What I Did Wrong With My Training in 2022 and What I Plan to Change in 2023 

If you want to step up your own training I have coaching and online training plans available here: Coaching: www.ignitioncoachco.com/signup Training plans: www.dylanjohnsontraining.com/training-plans Get access to weekly Q&As on Patreon: www.patreon.com/dylanjawnson

Rare to see something like this where there’s an acknowledgment that their training plan from the prior year maybe wasn’t the best course they could’ve used… mad respect for DJ doing this - and sharing it in such detail… appreciate you… 🙌🏽🍻

Your #1 problem was not getting any KOM’s during group rides 🧢

I'm really hoping to boost fitness in 2023 and get results and what better way than watching all the old Dylan Johnson videos

I've never seen an eilite athlete take a deep dive into their past year of training-- very instructive.

Hi Dylan. If you try the 5 2 training schedule can you do a video with Jessie Coyle? He said he wants to do the same this season and it would be great to hear you compare notes. All the best for 2023!

Congratulations for this great result of 16th place in the Life Time GP 2022!!! Good luck in 2023!

Props, Dylan, for being so open and transparent with us. Not easy, I’m sure, to share what you felt you got wrong in your training. This is one of the things that makes your channel so interesting and valuable. The fact that you believe you still have things to solve in your training makes you an even more believable and trustworthy source of training information and wisdom. Keep up the great work and best of luck to you in 2023. 👍👊

Great Video!! The Goatee is coming along, 3 more months dude....

Looking forward to seeing what you can do this season. You're partially what drove me to come back to racing after 8-9yrs of modest activity. Not sure I'll ever get back to where I was as a cat 1 but I'm watching all your videos to help me get as close as possible.

Few times a week 6-7h rides at 265 W? Insane... Even easy ride for 7h needs some serious rest 😎

it’s not overtraining, you are not eating enough

I really appreciate all of your videos, but I especially liked the transparency of this one. Thanks for sharing what went right as well as what went wrong.

thanks for sharing as always! QUESTION: lately some well known athletes talked about using pure white sugar before, during and after training replacing the very expensive glucose+fructose blends since one molecule of sucrose is made of glucose+fructose in a 1:1 ratio (being very close to the 1:0.8 is quite acceptable). a heavy training day or a race could demand up to 500g of sugar which sounds like crazy to me. I do understand that from a chemical point of view sugar is very similar to this endurance specific supplements, but is it from a metabolic point of view as well? what role plays insuline, sensitivity to insuline and glycemic peak in this game? I tried myself to use up to 250g of sugar in long training days and I felt okay, I am concerned about long term effects or effects during high intensity. Are there studies you know about this topic? What do you think?

Best of luck to Backwards Hat Dylan in the Excuse Making World Championships.

I suspect everyone on Zwift has their cap on backwards

I’m glad you’ll be back at the LTF Grand Prix in 23! You should be proud of your 2022 results, thanks for the recap! I’m no coach but I spent a career as a problem solver I am concerned about the number of things you plan to change in 2023! If things go great than no issues. However, if you end up having another season where you are dissatisfied, it will be impossible to know what to change next. The volume plan makes total sense, but maybe keep other things the same that have worked in the past. Also, any thoughts on your pacing strategy during races. I remember you tried some different strategies last year! Love your videos!

Good luck with your season, Dylan! I always appreciate your videos.

Great video as always Dylan! Happy riding mate

It would be really interesting if you tested Ronnestad's block periodization 1-year study. The results were jaw-dropping, but he only had 1 subject, an experienced competitive cyclist though.

Good luck. Have fun and stay fit! Keep the rubber side down.

Superb Dylan. 1,000,000% you over raced. Your events are equivalent to road cycling monuments in training load. I doubt many athletes could excel at more than one event a month. There's simply not enough time to recover and make any significant fitness improvements. 1 week to recover. 2 weeks to train. 1 week taper. Race. Even that is sub optimal. Best of luck for 2023 events.

