L’Etape du Tour de France Training Club: Phase 1 – Early Base

ZWIFT COMMUNITY | on March 5, 2019 by Matt Noble

Welcome to the 2019 Zwift L’Etape du Tour de France Training Club.

16 weeks. 4 blocks of distinct training phases. This plan will shape you into the best cycling version of yourself. You’ll need it to take on all 135km // 83.8mi of the 2019 L’Etape du Tour de France and its 4,563m // 14,970ft of climbing.

Each of the four training blocks carries a specific focus. Geared toward leveling up your fitness in tangible ways, you’ll come out of every block fitter, faster, and ready to ride.

Phase 1: Early Base

Phase 2: Late Base

Phase 3: Build

Phase 4: Preparation

Phase 1: Early Base

Phase One focuses on building endurance and aerobic efficiency.

How long can you ride? How many miles can you rack up before your lungs and legs feel the burn? Through traditional long slow distance training as well as structured HIIT—High-Intensity Interval Training—we’ll push your aerobic fitness until it levels up.

In Early Base, you’ll complete two structured Zwift workouts each week. Our aim here is strength and endurance. Your sessions will involve both high-crank torque workouts and high-intensity intervals to increase oxygen uptake. Track and fine-tune the details of your progress. Zero in on problem areas. Rinse and repeat.

While structured workouts are the foundation of this training plan, they’re not all we’re offering.

The Early Base training phase also includes a free-ride session meant to prepare you for L’Etape du Tour de France’s many meters of climbing. Zwift provides a wide range of climbs. Some last five minutes. Some take over an hour. Every week, we’ll suggest a free-ride route with lots of climbing. It may be tough at first, but push through. It’ll be worth it, we promise.

Other unstructured portions of the Early Base phase come from Zwift endurance events and racing. Perfect for challenging your limits week after week, these unstructured efforts allow you to train high-intensity intervals while measuring real improvement.

All that’s left is to get on Zwift and put in the work.

Early Base Phase Training Schedule

You can perform the workouts at any time that suits you and you are not date-restricted. This training schedule can help map out which days you do what. Use it as a guide and feel free to switch up days to best suit your schedule. Recovery is as important as training during this period. Remember, if you’re feeling sick or stressed, rest is often the best option.

Workouts:

Workouts highlighted in Yellow must be completed to count towards 100% completion and to receive unlocks. These workouts can be found in the workouts dropdown in Zwift once you have enrolled in the training club.
You will receive progress emails in 25% increments once all Phase 1 workouts have been completed from start to finish.

Other events: (does not add to unlock progression but does add to your fitness progression)

L’Etape du Tour de France Training Race – Schedule here
L’Etape du Tour de France Endurance Training Event – Schedule here

Week 1:

Monday: Workout – Aerobic 12s– 63 minutes (TSS 55)
- Aerobic endurance workouts improve efficiency at lower intensity levels. We’ll expand your aerobic capacity during this session
Tuesday: Rest Day
Wednesday: Zwift L’Etape du Tour de France Training Race
- Find a Zwift L’Etape du Tour de France Training Race in the events calendar here or check on the Zwift Companion app. Go hard and see how you stack up. We’ll use this as a benchmark of your fitness.
- Find your race here
Thursday: Rest day or 30–45 minutes of Zone 1**
Friday: Workout – Strength Endurance Rotations – 60 minutes (TSS 57)
- Strength endurance intervals on the bike focus on high-crank torque sessions (low-intensity, low RPM). High power and low cadence is key. With the target power below your FTP, this allows for more extended efforts than usual.
Saturday: Free Ride
- Ride Watopia’s Mountain 8 route. Focus on sustained climbing power up the Epic KOM.
- Want to ride with a friend or 50? Use our new Meetups function in the Zwift Companion app to organize your own group ride. Learn more here. Or
- Head outside and join a friend or local group to get in some solid endurance miles. Don’t worry about managing your efforts, just go with the flow, have fun, and get used to riding in a group.
Sunday: Rest day or 30–45 minutes of Zone 1

