Train Smarter this Winter and Dominate Next Season

The Journey to ^this^ Finish Line Starts in October… 

Each Endurance Nation OutSeason® Training Plan combines our focus on Quality Training with a commitment to Early Season Consistency.  The result? In just fourteen weeks you will build an incredible bike and run fitness, setting the tone for the remainder of your season.

Over the past fifteen years, more than 8,000 athletes have taken the Endurance Nation OutSeason® challenge. Training together as a group, the energy and motivation is contagious — it’s hard not to get faster!

Download our OutSeason Guide!

Overview

The plans have been updated again, with changes on both the micro and macro level. These are completely new plans and we’re excited to see your improvements!

Choose Your Sport:  Tri, Run-Only or Bike Only

That’s right, Endurance Nation now has winter training plans specific for Cyclist and Runners. If you are training for Leadville or the Belgian Waffle Ride, the Endurance Nation OutSeason® for Cyclists is for you. Training for a marathon, 50k trail race or something even more insanely epic? The Endurance Nation OutSeason® for Runners is perfect.  And for our dedicated, hard-core triathlete crowd…we’ve update the Endurance Nation OutSeason® Triathlon Plans to be Bike- and Run-focused with all new workouts!

Training Plan Focus: Bike or Run

Now you can choose the area you want to work on. In general, the rule of thumb is that in your ODD years of EN Membership (1, 3, 5, etc) you should pick the Run Focus OutSeason®; and in your EVEN years of EN Membership (2, 4, 6) you should pick the Bike Focus OutSeason®. This ensures a balance across multiple years of training and combines well with our Three Year Planning Goal Method.

We recommend you start with the Run Focus version. It’s never to early to start building a good run foundation!

• Run Focus Plan = Durability Runs plus One Quality Run. Two Quality Bikes.
• Bike Focus Plan = Three Quality Bikes + Durability Running.

Training Plan Levels: 1, 2 and 3 (3 being the Most Challenging)

Now 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.

Combined Main Sets

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

The OutSeason®  has traditionally been two phases of eight and six weeks respectively. In 2018, we have moved to three phases — both for increased benchmarking as well as additional “rest” phases between the work.

• Phase 1: 4 Work + 1 Test as 1-4 (5)
• Phase 2: 4 Work + 1 Test as 6-9 (10)
• Phase 3: 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.

Please Note: You do not HAVE TO test; we recommend it but it is your call!

OutSeason® with TeamEN vs. PlanEN Tiers

Swim and Strength Options Remain Monday / Friday

• Recommended: Monday and Friday should be rest days to allow for recovery.
• 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®.

The Swim

The OutSeason training plan still contains swim workouts in Weeks 11 through 14, so you can get a head start on the swimming in your next training plan. Most Endurance Nation Members will exit the OutSeason® into our Swim Camp Training Plan in order to “boost” the swim more.

The Bike

There are several changes to the bike workouts, and they are available in Zwift and Trainer Road. In no particular order:

• Updated Bike FTP workouts to remove warm-up, making it optional.
• Combined Main Sets into single workouts
• Redefined the Functional Threshold work by training phase:
  • Phase 1 = Build time at FTP.
  • Phase 2 = Build FTP with fixed time intervals.
  • Phase 3 = Boost FTP with 110% sets.
• Updated VO2 training sessions by Phase:
  • Phase 1 = 30 second intervals
  • Phase 2 = 1 minute intervals
  • Phase 3 = 30 seconds PLUS Intervals (aka Max + Zone 5).
• Updated Sunday ABP rides to reflect the time in Zone 3 by ability level.
• Added “Sweet Spot” training to the Saturday rides of the Bike Focused OutSeason® Plans to allow for fitness gains without unnecessary training stress.

The Run

The main focus of your OutSeason® running continues to be Run Durability. The Team has seen excellent results on this approach, and we are continuing to refine it with an eye towards improving your “in season” events. IOW, there should be no such thing as a great OutSeason® followed by a crappy Race Season!

• Changed weekly run targets from distance to frequency (# of runs per week)
• Created three phases of the Quality Weekend Run:
  • Phase 1 = Zone 3 / HMP intervals
  • Phase 2 = Zone 4 / Threshold intervals
  • Phase 3 = Negative split running.
• In the Bike Focused Plans, the Tuesday Brick Runs are optional and the Thursday brick run is now a Friday optional run.