Only 4 places behind Laurens ten Dam .. Damn!

I need to drop 10 kg of fat and maintain my power output for 2023

Seems like thinning the races out would go a long way. What you pulled off this past year in racing volume was impressive for certain, but had to take its toll. 9:47 in the video had me rolling BTW. :) Good luck with your training Dylan and thanks as always for the excellent training content, and good humor.

Great video and great point about the amount of races and quality over quantity. I would even argue that there are no real exceptions. Even Wout van Aert has a limited program of very carefully selected races with enough time in between to do quality training. I mean in his road race season 2022 he had 48 race days - all quality world tour races. That's not a lot for a pro cyclist. And in cyclocross he's not afraid to skip even big races (national and even world championships) if he feels it doesn't fit his road preparation

Agree with the competition! Intense. So much respect for your LIfetime results!! What about just getting older? I like the new plan and look forward to more Bonk Bros commentary!!

Super reflective. Thank you!

The loftier the goal, more (better) training is called for.

Glad you made this video. People assume science means all facts and evidence already exist, or that something is true for everyone. Science is about continually challenging hypotheses and assumptions. Science never says something is true, but rather that something hasn't been proven false yet.

Vegan burritos from robo taco in Portland and Dylan Johnson videos to boost my cycling performance . Action items for the weekend

do you have a code for Flow Formulas? I would like to give you credit

They took BHD's side with those aerobars.

16th place, you're a Beast!!

Mate great video. Love the mention of the continued strength training to keep up the solid performance in the races

Good luck without tri bars Fred.

Outstanding video. Thank you.

Great video again Dylan! Thank you! I wonder if you gonna make a "most effective sprint trainings" video? I really liked your weight training and intervall sessions videos ;)

Hey there DJ, I listened to your video and you've likely already considered this but after a racing load of 5+ hours, are you sure your nutrition and core body temperature are dialed? I know you've video'd on this, studied it, etc... But as a person who struggles to get nutrition right after I've "emptied the muscles" and can only put back I could show you similar numbers of "falling off". I've found a bit more fat, not carbs helps me personally. Let me explain my thoughts to you as you do for us. =) When I watched and listened I interpreted the reduced load early and the highest numbers ever as positive suggesting that the 5+ hour drop-off was an acute symptom, not a long term symptom. To further that, your 5W/KG was early in a ride later season. As the year is progressing, the temperatures you're competing at are getting higher, you've got less fat, your mitochondria are fully trained, and to your statement you're loading heavy on the system. Not to mention, probably relying on the same nutrition you do for other races and training days. I don't know you and your training, but I would at least think it was worth a "challenge yourself" thinking moment and think about your nutrition?, how it changes, and most importantly are you changing it based on race requirements to the day?, or your perceived needs to data?? As always good luck and I hope you crush at the gravel races. I'm hoping I see your name on the podium at Unbound. If it matters, your polar I took to heart and it's been helping me a bunch.

The secret to training is wearing your hat backwards 80% of the time.

I want to hear how you plan to address the same BWRNC and Unbound back to back weekends this year. Seems like both are entrenched and won't change their schedules. Will your strategy for how to approach these 2 races be affected by what the other big guns might do?

Elite riders don’t coach themselves. Hire a coach!

Last year i did a polarized approach, worked well. Will do it similarly this year, just maybe do a bit less on the bike and absolutely will do more strength and core Oh, and colored socks ftw!

Can you make a video series or even just individual video on the very, very basics for a beginner? Bike selection, measuring initial ability/benchmarks (like FTP), novice exercise programme and things to look out for? Thanks a bunch!

Such good content. Sounds very reasonable. Thx.

I found this video very helpful in focusing my own training plans and goals for 2023.

super video. Congrats on 16th in such an elite field. Thanks for being so open

Great video, thanks for sharing!

