Build Back Stronger with a Cycling Overload Block

Vélo

May 6, 2024

By subjecting yourself to a training load that your body is not used to, you will build back stronger.

Anyone who is serious about cycling has undoubtedly ridden for four or five consecutive days, now and again. If done right, this can result in a good training stimulus. But to truly benefit from a block of training days, we want to produce an overload stimulus.

In physiological terms, this overload is a concentrated dose of training stress that leads to super-compensation—in other words, a training effect.

During a typical training phase, our goal is to stress the body so that it adapts and makes us stronger and fitter. During an overload block, the goal is the same—it’s just that the stress, or workload, is compressed into a shorter time frame. The intention is to further enhance the adaptation in a more efficient manner.

To determine how big your overload week should be, first find your average weekly volume for the previous month. Then increase it by 50 to 100% to set the goal for the overload block.

In addition to the physiological gains, an overload block also helps prepare us for the psychological rigors of multi-day events, whether that’s a road or mountain bike stage race, or a bikepacking race. That’s because during the block, we learn what deep fatigue feels like, both physical and mental. We also develop our own ways of coping with or pushing through those barriers.

How to create an overload block

To create an effective block, it helps to plan ahead. Follow a few key steps to create a roadmap to significant gains.

Know your time commitment: To determine how big your overload week should be, first find your average weekly volume (in hours or TSS) for the previous month. Then increase it by 50 to 100% to set the goal for the overload block. If your normal training week consists of six to seven hours of riding, the overload block would stretch to 12-14 hours, with most of that coming in four or five critical days.
Clear the calendar: Before starting a block, clear your schedule. If you have a family, give them a big hug and preemptively apologize for getting grumpy with them. (It will likely happen by the end of the week, as the fatigue accumulates.)
Take your recovery seriously: Remember that concentrating the workload also requires increased recovery time. If your recovery is insufficient, the overload can lead to serious fatigue and send you toward something called non-functional overreach (which is a precursor to full-blown overtraining).
Reap the rewards: Done right, the improvements from an effective and well-executed overload block can be dramatic. You should experience a significant fitness “bump” after a proper recovery period.

Example overload block

The following four-day block is a great starting place for attempting an overload. While there are different philosophies on constructing an overload stimulus, most often the high-intensity workouts (quality) are done before the high-volume (quantity) training begins.

If you have a typical work schedule, the block might be done on a Thursday through Sunday, enabling you to maximize ride time on the weekends.

Day 1 (Thursday)

Start the block with a set of intervals—try something like 4×8-minute threshold intervals or hill repeats.

Day 2 (Friday)

To keep the volume and fatigue trending upward, do as long a ride as possible. Hopefully, you can carve out two to three hours, depending on the time of year and available daylight. Add in some steady climbing if you can. If you’re a fan of Zwift, go for it, just don’t overdo the intensity.

Day 3 (Saturday)

The weekend—more time, more volume. If you prefer structure, get in another set of intervals early in the ride, then keep pushing through the fatigue and make it a healthy dose of steady endurance riding, too. If you don’t like structure and you have the option, a fast-paced group ride or practice race is great. Try to attack. Don’t race smart; instead, race to feel fatigued.

Before starting a block, clear your schedule. If you have a family, give them a big hug and preemptively apologize for getting grumpy with them.

Day 4 (Sunday)

End the block with a final big push: Do a long endurance ride, keeping your effort below threshold, riding steady and strong. If you have the option to climb, do it.

On the last day, it’s important to pay attention to any messages your body may be sending you. You will feel fatigued; at the start of the ride, you might doubt your ability to finish the prescribed length. But keep rolling. Eventually, those feelings should abate.

If you have one last effort in you, empty the tank with a threshold effort (assuming you can even reach that power output in such a fatigued state) on your favorite test climb.

As soon as you get home, take the recovery as seriously as you did the riding. Stretch, do your foam rolling, and put on your compression boots. Eat well and sleep well. And whatever you do, remember to thank your family for letting you hurt yourself.

Written by

Chris Case

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