WHO THIS IS FOR
IS THIS YOU?
The self-coached rider planning a full season
You have events in mind and want a framework to organise the whole year around them.
The rider whose training drifts without a plan
You train consistently but with no overarching structure, and your fitness peaks at random times.
THE ROADMAN VIEW
The Roadman view
An annual training plan sounds like a coaching-software project — twenty tabs, every session mapped out to December. It isn't, and it shouldn't be. When Joe Friel talked about the annual training plan on the podcast, the version he described is closer to a one-page sketch: your A-events, the phases working back from them, and the rough hours each phase needs. That's the whole thing. The detail of which intervals on which Tuesday gets decided a few weeks out, not in January.
The reason the annual plan matters isn't precision — it's that it turns every daily decision into a framework decision. When you know February is base, you don't get sucked into a Zwift race on a cold Tuesday. When you know April is build, you know exactly why you're doing 2×20s. Without the plan, every session is a fresh negotiation with your motivation, and motivation loses more often than it wins.
Here's the part that trips people up: the plan is a skeleton, not a script. Life will disrupt it — a work trip, an illness, a bad week. A good annual plan absorbs that. You shift a phase by a week, you shorten the base if you started late, you protect the build and taper at the expense of base. The riders who fail aren't the ones who get disrupted — everyone gets disrupted. They're the ones who treat the plan as so rigid that the first missed week makes them abandon it entirely.
EXPERT EVIDENCE
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
- Joe FrielAuthor of The Cyclist's Training Bible; co-founder of TrainingPeaks
The annual training plan is the single most valuable planning tool a self-coached rider has. You don't fill in every session in advance — you lock in the A-events, the phase durations, and the recovery weeks, so that daily training decisions have a framework to sit inside rather than being made on impulse.
Hear it: Joe Friel's Cycling Training Plan Structure | Roadman Cycling - Dan LorangHead of Performance, Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe
Planning a season starts with the race calendar and works backwards, with each phase defined by the adaptation it needs to produce in sequence. Lorang's amateur translation is the same as the pro version with fewer events and more flexibility: pick the targets that matter, build the year around them, and protect the recovery.
Hear it: Roglic's Coach Builds A Training Plan For Amateur Riders | Dan Lorang
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
DO THIS WEEK
Pick one or two A-events and mark them on a calendar
These are the events you genuinely want to be at your best for. Two is ideal for most amateurs; three is the realistic maximum. Everything else in the year becomes a B-event (useful training race) or a C-event (a ride you complete without tapering).
Work backwards through the phases
From each A-event, count back 2–3 weeks for the peak, 8–10 weeks for build, and 12–16 weeks for base. That gives you your base start date. Add a 2–4 week transition after your final event of the year. If the calendar is tight, shorten the base before the build or taper.
Schedule deload weeks into every phase
Within each phase, plan a recovery week every third or fourth week — a 30–40% volume drop. Put them in the calendar now. They're not optional rest; they're when the adaptation from the preceding weeks actually consolidates.
Fill in weekly detail only a block ahead
Don't script individual sessions for the whole year. Plan the current and next mesocycle in detail; leave the rest as phase headings. This keeps the plan responsive to how your body is actually adapting rather than locked to a guess made months ago.
COMMON MISTAKES
WHAT CYCLISTS GET WRONG
MISTAKEScripting every session for the entire year in advance.
FIXPlan phases and dates for the year, but detailed sessions only a block or two ahead. Your body's response should shape the detail, not a guess from January.
MISTAKEChoosing four or five A-events and trying to peak for all of them.
FIXPick one or two genuine A-events. Real peaks require tapering, and you can't taper repeatedly while still building fitness between events.
MISTAKEAbandoning the whole plan after one disrupted week.
FIXAdjust within the phase — extend it by a week, shift the taper. A flexible plan absorbs disruption; it doesn't collapse the first time life intervenes.
FAQ
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
When should I start planning my year?
Do I need software to build an annual training plan?
How many A-events should an annual plan have?
Can I build an annual plan around two events months apart?
What if I don't have a specific event to plan around?
How does an annual plan change if I have very limited time?
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