Great video , love the reflection and high level thoughts for 23

you need to take some secret juice! call Paulo Costa and he will help you to race every week!!! SECRET JUICE!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you. Great content as always!

Thanks for helping me avoid these mistakes. You videos never disappoint 👍.

Good luck in the upcoming season!

I've always enjoy the content of this channel. I appreciate the honesty of this video. Even with all the data collection it's not a perfect science, it still comes down to listening to your body.

This was extremely educational for viewers who have pedaled ourselves toward the chronic fatigue experience where being productive at day job is TOUGH to do.

At 53 I think I need to dedicate at least one day to weight training.

Sounds like you had a working formula last season except too many races too close together. Plus COVID ain’t no joke. Dig the channel, kill it this season! 🤘

The best of luck for this new cycling year 🍀 Hi from Chiapas México 🤘🏻

I'm unclear how HyperGainBeastMode shakes fit into all this.

Interesting to see your thought process. I hope you have a successful 2023!

Thanks again for sharing what went right and wrong with your session/ training I found it insightful!!! All the best for 2023 Dylan 👍👍

Thanks for the video! I am not much of a cyclist, but enjoy your content as I have always been drawn to longer distance adventures (ran trail ultramarathons for 18 years, than dealt with Lyme disease for 7years). I agree with your thoughts on focusing on quality over quantity, and it reminds me of a Frank Shorter (the only American to win two metals in the Olympic marathon) interview years back where he talked about marathon finish times suffered greatly for many years once there were more races and larger prize purses. Excited to see where 2023 goes for you (and this channel)!

Great work Dylan! Keep on experimentin'! That's what its all about, and thanks always for sharing what you learn!

"I've never been that fatigued after a race": You're getting old. 😂

Dylan, killer job! You did incredible. Thanks for the video. I definitely overtrained too trying to see how high I could get my CTL (I wasn’t focused on racing much but plan to this year). Best wishes in 2023! I’ll be applying some of what I learned from your vid’s this year.

Good video. I really wish TP would stop calling CTL 'fitness'.

Back to back ultra race weekends seems a bit unsustainable. Maybe shorter races would be ok

Hi @dylanJohnsonCycling! I was looking at ignition coaching team and didnt see you there. Would love to connect for consultation and possible monthly coaching for rest of 2023 and 2024. Kindly, Kasperi

I want to see the exact level of diligence and forethought given to Backwards Hat Dylan's 2023 training plan.

Classic OVERTRAINING and overworking. Who was your coach? Do you know what happens to your body when training when you are in top shape? BTW only one day a WK is maintenance ( McMasters ). Knowledge is everything.

2023 you can't use aerobars in gravel Unbound anymore!

I got a question. I am using both Strava premium and training peaks and both do similar things and have similar metrics such TSS and relative effort. Both have their versions of form, fitness, and fatigue scores. TP is £24/month, Strava less I think around £10/month. Should I ditch one? Both upload from many Wahoo bolt

Astute observation Dylan. Years ago when there were good paying crits up and down the East Coast every weekend and often Saturday and Sunday, you could maintain such a schedule due to the duration of the events, but what you are competing in is a different type of event. It’s like trying to race a Euro classic every weekend

Rule #28 // Socks can be any damn colour you like.White is old school cool. Black is cool too, but were given a bad image by a Texan whose were too long. If you feel you must go colored, make sure they damn well match your kit. Tip: DeFeet Wool-E-Ators rule.

DJ, do you use a push/pull sled for your strength training routine. Like cycling, there’s no eccentric load, can do explosive movements & same movement as cycling. If you use already or going to add this, please do a video. You can go fancy & get a ‘torque tank’ sled 800$ or DYI it with an old car tire, plywood, u-bolt & straps that have handles like a TRX.

Fantastic Dylan, as always 🤩👌💪

Hmmm I'm not sure if it was my wedding or that late-night, alcohol-induced, alley-cat racing party the night before some select folks were at....

Don’t like the 5-2 doesn’t sound like much recovery.

