reading and we hope you “enjoy” the 2021 OutSeason, our 15th OutSeason!!! 🎉
Comments
@Coach Patrick Thanks for making me count my # of OS! I need another hand (or at least two more fingers...)
Maybe edit the post to remove the duplicated paragraphs under Plan Edits: Bike updates...Or maybe it's so important, we need to read it twice?
36 more hours, and I will return to the world of Final Surge.
@Coach Patrick - Coffee ride, could you be more specific? Assuming ODZ if that works for your schedule?
For Pacer Bot, go to Watopia and pick the Pacer Bot that is (90% FTP/your current kg), correct?
@Janyne Kizer Coffee ride is any ride that has a Tempo Finish. They are typically called "Coffee" rides, "Espresso" rides, etc in Zwift. I am happy to vet any ride you might be interested in if you send me the link to the ride from www.zwiftpower.com!
Yes, for pacer bot, you will see them at the "World Selection" Screen when you click on Watopia. My endurance pace is 2.5 to 3.0. Watts per KG...so I choose the 3.5 to 4 Watts per KG Bot and get to work...note, make sure you are warmed up first. So that could be ride 15 to 20 minutes...restart zwift...and go to Watopia to do steps above.
Trainer Road Workouts Complete for the NOV OutSeason®
You cannot find your TrainerRoad workouts for the 2021 old season in the TrainerRoad application on your computer. As you can see from the attached image, use the search bar to search for 2021_OS and you'll begin to see the workouts populate.
Please note the nomenclature of the workouts which have the level at the very end (L3 equals level three) and that there are three types of workouts. RF = Run Focused, BF = Bike Focused and nothing at all...which is BOTH. So focused plans have different workouts on the weekend...but share the same midweek workouts!
@Coach Patrick, the NOS guinea pigs have noticed that some of the Zwift workouts (at least weeks 1-3 Tues/Thur) don't match the Final Surge workouts. We just wanted to mention that in case it helps the JOS group.