Training Plans
“The backbone of success is hard work, determination, good planning, and perseverance.” - Mia Hamm -
Not ready for full-time coaching but want to take your cycling performance to the next level? Tim Cusick's training plans can give you workouts, guidance, and training tips that will lead you to a successful event or race. Choose from over 125 different training plans for cyclists of all levels and abilities, including event-specific plans, polarized and pyramidal build plans, stage plans, and ultra race plans.
BaseCamp Training Plans
To become a faster cyclist, there’s an optimal, science-backed training process to follow. Structured training is a process by which you train specific energy systems while progressively stressing your body. As a result, you gain performance-boosting adaptations that increase your FTP, VO2max, and muscular endurance. Having a purposeful and specific training plan based on the proper science principles helps ensure your success.
Be sure to check out our training plan user guide for lots of tips on using our plans.
Check out what some of our plan users have had to say about the plans:
Early this year I was looking for training plan(s) to get ready for NorthCape 4000....I found your plans on TrainingPeaks and after short mailing and recommendation of Kathy, I started with the stage race full season plan and ended my training with the road multi-day ultra event plan. Never did an ultra event before and what can I say: Your plans just worked perfectly! I was ready to tackle any of the upcoming challenges ahead....And I really had backup. I could have done more if needed to....Thank you for your training plans and the fast and easy support to select the right plans. They were easy to follow, understandable and I had a lot of fun doing them....I was able to achieve way more than ever imagined before.
Alexander Kinnisch
Thanks very much for providing this recommendation back in the spring to prepare for the Marji Gesick in September. I purchased both of the plans you recommended and experienced huge improvements in FTP and overall fitness during the base build plus plan - thank you!
Isaac S.
Featured Training plans
Better Base, Better Peak
Elite athletic performance involves the integration of muscular, cardiovascular, and neurological factors that function together to efficiently transfer the energy from aerobic and anaerobic ATP turnover into velocity and power. This means that your training plan needs a multifaceted approach to building your fitness, focusing not only on your cardiovascular capabilities, but also on developing your metabolic and muscular systems and improving your fatigue resistance.
Click here to watch Coach Tim's video introduction to these plans.
Format: Structured workouts, power, heart rate, RPE
Price: $129
Training volume: 6-16 hours per week for 16 weeks
Volume variations available:
Full-Season Training Plans
These 26-week training plans are designed to progressively get you fitter throughout your off season and build into the racing season. The plans assume you have taken some time off the bike and offer two warmup weeks at the beginning of the plan to get you back in the saddle.
Format: Structured workouts, power, heart rate, RPE (or WKO iLevels)
Price: $159.95
Training volume: 8-14 hours per week (adjustable) for 26 weeks
Classic zones variations available:
iLevels variations available:
Base Building Plus
These plans ramp up your training quickly to help you build a solid foundation in twelve weeks by focusing on aerobic capacity, aerobic power, muscular endurance, and building FTP. The workouts have lots of variation, which makes them fun for the trainer and Zwift-type riding, but they can also be done outdoors. These plans are available in three different training volumes for road bike, mountain bike, and time trial, so choose one based on your cycling discipline (if it’s mixed, choose the one you do the most) and how much time you can train, and voila, you've got a twelve-week base building plan focused on you and your goals.
Format: Structured workouts, power, heart rate, RPE (or WKO iLevels)
Level: Intermediate/Advanced
Price: $99
Training volume: 6-12 hours per week for 12 weeks
Classic zones variations available:
iLevels variations available:
Frequently asked questions about our training plans
Q. I'm 46 years old. How do I determine if I should choose a standard plan or a masters plan?
A. The masters plans are built with more recovery time and less intervals during intensity workouts. Forty-five is the general age at which athletes switch to masters training, but this also depends on how many years you've been training. If you're a well-seasoned cyclist with years of training, you can probably use a standard plan into your 50s, while if you're a beginner, you might want to choose a masters plan at or beyond the age of 45.
Q. I don’t have 12 hours a week to train. Can I change the plan to reduce the training hours without disturbing the progression?
A. Yes! Sunday is almost always an endurance day, so as long as you reduce every Sunday by the same number of minutes, you'll keep the plan’s progressive build moving upward. For example, if you take away one endurance hour every Sunday, the plan will now require 7-11 hours of training a week. Take away two hours every Sunday, and the plan will require 6-10 hours a week.