I found your vids in the past month and really enjoy them. I'm one of those guys that does the most riding indoors. The weekend is the only time I get outside. I have a 6 hour race on 2/25/23 and here is what I'm doing. M-off T-3 hours mid to low effort W-1 hour intervale high effort T-4 hours low to mid effort F-off Sat and Sun trail rides 2-4 hours. Am I on the right track?

Interesting vid. One has to remember we are discussing on an extremly high performance level. Minor faults may screw things badly Now Nils van der Poel used the 5/2 training week, but he squeezed 35 training hrs into 5 days! Not what I consider a drop in volume. And his races are less than 15 minutes !!!. So dropping training volume for long endurance races sounds like a questionable idea before trying. I guess your plan to do less races and instead even more volume at managable intensity sounds promising. I heard in Interviews of Brett Suttons athletes - a successful triathlon trainer - he subscribed more volume.

The only actual "mistake" seems to be over racing (well, and COVID). The increase volume may or may not help. Changing too many things at a time makes it hard to know what works. If you did pretty much last year's plan with fewer races, seems like the ticket?

Amazing just had the discussion about the 5-2 approach with a dear friend and super coach/athlet... I was about to suggest it here in the comments...he gave is giving it a try and feels positive about the application... thanks for the great content !

Thanks DJ. Good luck remainder of the season! Would love to k ow how you’ve adapted the 2023 plan if at all now that you’re in the home stretch

My biggest hurdle is nutrition on the bike..my plans go to hell and im always saying wtf to myself afterwards..

7:02 funny looking at it now since Dylan did 402w for 20 minutes this year

Damn. I chirped seeing your volume for the past couple years. Let alone the wattage on the 5:2 plan. King has also talked about the level of competition coming into gravel the past couple of years. According to this dad bod gravel rider you are super human and will see you at the Crusher. I am hoping to finish this time. Lol

I hear a lot about training plans, duration, type and days of training But, nothing about recovery. Recovery is just as important or more so. What is the best recovery training plans? Pre ride, during ride and post ride. Before cycling I was fitness trainer and was into novice level of bodybuilding. Your recovery plan was way more important then your training plan.

Over racing and under training. I would have thought that racing itself is a form of very hard training, and it would have compensated for the reduction of training volume but i am no expert. Have you looked at nutrition? Maybe it could have helped in recovery periods. Also, endurance racing might have caused muscle catabolism. Proper nutrition during a race might ward off some of it but again i am no expert.

It would be great if you could do an interview with Nils van der Poel, he seems lika an approachable guy.

Very interesting video. Given your bout of Covid, it is hard to conclude either way on the effect of the reduced volume on your mid-season dip. Also, on my second watch of the video, I noticed something intriguing. Throughout the video you never mention nutrition - neither on the bike, nor between events and training blocks. Could it be that your mid-season and end of season slumps in form are because some of your health markers are dropping too low? Maybe you need a short phase in mid-June with higher protein intake, or something along those lines.

With all due respect, I believe that an analysis of your results versus the current competition indicates that your deficit is that the competition is World Tour riders (I know you beat Terpstra).

I put my trust into a coach who decided he didn't want to coach anymore while still collecting $$$. Lesson learned.

Avoid those insane back to back week long races and you will be fine😅 Good luck in '23!

My recent training has taken my ability on to a new level. It has also indicated that the previous 30 years of training was 99% junk!

I really enjoy your channel it encourages me to push myself to stay in shape. I’d love to hear a follow up on how your strategy went and if you’re still doing the 5 days on two days off for 2024

Gym Work is crap cause on too short time exercice which are to different from Cycling. Better to practise strenght on longer sessions.

How is your sleep? You didn't mention much about that

Training is only 50% of it though, maybe less!

Thank you for your open information about your training! 13:01

You don't talk about Crusher. Will you be back in Beaver this July? You have to love the best last mile of any race ever.