Week 2:

Monday: Workout – 30 / 30 anaerobic – 52 minutes (TSS 57)
- During the Early Base training period, it’s fine to spend time at intensities above your threshold. The key lies in the duration spent above threshold.
- By completing short intervals above threshold you’ll accumulate more time in this area than longer single session. Today’s session will give you eight minutes in Zone 5. Short recovery periods also increase oxygen uptake, particularly towards the end of the set.
Tuesday: Rest day or 30–45 minutes of Zone 1**
Wednesday: Community Race
- Find any Race in the events calendar here or check on the Zwift Companion app. Go hard and see how you stack up. Use this to measure your fitness.
Thursday: Rest day or 30–45 minutes of Zone 1**
Friday: Workout – Strength Tempo #1 – 57 minutes (TSS 58)
- More high-crank torque intervals. This time, however, we’re increasing the power during the intervals, while maintaining the same cadence.
- This also includes some Zone 2 aerobic work with short high-cadence surges.
Saturday: Free Ride
- Ride a hilly route of your preference on Zwift. Focus on sustained climbing endurance.
- Want to ride with a friend or 50? Use our new Meetups function in the Zwift Companion app to organize your own group ride. Learn more here. Or
- Head outside and join a friend or local group to get in some solid endurance miles. Don’t worry about managing your efforts, just go with the flow and have fun.
Sunday: Rest day or 30–45 minutes of Zone 1
- or switch the Saturday ride and join a Zwift Fondo

Week 3:

Monday: Workout – Mitochondria #1– 60 mins (TSS 65)
- One of the goals of this training phase is to increase mitochondrial density. Put simply, these are the muscles’ power stations. Recent studies show that the right amount of HIIT can provide the same benefits as much longer workouts done as traditional long slow distance training.
Tuesday: Rest day
Wednesday: Zwift L’Etape du Tour de France Training Race
- Find a Zwift L’Etape du Tour de France Training Race in the events calendar here or check on the Zwift Companion app. Go hard and see how you stack up. Use this to measure your fitness.
- Find your race here

Thursday: Rest day or 30–45 minutes of Zone 1**
Friday: Workout – Strength Tempo #2 – 56 mins (TSS 58)
- More high-crank torque intervals. Aim for even more power while maintaining the same cadence.
- This also includes some Zone 2 aerobic work with short high-cadence surges.
Saturday: Free Ride
- Ride the “Big Loop” course on Zwift. This loop starts with the Epic KOM climb and is followed by the Jungle loop and Volcano Climb. Make sure to save enough energy over the first climb to be even stronger for the final climb.
- Want to ride with a friend or 50? Use our new Meetups function in the Zwift Companion app to organize your own group ride. Learn more here
Sunday: Rest day or 30–45 minutes of Zone 1

Week 4 (Rest Week):

Maintain volume. Reduce intensity.

Monday: Rest day
Tuesday: Workout – Endurance 3×1 – 50 minutes (TSS 49)
- It’s important to give yourself enough recovery throughout your training.
- Today’s session is light but structured. After the warm-up, you’ll go on a free ride but will be prompted to perform three one-minute intervals throughout.
- Choose a course with a low amount of elevation gain. Less than 305m // 1,000ft.
Wednesday: Rest day or 30–45 minutes of Zone 1**
Thursday: 30–45 minutes of Zone 1
Friday: Freeride
- Ride a hilly route of your preference on Zwift. Focus on sustained climbing endurance.
- Want to ride with a friend or 50? Use our new Meetups function in the Zwift Companion app to organize your own group ride. Learn more here. Or
Saturday: Rest Day
Sunday: L’Etape du Tour de France Endurance Training Event
- Join and Ride the L’Etape du Tour de France Endurance Training event here. Test your legs against hundreds of others or sit in and focus on pacing.
- Find your endurance event here

Notes:

**If you perform a recovery ride on Tuesday, then you should use the Thursday as a rest day or vice-versa.

To access these workouts you will need to log onto Zwift to see them.