Q. Does the plan take into account when I perform the workout? In other words, if I do one day's workout in the evening and the next day's work out in the morning, does that change my training dynamics?
A. Good question! Our plans are not affected by what time of day you train, but during the last eight weeks of training for an event, Coach Tim prefers to have his athletes train at the same time of day as their upcoming event, if possible, to better prepare the body for the effort. For example, if your race is in the morning, do you workouts in the morning when you can.
Q. Do the plans come with workout files that I can import into Zwift, RGT, etc.?
A. Yes! Choose any of our Coggan Classic plans, as these include structured workouts that can be loaded right to your device. Our iLevels plans are individualized and use your unique power-duration curve, so these plans cannot be structured or loaded to a device.
Q. Can the iLevels plans be loaded to my Garmin or smart trainer like the Coggan Classic plans?
A. Unfortunately no. Because iLevels plans are individualized to your numbers and your unique power-duration curve. These numbers change daily/weekly and are not just based on your FTP like the Coggan Classic levels. You can structure your workouts yourself using your live modeled numbers; click here for to learn how.
Q. I usually do my longer workouts on Friday. The sample schedule has rides every day except Monday, and the active recovery ride is on Friday. Is there an easy way to shift the plan one day to the left?
A. Yes! You can move the weekday workouts (in other words, the shorter workouts) to Monday through Wednesday, move active recovery to Thursdays, and move your longer rides to Friday and Saturday, making Sunday your day off. The simplest way to accomplish this is to apply the plan to your TrainingPeaks account starting on a Sunday instead of a Monday.
Q. My A goals are 100-mile gran fondos. Am I better off with the full-season road plan or the full-season time trial plan?
A. The full-season road plan is designed to give you all-around fitness and performance for road cycling and racing. It includes more short- to medium-interval training, which is typically required for group riding or road racing. The time trial plan features more steady-state and threshold workouts, and this would be an excellent choice if you want to focus on 100-mile gran fondo goals.
Q. Do the full-season plans include a prep period before the base period, or does it start right at the beginning of the base?
A. The first two weeks of the full-season plans are prep weeks; week one eases back into training, and week two is testing.
Q. During which month are the full-season plans typically scheduled to start? September, October, November? Are they meant to begin 26 weeks out from my first race?
A. You can start the plan whenever you like, but if you have a spring A race or event, you can count 26-27 weeks prior to the event and start the plan then. If you've been racing and riding hard all summer and fall, Coach Cusick recommends that you take several weeks off the bike to give your body a rest, then start the plan.
Q. Does Coach Cusick have a race-period training plan I can purchase that would take me to the very end of the season?
A. The race season is very difficult to build a general plan for, as every cyclist has different race goals, styles of events, specialties, strengths and weaknesses, etc. A coach is the best place to get your racing plan. However, Tim has developed a set of plans called Save your Season that are designed to take you through the last eight weeks before your event or race. We've got Save Your Season plans for road racing, gravel racing, mountain bike racing, and TTs. These plans assume you've been training throughout the season and are focused on performance. Tim also has in-season time trial plans, as well as cyclocross plans for the July and August time period.
Q. I have a basic TrainingPeaks account. Will I be able to view the training plan with a basic account, or will I need to upgrade to a premium account?
A. A basic TrainingPeaks account is all you need to see the plan. If you would like to see your PMC (performance manager chart) and other analysis tools, you'll need to upgrade to premium or purchase WKO5.
Q. Are the workouts in the plan meant to be used strictly outside, or do they translate to the indoor trainer as well?
A. The workouts can certainly be done on the indoor trainer. In fact, our weekday workouts are typically 1:45:00 or less, making them great for indoor training.
Q. What should I do in early fall? The race season is over, but it’s too early to start my spring build.
A. Building back your functional strength, working on cadence and form, and trying some yoga or other exercise are terrific ways of balancing out your body after a long season of cycling. Our transition plan is a 4- to 8-week plan that includes everything you need to get back in balance, and it's only $29.00!
Q. I loaded my plan to start on the wrong date. How do I change it?
It's simple to unapply and reapply your training plan on your TrainingPeaks calendar! Click here for instructions.