Every cyclist dreams of crossing the finish line first with arms raised in the air. But the road to gold isn’t paved with luck, fancy equipment, or epic workouts. Instead, it’s the result of smart training decisions and insane consistency — something world- and olympic endurance champions know better than anyone else.Â
And above all, it’s about reaching peak performance when you need it the most.
A recent study analyzing the training year leading up to a gold-medal performance at the world- or olympic championships in XC skiers and biathletes, reveals insights that every serious cyclist can use to level up their own training.
Here’s what separates the very best from the best — and how you can apply these lessons to your own training.
1. High Training Volume is King
In the study, 4 male and 7 female athletes were analyzed. What they found was that these endurance champions train on average 800 hours per year – about 15-20 hours per week. This is in line with studies across other endurance sports that also reported high training volumes in elite endurance athletes. Of those 800 yearly hours, 90% was done at a low-intensity below the first lactate threshold (LT1). An easy pace that you can maintain for several hours.
The mentioned athletes didn’t overcomplicate periodization, though, and instead followed the widely known linear periodisation model.
So starting with the lowest training volume in the offseason, they progressively increased training volume in the base phase, which in the literature is called general preparation. In fact, the training volume in the base phase was on average 31% higher than in the subsequent build phase.
According to the researchers it’s that consistent, high-volume training in the base phase that laid the foundation for a world-class performance several months later.
So, if you want to build a bigger aerobic engine, zone 2 endurance rides at around 50-60% of your FTP should be the core of your plan. Start by increasing your weekly volume at a sustainable rate and include a rest week every 3-4 weeks to recover from the increasing training load.
One thing, however, many cyclists still get wrong is associating offseason and base training with no intensity. But as we are about to discover, this is far from what olympic champions do.
2. Master The 80/20 Rule: Polarized and Pyramidal Training
Before we can make any assumptions about intensity distribution, it’s important to understand how intensity was measured in the first place.
In this study they used the 5-zone scale from the Norwegian Top-Sport Centre. Therefore, zones 1 and 2 are low-intensity training, done below LT1. Zone 3-5 refer to as high intensity training, done above LT1. It’s important to note that zone 3 training describes classic threshold training done at or below your FTP and is nowadays updated to moderate-intensity training or MIT. In this study, however, they counted threshold as HIT training. So, when solely looking at the intensity distribution it might give the impression that these champions trained pure polarized all year long.
However, this wasn’t the case.
As mentioned above, 90% of all training was dedicated to low-intensity training and the remaining 10% were spread evenly across zone 3 and zone 4 during the offseason and base training. That’s right. The analyzed athletes included some intensity all year long. This is important as research discovered that if you neglect intensity in the offseason, you can’t catch up with athletes in the base phase who don’t.
So offseason and base training followed more of a pyramidal intensity distribution. They usually included two weekly interval sessions. In the subsequent build phase, in contrast, they increased the intensity and frequency of HIT sessions up to three times weekly. So the closer the competition gets, the more polarized training becomes.
These world-class endurance athletes focused on sustainable efforts around the threshold and VO2max in the base phase, and included more all-out sprint type sessions in zone 5 when the racing season approached.
Draw balance of your own intensity distribution. Focus on building a big aerobic base with plenty of easy riding. Top it off with two or on occasion three threshold or HIT sessions per week to maximize your cycling performance.
3. Consistency Beats Everything
What is one of the most striking findings of this article? There were no epic workouts or last-minute changes. The mentioned champions spend that whole year of their personal road to gold by gradually building up peak fitness with sustainable, repeatable workouts.
There were no epic sessions or weeks, no crazy drops in training load or missed workouts. Instead, these elite performers built a sustainable training volume and topped it off with consistent, controlled interval sessions. Imagine. With 15 hours of training came 90 minutes of interval work. Spread across two days, that’s 45 minutes of hard work per session. Even more striking spread on three days, that’s only 30 minutes of hard work per session.
Even for a moderately trained cyclist that doesn’t actually sound that much.
So if there’s anything to take home from this article it’s this: Consistency trumps intensity and volume. It’s better to string together solid weeks of training instead of cramming in one monster session.
Ultimately, a consistent and sustainable training approach eats epic interval workouts for breakfast.
4. Smart Peaking and Tapering
When it comes to tapering and peaking these athletes took no risks before their career best performance. As a result, they deviated from tapering suggestions in the literature.
Research suggests that a 50% reduction in training volume without any modification in training frequency and intensity can lead to a performance improvement of up to 3%. Honestly, at the highest level of the sport that’s a lot.
However, the studied athletes made no changes in their training volume from the build phase to the peak phase. The peaking phase usually starts 14 days before the goal race. And most surprisingly, out of the 11 athletes only 3 athletes took a rest day 5 days out of their gold-medal performance.
Interestingly, a study on runners found that during a 6 day taper, those taking a rest day on the third day performed worse than those training every day before their major race.
But why is it that the best endurance athletes in the world trade a 3% improvement for regular volume? Well, as mentioned earlier these athletes made consistency their priority. As a result, all training weeks might have caused a good balance between fatigue and fitness. I mean these athletes definitely know what works for them and what doesn’t. So it may be that when you follow a consistent and controlled approach a proper taper might not be all that important.
But what might be a key is increasing intensity the closer your goal race to achieve peak performance. In fact, these champions used more and more all-out zone 5 sessions the closer their goal race came up on the calendar.
So for your next taper, double-check all the weeks leading up to your goal race and make sure to increase intensity while balancing volume. In the end, fitness is still the most important factor of success at your next bike race.
5. The Training Process in Short
Let’s recap on what you need to focus on to train like a world or olympic endurance champion:
- Build a sustainable, high-volume base on easy endurance rides.
- Apply the 80/20 rule. Include 2 or on occasion 3 controlled interval sessions per week.
- Prioritize consistency. No epic workouts. No epic weeks. Instead, sustainable, controlled interval sessions and training weeks throughout the year.
- Tapering is not exclusively about reducing volume. It’s also about applying the right sessions at the right time. Your training should switch from pyramidal to more polarized when racing season approaches. All-out sessions will help you peak at the right time.
The Body is Complex, But Training Shouldn’t Be
The body is complex, but training doesn’t have to be. By focusing on the fundamentals these elite endurance champions commit to — volume, polarization, consistency, and smart peaking — you can make your own road to gold.
After all, mastering the fundamentals is often the hardest and longest but also the most rewarding journey of all.
Ready to Train Like a Champion?
If you’re looking to apply these proven principles to your own training, I’ve designed easy-to-follow training plans available at TrainingPeaks that focus on building the right base, structuring intensity, and peaking for key events. Check them out below to start building your own road to gold.
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Resources
- The Road to Gold: Training and Peaking Characteristics in the Year Prior to a Gold Medal Endurance Performance
- Best‑Practice Training Characteristics Within Olympic Endurance Sports as Described by Norwegian World‑Class Coaches
- Training Session Models in Endurance Sports: A Norwegian Perspective on Best Practice Recommendations
- What is Best Practice for Training Intensity and Duration Distribution in Endurance Athletes?
- Training for intense exercise performance: high-intensity or high-volume training?
- HIT maintains performance during the transition period and improves next season performance in well-trained cyclists
- Effects of tapering on performance: a meta-analysi
- Interval training at VO2max: effects on aerobic performance and overtraining markers